Most consulting interviews include fit questions: "Tell me about a time you led a team", "...a time you failed". Interviewers want a short, specific story they can follow. The STAR structure gives it a shape:
- Situation: where and when, in one or two sentences.
- Task: what you had to achieve, or the problem you faced.
- Action: what you did. This is the longest part. Say "I", not "we": the interviewer is assessing you, not your team.
- Result: what happened, with a number where you can, and what you learned.
The slips this lesson targets: a long situation that eats the answer, actions described as "we", and a result with no number. The checks here look only at the structure of your answer, never at whether your story is the "right" one.
S: In my final year, our student consulting club had 12 members and no clients.
T: As the new president, I had to win two paying projects by spring.
A: I listed 40 local firms, wrote a one-page offer, and called five a week myself...
R: We signed three clients, raising $9,000, and I learned to ask for a meeting, not a sale.
Short S and T, a long A in the first person, a numbered R.