r/datacenter • u/ShiftSmooth2673 • 2d ago

AWS DCO / IT Support Tech Screen: Did strict STAR & nerves hurt my chances?

I recently completed a 60-minute technical phone screen for an AWS Data Center Technician / IT Support Engineer role in Germany.

During the technical portion, I answered all the technical questions asked during the call. When I asked the interviewer for his thoughts on this part at the end, he explicitly confirmed: "The technical part was pretty good, that's what I can tell you".

For the behavioral portion, he asked four scenario questions using the STAR method. I answered all of them with structured stories and handled his follow-up questions without getting stuck.

When I asked for overall feedback at the end, the interviewer mentioned that I sounded somewhat nervous and could have been more relaxed. He also noted that I strictly said the literal STAR words out loud ("So the situation was...", "My task was...", "The action I took was...", "The result was...") instead of letting the stories flow naturally. I explained that the recruiter who prepped me explicitly instructed me to use that exact structure, to which he replied that if the recruiter told me that, it doesn't matter. He told me I would receive the official decision by Wednesday under the 2-Day Promise.

Does sounding nervous or explicitly stating the STAR headings hurt a candidate's chances for an AWS screen if the technical answers were validated as pretty good and the underlying stories were complete? What are my realistic chances of moving to the onsite loop?

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u/cluelessbouncer 1d ago

Not sure if it's due to your region, but I always suggest, if the candidate is having a hard time keeping to STAR, to say them out loud. Not sure why that would hurt your chances

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u/ShiftSmooth2673 1d ago

Thanks for the reassurance! That was exactly my goal to make sure every required part of the structure was covered. I've been quite worried, but hopefully everything goes well.
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u/RevolutionNo4186 1d ago

When I conduct interviews, I don’t really care if you’re nervous or if you said STAR out loud, if anything saying STAR out loud helps me to organize my notes easier, ofc you should at least be practicing your interviews, but at the end of the day I personally see if you fit the leadership principles to a standard

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u/ShiftSmooth2673 1d ago

Thank you for the insight! That really helps. I'm still a bit nervous waiting for the final result, but hopefully everything goes well.

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u/RevolutionNo4186 1d ago

Caveat is that every interviewer does things differently

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u/ShiftSmooth2673 1d ago

But the question will this impact on my overall performance in the interview?

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u/RevolutionNo4186 1d ago

It can, if the interview didn’t think you fit the role they’ll explain why they didn’t, if the other interviewers think you did good, they’ll explain their side, it’ll end up to the hiring manager to look through the notes and make the final decision

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u/ShiftSmooth2673 1d ago

Thanks! Just to clarify, this was just the initial 1-on-1 technical phone screen to see if I qualify for the loop, not the full loop itself, so it's only this single interviewer deciding if I move forward.

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u/RevolutionNo4186 1d ago

Ohhhh, then I have no idea who that would be then, the process I know is recruiter initial screen > loop > approve/reject