Take the Self Paced STAR Format Story Challenge
7 days challenge to create MAANG-level STAR Format Story
Hey, Prasad here 👋 I'm the voice behind the weekly newsletter "Behavioural OS for Techies."
Welcome to this week's article, in which I talk about
7 days challenge to create STAR format stories
one of the previous challenge participants’ STAR format story
opportunity for you to review the story and provide feedback
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Are you ready to elevate your interview game and join the ranks of top-tier candidates applying to MAANG (Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) companies? Welcome to the 7-Day MAANG-Level STAR Format Story Challenge!
In mid-September, I ran a free challenge for creating STAR format stories in 7 days, and the response was overwhelming. There were so many great submissions on the platform and on the Google form (for those who missed registering on time).
A lot of you have reached out to run the challenge again, but honestly, I'm short on bandwidth! So, I've decided to make it self-paced, outlining all the steps here in this article.
The Challenge Overview
This 7-day challenge is designed to guide you through the process of creating a MAANG-level STAR format story. Each day focuses on a specific aspect of the STAR methodology, helping you build your story piece by piece. By the end of the week, you'll have a polished, interview-ready narrative that showcases your best professional qualities.
Remember, the key to success in this challenge is consistency and dedication. While the challenge is structured over seven days, feel free to adjust the pace to suit your needs. Some participants may complete it in a single day, while others might take two weeks. The important thing is to give each step the attention it deserves.
Let's break down the challenge day by day:
Day 1: Understanding STAR and Story Creation
Objective: Gain a deep understanding of the STAR methodology and how to create powerful stories.
Tasks:
Read and thoroughly digest the following articles:
Take notes on key points and strategies mentioned in these articles.
Reflect on how these principles apply to your own experiences.
Tips:
Don't rush through the reading. Take time to absorb the information and think about how you can apply it to your own stories.
Consider reading the articles multiple times to ensure you've grasped all the nuances.
Start thinking about experiences from your career that might make good STAR stories.
Day 2: Selecting a Question and Gathering Data
Objective: Choose a behavioral question and collect relevant information for your STAR story.
Tasks:
Browse the Behavioral Interview Question Bank and select any one question that resonates with your experiences.
Reflect on your professional history and identify a situation that addresses the chosen question.
Brainstorm and list all the relevant data you can recall about this situation.
Identify any gaps in your story and brainstorm ways to fill them with additional details or context.
Tips:
Choose a question that allows you to showcase a significant achievement or challenge you've overcome.
Don't worry about perfecting the story yet; focus on gathering as much relevant information as possible.
Consider reaching out to former colleagues or reviewing old project documents to jog your memory about specific details.
Day 3: Crafting the Situation
Objective: Develop a compelling introduction to your STAR story by setting the scene.
Tasks:
Review the examples provided in the articles from Day 1.
Draft the Situation section of your story, ensuring you include:
Your workplace and role at the time
When the event occurred
Relevant data or metrics that highlight the importance of the situation
Refine your draft to make it concise yet informative.
Tips:
Paint a clear picture of the context without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.
Use specific timelines and job titles to add credibility to your story.
Include quantifiable information where possible to demonstrate the scale or importance of the situation.
Day 4: Defining the Task
Objective: Clearly articulate the challenge or objective you faced in your story.
Tasks:
Review the Task sections in the example stories from the provided articles.
Write the Task portion of your STAR story, making sure to include:
What you needed to accomplish
The goals or objectives you were working towards
The urgency or importance of the task
Ensure that your Task description naturally flows from the Situation you described.
Tips:
Be specific about your responsibilities and avoid generalizations.
Highlight any constraints or challenges that made the task particularly difficult or important.
Connect the task to larger organizational goals or initiatives if applicable.
Day 5: Detailing the Action
Objective: Describe the steps you took to address the task or challenge.
Tasks:
Study the Action sections in the example stories from the provided resources.
Craft the Action portion of your STAR story, ensuring you:
Use "I" statements to clarify your personal contributions
Explain your thought process and decision-making
Highlight specific skills or qualities you demonstrated
Break down your actions into clear, logical steps.
Tips:
Be specific about the actions you took personally, even if you were part of a team effort.
Highlight any innovative approaches or problem-solving techniques you employed.
Demonstrate leadership, initiative, or other soft skills through your actions.
Day 6: Articulating the Result
Objective: Showcase the outcomes and impact of your actions.
Tasks:
Examine the Result sections in the example stories from the provided articles.
