Easily talk about your performance

If you are interviewing for a promotion at work or preparing your self-evaluation for an upcoming performance review, you may need to answer behavioral interview questions.

Your answers to questions such as “How did you handle a conflict with a co-worker?” offer the interviewer valuable insight. Don’t wing it: Use the STAR format to guide you:

Situation. Provide context for how you did a specific task or overcame an obstacle. Briefly offer background details and describe the situation.

Task. Focus on your role and responsibility in the situation. For example, were you the team leader on a specific project? Detail exactly what you were required to do and what goals you were supposed to meet.

Action. Talk specifically about what you did to complete a task or meet a challenge. Focus on what you did, using “I” statements, rather than what the team did.

Result. Describe the outcome of your actions specifically. What solutions did you come up with? What did you learn? What happened because you did your job effectively?

— Adapted from “How to Use the STAR Interview Response Technique,” Alison Doyle, The Balance, www.thebalancecareers.com.