Interview Like a Pro: The Storytelling Method That Gets You Hired
- gmaylone
- Sep 2
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 10
The Secret Sauce Behind Every Strong Interview Answer
Hopefully you’ve already read the 1st two installments in this series:
The "questions you’ll always be asked"
The "90-second test" (can you hook them fast or not?)
Now it’s time to peel back the curtain on the “tools” every hiring manager, HR rep, or panelist wants you to unknowingly use.
📌 You’ll hear a lot of alphabet soup: STAR, CCAR, PAR.
Here’s the deal:
STAR = Situation, Task, Action, Result → The corporate/HR darling.
CCAR = Context, Challenge, Action, Result → The federal/SES/ECQ gold standard.
PAR = Problem, Action, Result → The simple, stripped-down version that coaches love.
Different letters. Same central "We want to know what the issue was, what YOU did, and what the results were" orbit.
All three force you to:
Set the stage (what was going on). Keep this brief: Just enough so people understand the high-level problem, and WHY this was important.
We can use the CCAR method to demonstrate:
Challenge: The company was days away from a major product launch, but a critical software bug was discovered that caused the software to crash when processing large data files. The issue threatened to delay the launch by several months, which would have meant financial losses estimated at more than $10 Million.
Context: A Senior Software Engineer, and a five-person team was responsible for the final quality assurance before the public release. The bug had gone undetected through several rounds of testing, and the pressure from management to deliver on time was immense. I was tasked to assemble a team and solve this problem.
2. Explain what YOU did. (Foot stomp! What "YOU" did part.)
Action: I assembled a team and spearheaded a rapid diagnostic process, leading a team of 3 other senior software engineers for this critical project, we dedicated 12-hour days to dissecting the code and running specialized tests.
By collaborating closely with the Development Team, User Acceptance Team, and by leveraging experience with similar legacy systems, the specific lines of code that were causing the crash were pinpointed. A targeted patch was then developed and implemented to fix the bug.
3. Land the plane with a result that matters. (Make this clear and tangible, so anyone can understand the "what" part)
Result: The patch was successful, and the product was launched on schedule. The actions saved the company an estimated $10.5 million in potential revenue loss, allowing the company to meet its public commitment.
This success was highlighted in my next performance review, where I was praised for such a quick, effective response.
The method is the exact same for STAR, or PAR.
We can take this same answer and change it to:
STAR
Situation: The company was days away from a major product launch,,,,,
Task: I was tasked to assemble a team and solve this problem,,,,,
Actions: I spearheaded a rapid diagnostic process, leading a team of 3 other senior software engineers
Results: The patch was successful, and the product was launched on schedule. The actions saved the company an estimated $10.5 million
PAR.
Problem: The company was days away from a major product launch,,,,, and I was tasked to assemble a team and solve this problem,,,,,
Action: I spearheaded a rapid diagnostic process, leading a team of 3 other senior software engineers
Result: The patch was successful, and the product was launched on schedule. The actions saved the company an estimated $10.5 million
💡The big takeaway from this is: Don't count on the panel being experts in the position they are interviewing you for.
Your answers need to be clear, and at a level anyone can understand. Sometimes more is not better, clarity wins!
💡 Here’s the part people miss: Incorporate this into everything, if you write your resume bullets, or narrative this way, you’re already halfway to interview answers.
If you research the job posting with this structure in mind, you’ll know which stories to pull.
If you "practice" interviewing in this format, you’ll catch your gaps before the panel does.
It’s not rocket science. It’s storytelling with discipline. (Your story)!
👉PRO TIP: Out of the hundreds of times (yes hundreds) I have sat on panels of structured interviews using one of these methods, no matter how clear the instructions were, most people would miss one of the steps while answering.
💡If you are getting scored for your answers, and you miss one of four, or one of three parts of the answer, you have already set yourself back and in a close race, any misses can be the difference between a job offer, and better luck next time.
Some issues I typically see:
🚫Not articulating the importance of the problem. (The panel doesn't understand what the real issue was, not clear what problem you needed to solve)
🚫Spending too much time explaining the context, or using corporate jargon, acronyms, team speak, etc. (Going down rabbit holes that do not add value, having to backtrack on the answer to add more detail, gets muddy and confusing)
🚫Not being clear (and this is a big one) on what YOU did, what role did YOU play, how much of the result can be attributed to YOUR efforts.
🎯Putting some numbers to the results, making the impact clearly understandable. (Think: Cost, Schedule, Performance) How much money, how much time, how much better/closer to the requirement).
🎯What recognition if any did you get for your efforts? A bonus, an award, a certificate, a promotion?
🚫Often it comes across like the interviewee must not have played any significant role, the issue/answer is being inflated, or the interviewee is just plain unprepared.
👉 Interview prep tip: Stop trying to memorize “answers.” Instead, build a small library of stories you can flex to fit almost any question.
🎯Practice answering using the above methods, EVEN IF: the interview is not officially structured using one of these methods, always answering in this way has you prepared, will ensure a complete answer, demonstrates you have a command of the subject matter.
🎯This is where a coach pays dividends. Having someone do mock interviews with you using these methods and give you real time feedback on: your answers, mannerism, cadence, etc. will be life changing when it comes to how you interview!
(Yes, I offer this service, Yes, this is a plug for it. Yes, I am very good at helping people develop this skill set.) Just hit contact us and send me a note, we can discuss your specific needs.
🎯Research tip: When you are doing your corporate research on any company or agency you want to apply for jobs with, start mapping your answers, cover letter, and any resume changes using these methods.
I suggest PAR for this; it simplifies things and is easy to build from.
💡Look at initiatives they have, projects they mention, corporate direction, major investments, 5-10-20-30-year plans if available.
💡All of these things give you clues as to what issues a company or agency may be seeing, future challenges they may face, growth, or contraction that may be in the future, and how you can be an asset to them.
👉Trust me, this attention to detail sets you apart right out of the gate, with your cover letter, resume, and once you get it, your interview.
If you use these methods when:
Doing the research
Developing your stable of standard answers
And when you prep for a specific interview
When the panel asks about leadership, problem-solving, teamwork, or conflict? (Tell us about a time when)
Boom, you can kill it.
🎯You’ve already got the stories — you just plug them into STAR, CCAR, or PAR.
🎯That’s how you turn a resume into results.
🎯That’s how you pass the 90-second test.
“Methods are just frameworks. The magic is your story, told with clarity and confidence.”
“STAR, CCAR, PAR — they’re all just different ways of asking the same thing: Prove you can deliver.”
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