STAR and SMART: from Raw to Meaning

STAR and SMART approaches are the core components of transforming your skills, experience, goals, and ideas into powerful storytelling weapons to show your value to others.

A= [27, John, London, 2019, UCL, Computer Science]

B= John is a 27-year-old computer geek who lives in London and achieved a degree in Computer Science from University College London in 2019.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?

Be patient, and let me elaborate. Ever wondered what the difference between data and information is? Maybe you already know, maybe not, but let me connect all this together anyway. Simply put, data is a collection of raw, unprocessed facts. Data alone does not have a meaning unless it gets processed and analyzed, and that is when you can call it “Information“. Information has context; it is a meaningful data.

A was just a group of facts and raw data. When you read it alone, it does not mean something nor you can draw meaning unless you analyze it in your mind and try to connect the dots, for example. B conveys information after using the facts given in A. Now, we have a meaningful sentence not only some crap put between brackets.

You have to be sure that you gonna need this principle; mainly in your Chevening essays and interview since this post focuses on that, and also in interviews and situations when you need to show competence or describe past experiences. It all relates to performance management, career development, and project planning; but how? This is where STAR and SMART approaches jump in. You may have the power, ideas, experience, and knowledge, but unless you have the ability to showcase your strength when needed, especially in interviews and applications, then they will not be helpful in getting you the extra mile you deserve or dream of.

STAR and SMART are two frameworks made to give meaning, structure your thoughts, and give them context.

Let’s start with STAR, and before we dive in, let’s assume you are an engineer (or whatever you are, I don’t care) and someone asked you the below question. I will show you 2 example answers to that:

Talk about a time when you participated in a project and faced some difficulties that delayed its delivery. What happened and how did you overcome that situation?

Let’s assume here that you are a tech professional. You had an idea of organizing some workshops for tech enthusiasts to guide them on market needs and how to build a successful career, etc. because tech education such in your country and you faced a challenge when you were looking for partnerships or funds with a coworking place that would host the workshops and attract applicants. The way you overcame this was through approaching an organization and explaining how this could work as a marketing campaign for them and pave the way for future partnerships. Now, how can you put all that in a structured answer that showcase your skills? The first example will be our raw data, and the second one will be the information, or the structured answer using STAR.

Example answer #1: I once initiated a project to solve the lack of guidance in tech in my country. The idea of the project was to provide a series of workshops to people who study tech degrees or fresh graduates. The challenge was to find the necessary funds to host the workshops, so I approached an organization and was able to secure a venue for the workshops. Throughout those workshops, I managed to explain what it takes to work in tech and guided the participants who enjoyed the lectures and use the gained experience to successfully land jobs.

Example answer #2: In my country, there is lack in proper tech education. Academic degrees don’t guide students on the job market needs, the different specialties, what should be done aside from the academic courses to be prepared for jobs, etc., which results in students failing to land proper jobs due to the lack of practical experience and which in return creates a gap in the required workforce to drive digital innovation in the country. To tackle this situation, I had to step in and create a series of workshops where I invite students and fresh graduates to explain the market needs, what each path takes, recommended practical certifications/trainings, and how working in tech companies looks like. I faced a challenge when I want to find a coworking place that would fund the workshops so I can provide training to participants for free. I approached an organization, presented my project and explained the ROI and how it can be a successful marketing campaign that would attract future partnerships that generate revenue. The deal was a success and I managed to present a series of 5 workshops and delivered the necessary information, knowledge, and expertise in a fun and engaging way and also maintained communication with participants through email for further advice and guidance. This initiative led to more projects and partnerships and enhanced the employment rate in tech by 30%.

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. You structure your answer by explaining the S: what the situation was, what was the challenge? Then the T: what had to be done in order to solve that challenge or situation? Then A: what did you actually do or what approach did you take to achieve that task? Then R: what did your actions lead to? What was the result?

Notice the difference in the two examples? The first one had a bit of structure but not the one needed to answer the question and show your skills. It was not comprehensive enough and feels like there are missing parts. When comparing it to the second one, it is detailed, structured, and more accurate. I started my answer with the situation first or the challenge, which was the lack of tech guidance and a bit about securing funds, then I talked about the task which is to organize workshops and promote tech education, and my actions which involved partnering with an organization, delivering the workshops, and maintaining communication. Finally, the result which was statistical about the impact this project had.

Maybe the answer was a bit too long? Okay, not my problem.

Nah seriously, that was a detailed example for demonstration purposes, but it is on you how you fit it in your essays or talk about it in your interviews, so do you part of the job.

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Now moving to SMART. This is a framework that you should use when you want to set or talk about effective goals. When you think about a goal, it should meet certain criteria. This goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound/Timely. When you set an objective or talk about your career, it is imperative to structure your answer and talk about your goals according to these 5 pillars to transform your aspirations into concrete action plans.

Let’s break it down!

Specific: don’t make your goal general or vague. Your goal should be well-defined and state what exactly needs to be accomplished. For instance, instead of saying “I want to improve the technical skills of tech students in my home country”, say “I want to conduct regular workshops through partnering with organization X to deliver necessary tech training to students and fresh graduates during the summer to tackle the challenging situation of not having the needed tech workforce”. This is detailed and answers the W questions of what, why, where, when, and which.

Measurable: here you define metrics or criteria for measurement to determine when you successfully meet your goal. You can say something like “I want to improve the employment rate”, and say something like “my plan would improve the annual employment rate of fresh tech graduates and increase it from 50% to 65%”. Notice the difference? Always stick to example 2.

Achievable/Attainable: You can’t invent a mobile application that ends poverty in the world and defend against nuclear weapons, right? Exactly, this is how your goal should be: Realistic! You should set a goal that is achievable given the time, skills, and resources you have. This does not mean you don’t aim for challenging goals, they are necessary to motivate you, but they should be realistic.

Relevant: if you want to give a training in marketing, you don’t learn medicine to do so. Your goal should align with the overall mission and strategy and be relevant to your objectives, efforts, and needs.

Time-bound/Timely: define a timeline so you have better planning and can prioritize accordingly. This gives a sense of urgency and importance: when should this goal be completed? For example: I want to learn software development so I can build and sell apps by the end of 2028.

You might have the experience and skills, but unless you tell them properly when needed, they ain’t worthy (in certain context). This is a great skill! Show yourself, sell your skills so you can move up the stairs and achieve more. Whether in Chevening essays or others, or in an interview where competency-based questions is the style, being able to structure answers using those frameworks is quite powerful!