Having learned how personal values, interests, skills, experience and personalities define your career, you need to translate your skills and experience into achievement statements. Examining achievements is an important and rewarding task. Personal achievements point out what you have done successfully in the past. They also show what you are capable of doing in the future. Employers will assess your value by these statements and evaluate how much professional contribution you have made.

Sometimes people take their achievements lightly. This is especially true of Asian immigrants who are more humble when promoting themselves. In the American workplace in which assertiveness is valued, you must be more willing to state your achievements.

Some people thought that work achievements include only major accomplishments such as developing a new product and completing a major project. They overlook some of the simple achievements that have made them successful. For example, consistently completing assignments ahead of schedule and finding ways to do a task with greater ease are achievements, even though you might not identify them as such. Sometime achievements outside of work are as important as those at work because they demonstrate your potential as a valuable employee.

Job seekers who develop achievement statements and use them in the job search often find work faster than those who do not. Therefore, it is important for you to identify your achievements so that other people can see what you are capable of doing.

PAR Stories

In career counseling work, I suggest that employees use a format called PAR to tell their achievement stories. People found strong PAR stories provide not only a vehicle to demonstrate individual strengths and a structure for remembering their achievements, but also a means of personal empowerment.

Here is the definition of PAR.

P - Problem or situation in which the event occurred. The P shows what problem did you solve. You should describe the arena, situation or circumstance in which event occurred and why action was taken.

A - Action taken in response to problem or situation. The A represents how you did it. So organize and briefly describe the action you took in logical sequence.

R - Result and benefit to the company. The R stands for what happened and how was the benefit measured. So think of a result that is measurable.

Given the above information, many people have difficulties in writing their PAR stories. This is especially true of manufacturing employees who do routine work. On the other hand, managers, supervisors and professional employees find it easier to come up with achievement stories.

Writing achievement statements requires hard thinking. It is a test of your abilities to recall, analyze and organize past events and experience. To make it easier for you to complete the PAR stories, two examples are given below.

First PAR Story

"Our team was performing a crucial test on a new software package due for shipping in 24 hours and the power suddenly went out. After everyone tried and failed to reactivate the power at his/her computer station, we decided to go and tell the manger about the power outage. The manager then called in the electrician and the power was restored."

Second PAR Story

"Our production department threw away 2,000 plastic bags that were used to hold greased electronic parts everyday. At 50 cents per bag, the total cost of the bags to the company was $1,000 per day.

I examined the used bags for recycling. I performed cleaning tests on them and found that these bags can be restored to their original condition through simple cleaning. I suggested to the management that it employs a person to clean the bags. The company accepted my recommendation.

The new employee restored all 2,000 bags each day. Excluding the cost of cleansing solutions and employee salary and benefits, I saved the company $750 per day or $187,500 per year."

Which is a better PAR story?

The first story is not convincing. It describes a routine office procedure rather than a creative solution. The employee was not instrumental in solving the problem. It is unclear which employee in the group solved the problem. There was no indication of measurable benefits (amount of time, manpower or money saved).

The second story is more powerful. It shows that the employee was willing to take the initiative and spend time coming up with a workable solution. The story was well organized and each point was placed in proper sequence. The benefit was clearly stated and easily understood. The employee can claim all the credits for solving the problem.

To develop PAR stories, start by looking at the following events and determine if you have been in one or more of these situations at work. And if so, what did you do? What was the outcome of your initiative?

• Running out of parts, supplies, instructions or help.
• A team member called in sick.
• Customer requirements changed.
• Manufacturing machine broke down.
• Increased customer complaints.
• Personal conflicts in the workplace.
• Poor or unsafe working conditions.

To be effective, the PAR stories should be:

• Concise and can be told in 60-90 seconds.
• Something that is beyond your normal work responsibilities.
• Something that you do personally.
• An incident that shows measurable benefits.

Exercise

While writing PAR stores is a challenge, the benefits of doing it outweigh the time and efforts required. To get you started, prepare a PAR story now by filling in the blanks below:

Problem or Situation

Conclusion

PAR stories represent a powerful and convincing ways of demonstrating your value to prospective employers. It shows your organizational, analytical and communication skills. It also answers one of the most important concerns the employer has in mind "prove to me that you deserve so much salary."

In closing, here is some food for thought: If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, you tend to treat all opportunities as nails.