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UK-Spec: How do I use STAR here?

Paulo Ripardo

Hello Everyone

I am trying to fill in the UK-SPEC self-assessment for my IEng application. I have read on the forum that the application should not be more than 6 or 7 pages. As I understand it, I need to use the STAR method to write my application, but if I use STAR for all 17 competences, the application will be much more than 7 pages. So far, I have completed 6 competences and have already reached 5 pages.

So, for the competences, do I need to write something shorter, where I directly show where and how I have used each competence in my career, or do I need to write something longer using the STAR method in another document to attach later?


Parents
  • 0

    People rather overthink this and try and make it more about a rigid structure (S... T.... A.... R) .... But it's really about setting briefly a context, explaing what YOU specifically did and then outlining the result

  • 0 in reply to Graham Prebble

    I feel its less a case of overthinking and more that some people benefit from structure. If STAR (or another similar approach) doesn't work for you then its ok. But I know of people that struggle with open ended questions and taking a structured approach often helps them.

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  • 0 in reply to Graham Prebble

    I feel its less a case of overthinking and more that some people benefit from structure. If STAR (or another similar approach) doesn't work for you then its ok. But I know of people that struggle with open ended questions and taking a structured approach often helps them.

Children
  • 0 in reply to Mark Tickner

    I think you're right Mark, there is a big problem that (if they are applying correctly) they are faced with a blank sheet to fill in. It's no surprise that they go for the self-assessment form instead which is much more structured, but unfortunately isn't what's wanted.

    However, I think rather than STAR it would be better to define a structured approach that is fitted more closely to what's needed. Something like (and I've just made all these acronyms up very quickly so far from perfect!):

    For each Employment History:

    • B: Business, what is your employer's business 
    • O: Objective, what is the purpose of your role
    • R: Responsibility, overall what are you personally responsible for
    • E: Examples, for current / recent employment give two or three example projects

    And then for each of these example projects:

    • P: Problem, what was the problem you had to solve
    • R: Root cause, how you got to the root cause of the issue
    • I: Investigation, how you developed solutions
    • S: Selection, how you selected the preferred solution
    • M: Manufacture, how you got the preferred solution into practice
    • S: Service, how you ensured the solution worked in service

    And for each of these project steps consider:

    • W: Who, who did you work with
    • I: Inform, how did you Inform them and how did they inform you (how did you get feedback)
    • R: Responsibility, what were you personally responsible for at this stage
    • E: Economics (and Environment), what cost constraints, time constraints, environmental constraints (if applicable) did you have to work within, and how did you manage these
    • S: Standards, what standards and legal requirements did you have to work within, and how did you manage these

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