Public-sector interviews are usually structured: every candidate is asked the same questions and scored against the same criteria. Most questions are "competency" or "behaviour" based — they start with "Tell me about a time when…" or "Give me an example of…". The STAR method is the standard way to answer them clearly and score well.
What STAR stands for
- Situation: briefly set the scene — where you were and what was happening.
- Task: what you specifically needed to achieve or the problem you owned.
- Action: what you personally did, step by step — the most important part.
- Result: the outcome, ideally measurable, and what you learned.
A worked example
Question: "Tell me about a time you handled a difficult situation with a member of the public."
- Situation: "While covering a busy reception, a resident arrived angry that their housing repair had been missed twice."
- Task: "I needed to de-escalate the situation and get the repair booked the same day without breaching our process."
- Action: "I took them to a quiet area, listened without interrupting, apologised for the impact, checked the system, found the contractor error, and rebooked an emergency slot. I logged the complaint and explained exactly what would happen next."
- Result: "The repair was completed that afternoon, the resident later thanked us in writing, and I flagged the contractor pattern to my manager, which led to a process change."
Common mistakes
- Spending too long on Situation and Task and rushing the Action — panels score the Action most heavily.
- Saying "we" throughout. The panel needs to know what you did personally.
- Choosing an example that does not actually match the competency being asked about.
- No result. Always close the loop with an outcome, even a learning point.
Preparing efficiently
You cannot predict every question, but you can prepare a bank of six to eight strong stories covering teamwork, conflict, a mistake you fixed, leadership, a tight deadline, and improving a process. Each can be reshaped to answer several questions. Match them to the criteria in the job's person specification or behaviour list before the interview.
GovJobs links to the official advert and person specification for every role, so you can see exactly which competencies a panel is likely to test before you prepare your STAR examples.