Write the Result portion of your STAR story, making sure to:
Be specific about what was achieved, using quantifiable metrics when possible
Explain the positive impact on the company, team, or project
Mention any lessons learned or personal growth
Ensure that your results directly correspond to the goals outlined in the Situation and Task section.
Tips:
Use numbers, percentages, or other concrete metrics to quantify your results whenever possible.
Don't be modest – this is your chance to showcase your achievements.
If the outcome wasn't entirely positive, focus on what you learned and how you'd approach similar situations in the future.
Day 7: Refining and Submitting Your STAR Story
Objective: Polish your STAR story and prepare it for submission.
Once ready, submit your completed STAR story.
I'll pickup well written stories, anonymize any confidential/PII/sensitive data and review them in detail in the upcoming newsletter edition. Through these examples, I'll show how to enhance the answers to make it MAANG level.
Tasks:
Read your entire STAR story aloud to ensure it flows naturally from beginning to end.
Put yourself in an interviewer's shoes and critically evaluate your story for any gaps or areas of improvement.
Refine and edit your story based on your observations.
Submit your completed STAR story using this form.
Tips:
Ensure your story is concise yet detailed enough to paint a clear picture of your experience.
Check for consistency in tense and tone throughout your narrative.
Have a friend or colleague review your story and provide feedback.
STAR Format Story Submission
Now, let’s look into a story submitted by one of the participant of the challenge we ran in mid Sept.
Read the question picked up by the participant and answer provided in STAR format and evaluate it against the following checklist:
Here is the submission (verbatim, redacted confidential information):
Question:
Tell me about a time when you received negative feedback from a user or customer about a product or service you were responsible for. How did you handle it, and what actions did you take as a result?
Answer:
Situation: In 2022, as a Senior Engineer at XYZ Corporation, a franchise company managing over 5,500 salons across the US and Canada, I led a crucial project to develop a payroll reporting system. This system serves as the foundation for franchises to accurately pay their employees and salon workers. We implemented customizations that allowed each franchise to set its own rules for payroll generation. After releasing the payroll reporting module, a major franchise with over 500 salons reported discrepancies in payroll calculations. This was impacting around 6,000+ employees and their payroll accuracy, causing delayed payments and employee dissatisfaction.
Task: Given that payroll is a critical aspect of business operations, it was imperative to address these issues promptly to ensure accurate and timely payments. If the issues were not resolved within three days before the payroll cycle, franchise owners might opt out of the new payroll module and revert to the third-party payroll system they previously used. This would be a significant setback for our team and organization, potentially damaging our customers' trust in the system. We have promised many additional features to address their daily needs and streamline their operations.
Action: I discussed the issue with our product manager, and we then had a conference call with the franchise/client's payroll team to better understand the problem and to help calm their concerns. Afterward, I spoke with our QA team to test specific scenarios and attempt to replicate the issue. I also sat with the QA team to review the test cases and identify where we may have missed the scenario. After spending a few hours testing, the QA team found the issue. I discovered that a recent update had introduced a bug affecting the rounding logic for certain redo transactions. Specifically, when a service was redone by another stylist, the commission was not transferred to the new stylist. I debugged the code, corrected the error, and updated our unit tests to cover these scenarios. Concurrently, I regularly communicated with the client to keep them updated on our progress and managed their expectations regarding the resolution timeline.
Result: After deploying the fix, I verified the solution with the client by conducting a full payroll cycle test to ensure no further discrepancies. The client confirmed that the issue was resolved to their satisfaction and appreciated our swift response and open communication throughout the process. This incident led to a review of our update protocols, which I helped to restructure, thereby improving our product release process. The successful management of this critical issue was noted in my annual review, highlighting my problem-solving skills and client management abilities.
Call to Action
The best way to learn is to provide feedback to others. This answer is provided by a Lead Software Engineer with 10+ years of industry experience.
If you are serious about learning how to write MAANG-level STAR format stories, review the submission and provide the following feedback in the comments:
What's good in this story
What can be improved
Keep the feedback simple, concise, and actionable.
I will provide my views and detailed review on this story in a future edition, but I would love to hear from you first.
Looking forward to continue the conversation in the comments!
Practice your STAR format stories by booking a mock interview session with me
There are two ways you can book a mock interview session with me:
Share the newsletter with your friends and colleagues to spread the word. Check all referral awards!
Connect with me on LinkedIn and send me a DM with details of what you would like to achieve in a mock interview.