STAR template
- Situation: context in one sentence.
- Task: what you owned (scope + constraint).
- Action: 2–4 actions, decision points, trade-offs.
- Result: measurable impact + what you learned.
Question bank
Practice these until you can answer in 60–90 seconds.
Conflict
Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate or stakeholder.
Failure
A mistake you made. What changed about how you work?
Ownership
A project you drove end-to-end with ambiguity and constraints.
Leadership
Influencing without authority, mentoring, or raising the bar.
Trade-offs
A time you chose correctness vs speed vs scope — and why.
Communication
Explaining a complex technical idea to a non-technical audience.
Drill
Pick one question, answer out loud, then do a second pass where you remove filler words and tighten the “Action” to the most important decisions.