Gary Will's WORKSEARCH:
Selling Yourself To An Employer
Chapter 9: (continued)
Preparing to Answer
From the book How to Prepare for an Employment Interview.
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This book shows you how to sell yourself in an employment interview.
[Chapter 9: continued from here
] ...For each of the key skills and traits you identified, you should think of an example that you can cite from your previous experience where you've used that skill or trait. For each of the key tasks that you've identified, you can either recall an example where you've done it in the past, or describe where you've done something that requires similar abilities.
A popular and effective way to organize your stories is to use the "PAR" method. PAR stands for Problem - Action - Result, and it's a technique that was devised to ensure that you tell a complete story -- from the problem that you faced to what you accomplished.
Here's the general format:
1.PROBLEM: Background information on the problem that you or the organization faced that you had to solve. Can also include the reasons why solving it was important-the opportunities behind the problem-and why you were selected to handle it.
2.ACTION: What you did to solve this problem.
3.RESULTS: What you achieved-the value you created. How the organization benefited from the actions you took.
(Some writers use "PSR"-Problem - Solution - Result, "STAR" -- Situation - Task - Action - Result, or other formulas, which are really all the same thing.)
You'll notice that all of these parts of the story are about the past -- what you've done for someone else. Since the interviewer really only cares about what you can do for his or her organization, I've added a fourth element:
4.TRANSFERABLES: How will the skill or trait ...[continued here]
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