Motivation

By Gerry Gilpin


If a professional golfer completes a hole in par, it is to be expected because that is the number of shots that a player of his/her ability should take for each hole.

The measure of success is the number of times that a hole can be completed in less than par. This can be the difference between winning and losing.

On the other hand, to the handicapped player, a par is an aspiration. When it occurs it is remembered and talked about with great pride, every shot being relived and often explained in great detail.

So a PAR is a measure of skill and success.

Familiar words? There is no doubt that the more you can demonstrate skills and success in your career to date, the more likely it is that you will succeed if you are looking for that career move, or that promotion or that new job.

But it is more than that. It is down to your ability to articulate clearly and concisely each PAR you have had, without boring the listener, and your ability, or lack of it, that can be the critical difference between you winning or losing.

But what then is a PAR? P identifies the 'problem', challenge or circumstance you faced that required special or exceptional performance or talent.

A describes the 'action' or approach that you took to solve the problem, meet the challenge or seize the opportunity.

R describes the 'result' of the action you took and is best expressed in terms of money, percentages, days, headcount, sales, costs or savings.

This simple formula will be very valuable in your career quest.

Since PARs make it easy to describe your accomplishments, you will be able to weave them into interviews and discussions naturally and with ease.

Accomplishments will normally occur when you: - increased sales, reduced costs, improved profitability; - took the initiative to solve a problem; - saw an opportunity for improvement or developed a plan and carried it through to successful completion; - created a new function, service, department or product that filled an important niche; - devised and carried through a complex plan or process, perhaps for the first time; - handled an emergency situation or crisis successfully; - received awards or recognition for your contributions to business or personal life; - helped increase the performance of a team through your ideas or recommendations; - led changes that improved quality, time or customer focus, saving time and money.

Once you have identified your PARs, and you should try to have four to six in each of the positions you have held over the last 10 years or so, the next task is to express each one as a simple and concise statement.

Let us look at a few examples of a PAR statement: n increased production by 25% while saving £250,000 annually in operating costs; - reduced annual selling costs by £70k (20%); - developed a pricing strategy that gained a foothold in the highly competitive French market; - led the due diligence for the successful purchase of a company with assets of £20m; - controlled and implemented the annual salary reviews across all three plants; - introduced a CAD system that yielded 3% savings on materials (£300k per annum); - reorganised the stores department reducing stock held by 15% (£75K per year).

When you have completed this 'soul searching' and time-consuming exercise, you will find yourself using these statements in your CV or as part of your 'personal portfolio'.

This can also impact significantly on the interview.

For example, as your interviewers talk about their business problems, you can respond "that reminds me of how we tackled a similar problem in my company"; then you give them the PAR.

If you have been concentrating on highlighting what your responsibilities were, and not what you have accomplished, there is a real likelihood that you will tell what the prospective employer already knows.

Not only that but the tenor of your conversation will lack a sense of conviction, enthusiasm and pride.

The result could well be that you will perform well below par.

This is something that in today's competitive job market you cannot allow.