P-A-R Stories – A Must-Use Interview Strategy

Do you want a fail safe way to stand out from the crowd in an interview? Use real-life examples of what you’ve done previously that has prepared you to be successful in your new role. People inherently know that past behavior and performance predicts future behavior and performance.  So make sure you focus on telling the interviewer about specific accomplishments that will help you be successful at their company.

We call them P-A-R Stories. During an interview, you should articulate 3-4 well prepared
P-A-R stories (P=Problem A=Actions R=Result), which outline your most significant accomplishments and worth.

The trick is to know these stories so well that no matter what someone asks, you can modify the way you tell the story to answer the question. So, before an interview, take the time to literally write out all the details you can remember about your accomplishments. In the pressure of an interview, these details will not be easily retrieved. But the details make the story much more impactful and create the visualization that is so important.

Use this simple format:

Problem – clearly outline what was going on in the company that needed to be addressed
Actions – step by step, what did you do to affect the problem? Talk about time frame, systems and software you used, specific clients or vendors involved, internal teams you worked with, budgets, and challenges along the way.
Results – ultimately, how did your actions impact the company? Talk about how you increased revenues, reduced costs, saved time, increased efficiency, etc. These quantifiable results will ultimately be the reason you win the job over someone else.

Let’s see how this works…

Sample Question: So, tell me about your work at Dermalogica.

Answer: Well, at Dermalogica, my main responsibility was to manage the product development of our new color line. We were given 10 months and a budget of $75,000. My first step was to map out the milestone dates utilizing MSProject, then we began concept development with the creative and marketing teams. Then…(next steps.) We ended up launching the new color line within 9 1/2 months and came in under budget by $7,500 through some strong negotiations with our packaging and filling vendors. We sold $750K of the line its first year on the market.

The answer you give should be about 2 minutes. And you could use this same P-A-R story to answer a question about your project management skills, how you work with a team, your negotiation experience, or your product development background simply by framing the story a bit differently and highlighting different parts of the story.

Only 10% of the candidates we interview give us real life examples without us asking for them. If you are part of that 10%, you will clearly and naturally make a much stronger impression on the person you interview with. Good luck!!

And for more interview tips, please visit the Candidates  page of our website.