Interviewers often ask candidates to explain their work history and any achievements they've made along the way. Candidates who have been given the opportunity to demonstrate why they are perfect for the job vacancy should remember to keep responses short and sharp. You will need to be sure you explain in detail what situations or difficulties you've encountered and how you overcame them, without boring the interviewer into a coma.

We strongly recommend setting out the following steps well in advance to your interview. Below we have explained the STAR technique and how to use it most effectively.

Situation: Open with a brief description of the Situation and context of the story (who, what, where, when, how). Task: Explain the Task you had to complete highlighting any specific challenges or constraint (eg deadlines, costs, other issues). Action: Describe the specific Actions that you took to complete the task. Result: Close with the result of your efforts. Include figures to quantify the result if possible.

Before you interview you should memorise 3-4 STAR scenarios to impress your potential employer and allowing you to adapt your answers depending on the question being asked.

When explaining your SITUATION, if it involves other individuals or certain organisation performances try to avoid becoming to personal or hostile towards them. You will need to give as much detail as possible to why you were required to get involved in said situation, not just what the situation entailed.

When outlining the TASK at hand, before the interview research the interviewers background - dependent on the interviewers background knowledge of the industry try to avoid using phrases that are too technical or specific to a particular task.

Once the required task is laid out to your interviewer and you will need to outline the ACTION take to ensure the task was completed. You will need to demonstrate what you did to fix the situation, the actions you took to ensuring you highlight your qualities and skills in a positive way. For example when apply for a Project Manager role, when you've used your integrity or leadership skills to ensure productivity and your project planning process is running effectively.

When the project/actions have been completed, you will need to show quantifiable RESULTS to your potential employer demonstrating the positive impact you made whilst in your previous job. This could include examples like "I managed to reduce overheads for my data cabling projects by 10% over a 6 month period, by reducing perm staff and using external contractors".

We hope this simple yet effective technique will help you in your next interview, please share this article with your colleagues and workmates.