Is anyone else terrified of the STAR-style interviews?

Nurses Job Hunt

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I am not yet in nursing school; however, I have been doing my best to stay educated on the latest trends in the nursing field. This also includes the latest trends on how interviews are handled. I've had a couple interviews where the interviewer would ask ridiculously broad questions such as "Tell me about a time when you had to make a big decision."

Something about these questions intimidate the hell out of me, considering how broad they are. They are so simple yet so difficult to me. The interviewer said they are S.T.A.R. questions, which stands for "Situation, Task, Action, Result." Is this the gold standard for job interviews nowadays? This is really discouraging for me because it is quite difficult to quantify my experiences, or lack thereof, into a short, sweet story.

Can anyone relate to this? And, if so, what steps have you taken to address this problem? I really, really need to get out of this pickle. I know I have the ambition, confidence, strong work ethic, and desire to succeed. It is just difficult for me to get that across with scenario-based questions and don't even have any medical experience to go along with it to back it up! :(

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Specializes in Med/surg, Onc.

Before interviewing I wrote out several scenarios and prepared myself for those questions. I had my first interview last week (passed nclex this week Wed) and my interview was an hour of nothing but "tell me about a time.."

I drew on clinical experience and previous jobs etc. practicing them ahead of time really helped me to be prepared.

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Thank you :)

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