S.T.A.R. Testing

Aptitude and/or Psychometric testing

Testing often forms a part of the recruitment process (this may happen at the assessment centre or at a later date). There are a wide range of tests available including personality tests, verbal and numerical reasoning tests and situational judgment tests.

The STAR technique

It can useful to use the STAR technique to structure your answers. This breaks your answer into four components and in doing so, helps to ensure you give specific practical examples.

• Situation
• Briefly outline the situation you will draw on (this gives your answer context). You need to give enough detail so the interviewer has some context but it is important to be succinct.
• Task
• Outline the task you needed to complete (or the result you needed to achieve).
• Action
• What action did you undertake specifically to reach the desired outcome. Explain the process you followed and the steps you took.
• Result
• If you can, try to give some specific details that demonstrate the significance of your success. You can also talk about what you learnt through the experience and how this equips you to do the job for which you are interviewing.