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Use the STAR Method to Ace Your Next Interview

Aileen Bautista

January 17, 2025

Are you ready to become the standout candidate in any interview? Imagine going into an interview, and captivating your interviewers with a compelling personal story that showcases your unique background and skillsets. The secret to standing out is by being a great storyteller! No matter what level of storytelling you may be at, this blog will guide you through competency-based interviewing, and how to use the STAR Method — which stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result — to answer questions with clarity and impact. Get ready to elevate your storytelling skills and leave a lasting impression. 

Competency-based (behavioral) interviews are conducted to help a hiring team gain insights into your skills, knowledge, and past experiences. Questions will typically be centered around how you handle specific situations, how you perform in a team environment, and ways you problem-solve. 

Some examples of questions include: 

  • Tell me about a project, program, or initiative that you worked on from start to finish. 
  • Tell me about a time you had to complete a task within a tight deadline. Describe the situation and explain how you handled it.
  • Tell me about a time you have dealt with a difficult customer or team member. How did you handle the situation?

How do you tackle these types of questions? The answer is to use the STAR Method. This structured approach helps you craft responses that effectively highlight your skills and experiences with confidence. Interviewers are actively listening for clear, specific, and concise answers that highlight your abilities and potential.

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What truly makes a candidate stand out is their ability to be a great storyteller. By effectively sharing who you are and providing specific examples you will demonstrate your past experiences, which will help you create a strong connection with the interviewer. These examples of how you’ve built your skills and achievements should translate to the role you’re applying for, and showcase the impact you’ve made. Let’s delve further into it: 

  • Situation: Describe the situation you were in, including your role and company. Spend 10% of your time answering this. 
  • Task: Explain the task you were responsible for to resolve a particular situation. Spend 10% of your time answering this. 
  • Action: Describe ways you accomplished the task you were responsible for, highlight any key skills or assets that are relevant to the role, and provide specific examples to give the interviewer more insights into your work performance. This is where you want to spend most of your time (60%)!
  • Result: Share the overall result and impact of your actions. You should spend 20% of your time answering this, including how your result correlates to team and/or company goals, highlighting any quantifiable results, and lessons you learned along the way.

Now, let’s put the STAR Method into action! To better understand how the STAR Method works, I interviewed Alejandro Irizarry, an incoming Full-Time Software Engineer at Salesforce, former intern and Tech Launchpad Scholar. When asked the question, “Tell me about a project you’re proud of, and what was the outcome?” Alejandro shared the following, which he broke down using the STAR Method: 

  • Situation: During my internship at Salesforce, I worked with the User Experience team for the Flow Builder platform, which is a tool that helps users visually create workflows. One challenge users faced was the reliance on mouse interactions which slowed productivity, especially for advanced users who preferred keyboard navigation.
  • Task: My task was to improve efficiency and user experience by designing and implementing keyboard shortcuts for commonly used actions within Flow Builder canvas.
  • Action: To tackle this, I first collaborated with the UX Designer and Product Manager to prioritize the actions most frequently performed by users, based on data and user feedback. I designed and implemented shortcuts using TypeScript and Salesforce’s Lightning framework, ensuring consistency with existing UI patterns. I discussed all changes with other software engineers in order to tackle any bugs, challenges, and decisions that had to be made before deploying the new shortcuts.
  • Result: According to internal testing, the keyboard shortcuts improved user efficiency by 30%, and were praised by stakeholders. The feature is now included in the Spring 2025 release of Flows and is quickly becoming a favorite among users, as reflected in customer feedback.

Based on how Alejandro prepared for the successful interview that landed him the role at Salesforce, he shares a helpful tip, “prepare STAR stories that highlight your teamwork, innovation, and technical/non-technical projects. Show enthusiasm by asking thoughtful questions about the role, team, or even about any upcoming AI projects in the works. This demonstrates your genuine interest in joining our trailblazer community here at Salesforce.”

Additional suggestions:

Now that you have a better understanding of the STAR Method and how you can put it into practice, here are some additional tips as you prepare for your interview: 

  • Review the job description and tailor your answers to highlight transferable and relevant skills/experiences 
  • Practice answering questions out loud — to yourself or to a friend/family member 
  • Own the work that you did by using “I” statements to share what you were specifically responsible for and how you contributed to the team’s overall success
  • Do your research on the company and program. Identify why you want to specifically work here. 

Lastly, Alejandro said it best: “Remember to be yourself, because here at Salesforce, we love seeing your unique side shine — it’s your individuality and authenticity that makes you stand out and bring value to our Ohana!”


Feeling more confident and ready to tackle any interview? Launch your career at Salesforce, the World’s #1 AI CRM! Learn more about our university recruiting program — Futureforce and apply for an open role now — you’ve got this!