Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

The STAR Method

This blog post was written by Peer Career Ambassador, Rumeer Keshwani ‘20.

The STAR method is an ideal way to phrase specific experiences on your resume. Often times when people are describing professional experiences, leadership positions or community service events, they often fall prey to the trap of not being descriptive enough. There are a variety of ways to be descriptive, but the best approach is the STAR methodology.

Situation:
Describe the specific situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand and follow your train of thought. Remember they have no additional context besides what you communicate to them on your resume.

Task:
What goal were you working toward? Give the employer an understanding of what it was you were supposed to do.

Action:
Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail and keep the focus on YOU. What specific steps did you take and what was your particular contribution? Ensure that you do not describe what the team or group did when talking about a project, but what you actually did. Use the word “I,” not “we” when describing actions.

Result:
Describe the outcome of your actions and do not be shy about taking credit for your behavior. What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? Make sure your answer contains multiple positive results.

Below is a real example:

 

 

These two examples are taken from my personal resume. I consolidated a lot of the context for these two experiences into the title of the company, a brief description of the type of company it was, and what my position was. These critical details gave me an excellent jumping off point to describe in depth what I did and what kinds of results I drove. I was specific and numerical in my description of what I did, referring to percentages I was hitting or the number of companies I was looking at. This logic should be transferred across all industry types. I specifically mentioned what I did and what resulted for the company in direct correlation with my action, whether it was advising an investment decision or generating revenue for the company.

Ultimately, the STAR Method is an excellent guideline that should guide not only how you communicate your experiences to employers on your resume, but also as a structure for speaking about your experiences during an interview. It will drive the conversation in a favorable direction and will make a strong positive impact on the interviewer if executed correctly. Please visit CareerBeam, which can be accessed on the hub for more information on writing Resumes & Cover Letters, preparing for interviews, and to read more information on the STAR method! There are tons of resources at your disposal to transition yourself into whatever industry you desire: it’s just about doing the research and executing appropriately. Good luck!