Use STAR, but make it decision-grade:
- Situation: 1 sentence of context.
- Task: what success meant.
- Action: what you personally did (trade-offs).
- Result: metrics + what you learned.
- Reflection: what you’d do differently now.
High-signal prompts to practice:
- Tell me about a time you changed someone’s mind without authority.
- Describe a project where you traded speed for correctness. Why?
- Tell me about a time you caused an incident. What did you change after?
- Describe a time you disagreed with your manager. How did it end?
- Tell me about a time you mentored someone and it didn’t go well.