Use the PAR Format to Showcase Your Accomplishments.

• PAR is the gold standard for resume writing.

• The person-to-person PAR process produces a great resume. Even better, PAR prepares you for the Interview.

• Let the masses settle cookie-cutter templates on Monster and CareerBuilder.

The top resume experts, recruiters and outplacement firms all agree that a winning resume must be “accomplishments based" and not merely a "job description."

The Problem — Action — Result format is a the "gold standard" for showcasing your accomplishments (also called "CAR format," Challenge — Action — Result).

• Old style resume: Usually recited a list of job responsibilities or duties—basically a job description. This information tells a potential employer what you were doing, but not how well you did it.
  
  
• Today's resume: Lists accomplishments or achievements—aka your track record—that tell the reader how you made real contributions for the employer.

When you apply the PAR format your resume automatically answers the interviewer’s hidden objection, namely, “Why should we believe that you can do what you say you can do?”

Your resume--via PAR accomplishment statements--must strongly demonstrate that you can contribute to the employer's needs--usually by helping him make money or by helping him save money. Or both.

Anatomy of a well-written PAR-accomplishment

• Problem (aka “Challenge”)
  Summarizes the background, challenge, or problem, for example: "within tight time frames," "during a departmental move," "while department staffing level was at 50%," "took on additional responsibilities while maintaining current workload."
  
  
• Action
  Tells what you did, and the personal strengths that enabled you to take action. The key here is to be specific and use strong action verbs. (BTW I've got several great checklists to help nail down the exact verb.)
  
  
• Result
  Shows the business impact of your actions. Here we include key deliverables, “measurables" and contributions, all described in terms of the employer's point of view (POV). Sometimes—to help nail down the result—we'll imagine what would have happened if you had not done such a great job. Many resumes make a big mistake by failing to state results from the employer's POV.

Examples of accomplishment statements

Please check the PAR-Accomplishment Examples page to see a detailed examples.

Don't be intimidated by the PAR format

I can draw the answers out of you, methodically and painlessly (more on that later). And, by the way, your resume will sound like you and I are writing and shaping it.