Learn how to be a STAR
You’ll need
- Pens or pencils
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There’s also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
- Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.
Planning and setting up this activity
- Print two copies of the interview scripts, or have them available on devices so that pairs can act them out for the group.
- Prepare copies of the STAR template (one per person), using the version attached to this page or creating your own.
- You may want to pre-assign roles to adults so they know how best to support in advance.
- You can find notes for each discussion point about the key skills on this page. You might want to keep these to hand to use as prompts, which can help the group fill in any gaps.
Introducing the activity
- Gather everyone together and explain that today’s activity focuses on putting theory into practice by identifying the key skills employers look for and learning how to use the STAR framework to demonstrate examples from their time in Scouts.
- Explain that they'll take some time to:
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- identify the top five key skills employers look for;
- understand what these five key skills mean and how they relate to your Scouts journey;
- understand and use the STAR framework to help identify examples of key skills within your time in Explorers so far;
- explore how this can be used in other areas of Scouts and beyond.
Key skills
- Start by asking the group: ‘What key skills do you think you've developed as an Explorer Scout, Young Leader or Network member that employers might look for when interviewing?’
- Help support the discussion and help the group identify the five key skills of teamwork, aiming high and positivity, communication, problem solving and creativity, and leadership.
- Split the group into five smaller groups and give each group one of the above key skills.
- In their groups, they should take 5 to 10 minutes to:
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- come up with a definition of their skill
- explain how it applies to employment
- identify some example behaviours that demonstrate their key skill
- After the set time, bring everyone back together and ask each group to share what they came up with Use the notes on this page to help fill any gaps.
Definition: Teamwork is the collaborative effort of a group of individuals based on trust to cooperate, communicate and coordinate for a common purpose
Application to employment: Employers want to know that you can be a team member who will play your part and help others achieve team goals.
Example behaviours:
- I am reliable and timely with my contributions
- I take responsibility for my contributions
- I offer inputs to group decision-making
- I encourage contributions from others
Definition: Aiming High means setting ambitious goals and striving to achieve them. Positivity is about having a hopeful and optimistic attitude, even in the face of challenges.
Application to employment: Employers want to be reassured that you will want to learn to work to the required standards in a reliable and dependable way. Also, that you are resilient and will cope with difficult and unexpected situations with a can-do attitude.
Example behaviours:
- I work efficiently, with attention to detail, to required standards
- I show a can-do attitude when facing a new challenge
- I take pride in improving my performance
- I keep trying when things get tough
- I help others when things get tough
- I learn from mistakes and personally develop as a result
Definition: Communication is the art of expressing thoughts, ideas, and feelings to others in a clear and effective way. It involves both speaking and listening, as well as understanding and responding to what others are saying.
Application to employment: Employers will expect you to communicate in an effective manner, taking into account the communication needs, preferences and expectations of different people.
Example behaviours:
- Listen carefully to others' requests, comments and complaints.
- Explain things carefully, as clearly and simply as possible but giving appropriate details.
- Choose an effective way to respond to others' communications, making appropriate use of digital methods as well as in person.
- Show others that you are listening and are concerned to help them.
- Use respectful and appropriate language, bearing in mind others' needs and preferences.
Definition: Problem-solving involves identifying a problem, analysing the situation, and coming up with effective strategies to overcome it. Creativity is the ability to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas or approaches.
Application to employability: Employers want to know that you will be able to find ways to do things differently, making improvements and not just stick to the ways things have been done in the past.
Example behaviours:
- Work in an efficient manner and be mindful of deadlines and expectations
- Notice when things are not going so well and the approach to an activity needs to change
- Generate ideas for improvement
- Work out what is causing things to go wrong, understanding the real reason
- Propose and consider others' proposals to create options for change
- Make plans to try out alternative options
- Recommend changes and improvements based on evidence of success
Definition: Leadership is the ability to guide and inspire others towards a common goal. It involves taking initiative, making decisions, and supporting and motivating team members. A good leader listens to others, communicates effectively, and leads by example.
Application to employment: Employers may not be looking for new managers when recruiting young people, but they are interested in whether you can motivate others to help you in your work.
Example behaviours:
- Set specific, achievable goals so that others understand what is required.
- Discuss with others how they may be able to help you achieve a goal. Lead a group discussion on how to achieve a goal between you.
- Organise work in a logical way, creating tasks which others can achieve to help achieve overall goals.
- Ensure task allocation is fair and equitable.
- Recognise others' feelings and needs.
- Support others in their work, providing help and encouragement to assist their motivation.
How to be a STAR
- Ask the group if anyone knows what STAR stands for. It stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
- Explain how you can use the STAR method to structure examples you give in response to questions, especially in interviews. You can use it to highlight particular skills and qualities you have that the employer is looking for. When using STAR, remember:
- you can use examples from work, home or volunteering
- keep examples short and to the point
- try to get your points across in a conversational way so as not to appear too rehearsed
- be prepared to answer follow-up questions about the examples you give
- Usually, you’ll need to use the STAR technique when answering questions that begin with:
- Tell me about a time when…
- How do you react when…
- Have you ever…
- Provide an example of…
- Describe a situation…
- Discuss how the first challenge when answering these types of questions is thinking of an appropriate scenario or example to use. Then, once you’ve got a situation in mind, the STAR method helps you structure your response in a compelling and precise way, helping you communicate your example effectively to the interviewer.
- Ask for four volunteers. You will have two people act out each of the different scenarios. You can find the scripts attached to this page.
- After the role play, talk through the differences between the two scenarios and how the interview questions were answered.
- Reinforce the benefits of using the STAR framework:
- Provides a structured response and avoid rambling
- Illustrates your accomplishments
- Puts your skills at the forefront of your answer and showcases these to the interviewer
- Can be used in a wide range of scenarios
- You are likely to make a better impression on the interviewer using a framework like STAR
- Now it’s your turn. Give the group some time to think of their own example of when they demonstrated one of the five key skills during their time in Scouts. Use the blank template to write their own STAR, draw out the skills and give a summary statement.
- Once everyone has completed one, gather the group back together and give space if anyone wants to share their STAR.
Reflection
This activity was all about learning how to take our experiences in Scouts to make excellent interview answers. We also learned about the STAR method. Did you find this a useful tool to take to interviews with you? Was it easy to come up with examples or was it difficult to think of your time in Scouts in this new way?
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
- Allow participants who are less confident to work in pairs or small groups rather than speaking alone.
- Offer observer or note-taker roles for participants who prefer to contribute indirectly, such as recording ideas, timing presentations, or summarising proposals.
- Break down tasks into smaller steps, for example: “Identify the problem, suggest a solution, and consider the skills that young people could gain.”
- Encourage participants to rotate roles, giving everyone the chance to both present ideas and support others.
- Allow longer discussion or reflection time for participants who need extra time to formulate their ideas.
- Encourage participants to use different communication styles, such as writing ideas down, drawing diagrams, or speaking, depending on what feels most comfortable.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
