Subject:Career in Accounting

Due date;27th March,2023

Assignment:

Write about one achievement from your work history using the STAR technique.

Work done in past: Accountant Admin(under private CPA firm) & Cashier(front desk at restaurant)

Details for STAR Technique is given below:

Answering a Question: Use the STAR Technique to Narrate an Experience

In behavioral interviewing, every answer should specifically address the skill being addressed. Your answer should relate an experience from a previous job assignment, project, academic studies or community work.

Present a diverse set of experiences. Suppose that you are asked six behavioral questions during a thirty-minute interview. Using a distinct context and/or experience for each question will help you portray a diversity of skills, interests and experiences.

Begin by examining the question: what is the purpose of the question, what specific skill is the question trying to address? Then, pick an experience that you could describe to address the question at hand. In your mind, recollect specifics of your experience. Structure your answer and narrate your experience using the four steps in the STAR technique.

S for Situation: Commence your answer with the background to your experience. Detail the circumstances of your involvement. Provide sufficient detail to develop a context to the rest of your narration.

T for Task: Describe the challenge at hand: what needed to be done, what should have been done. Detail the outcome that was expected, constraints or conditions that needed to be satisfied.

A for Action: Elaborate your specific action in response to the challenge. Specify analytical work, team effort or project coordination. Use I and we statements as appropriate [more details here.]

R for Results: Explain the results of your efforts: what did you accomplish, what did you learn, how did your managers and team respond, how did your organization recognize you. Wherever possible, quantify your achievements and improvements e. g., 20% improvement in or reduced manufacturing costs by 1.5 million dollars per year .

An Example: Using the STAR Technique to Narrate an Experience

Consider a question suggested by authors Jack and Suzy Welch in a recent Business Weekarticle on recruiting for leadership positions: Have you ever had to define yourself in the midst of criticism, and did you succeed?

Below is a concise four-step STAR answer to this interview question. This question illustrates the ability of the interviewee to listen to feedback, adapt as a manager and lead teams well.

S for Situation: My first job after business school was to lead a product development team at ABC Corporation. One of my responsibilities involved participating in weekly product planning meetings that decided on product features. After the meeting, I would meet with my staff and delegate the programming tasks. Since I am an experienced programmer, I would explain details of how each feature needed to be programmed. I expected my staff to write the programs in C++, test and debug. We seemed to work very well as a team.

T for Task: Three months later, my manager had collected feedback from my staff. In my performance review, my manager observed that I could improve my delegation skills. I was surprised to receive this feedback. I had believed that I was good at delegating given that I would detail my expectations of each staff-member and list every step he/she needed to work on. It believed my staff was productive and continually gained knowledge from my coaching. I thanked my manager for the feedback and promised to reflect on my delegating style and consider a change.

A for Action: I reflected on my delegation approach and realized two problems. Firstly, I assigned work to my staff only in terms of steps to take. I had habitually failed to describe the background of product features we wanted to develop and explain how their work would improve the overall product. My staff would do just what I had asked them to do. Secondly, in telling my staff how to complete each assignment, I was micromanaging. This may have tended to limit my staffs initiative and reduced opportunities to advance their programming skills. During the next staff meeting, I thanked my staff for the feedback and acknowledged I would change. Then, each week, I explained the context to every product feature we wanted to develop, described the task in terms of outcomes and asked my staff how we could approach each task.

R for Results: My staff was very excited about the opportunity to propose ideas, brainstorm and choose a preferred way of going about their work. It was no longer my idea they would work on; it was their own idea and their own approach. They were more enthusiastic about their work and realized they were an integral part of something bigger than themselves. During the next quarterly meeting, my manager praised me for empowering my team.

Task: The task portion of the STAR interview stems from the previous question. What was your exact part to play in this situation? What was your assigned role? How were you able to turn this situation into an opportunity?

To answer effectively, start with something like this: "On the project, I was assigned to design graphics for the new Web page. I saw it as an opportunity to create more eye-catching content which would not only help the organization, but also our customers to see the value in our product." This response shows your exact role in the task, in addition to your plans to solve the problem.

Actions: The action portion of the STAR approach may require you to answer the following questions: What were the steps you took to solve this challenge? How did you think about any problems? How did you overcome roadblocks and follow the situation through to get results? Was there anything unique about your actions or your method worth mentioning?

Oftentimes, the hardest part of the entire four-part process is describing the actions you took. Explaining the sequence of actions and the thought process for each step can be challenging. However, it's essential that you do this effectively. If we continue with the UX designer example, you can explain your actions step-by-step in a high level of detail to make the story feel credible. This can help paint a picture of the task for your interviewer and showcase your contributions to it.

Results: Finally, the results portion of the STAR interview method is used to sum up the tangible results of your work. For instance, how were things better off because of what you did? What lessons did you learn? Your efforts may have brought in 10 percent more Web traffic, resulting in more customers. Or, your graphic could have been referred to in articles or blogs. Either way, you need to show what your work resulted in.

High level of detail is also necessary in the results step. You need to use as many quantifiable metrics and specifics as you can to prove that you had an impact. So, if your response is along the lines of, "We made fewer mistakes" or "Projects got done faster," it may not be good enough. Percentages, before and after comparisons, and even client feedback are all helpful to prove the value of your work.

The STAR interview approach is an effective way for a hiring manager to find out you are and what you've done in order to achieve success. If you're faced with a STAR interview, think about the questions that are most likely for your position and then focus your time and energy preparing stories for those. You'll find that painting a clearer picture will help your chances at landing the job.

The SOARA (Situation, Objective, Action, Results, Aftermath) is a Job interview technique. The SOARA technique is similar to the Situation, Task, Action, Result technique.

Situation: The interviewer wants you to present a recent challenge and situation you found yourself in.

Objective: What did you have to achieve? The interviewer will be looking to see what you were trying to achieve from the situation.

Action: What did you do? The interviewer will be looking for information on what you did, why you did it and what were the alternatives.

Results: What was the outcome of your actions? What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your objectives.

Aftermath: What did you learn from this experience and have you used this learning since?