You’ve already created your ‘Skills and Story’ outline, so now it’s time to polish your writing. Start by writing an autobiography: it will reveal areas of your life that you wish to discuss with an interviewer, and some you may not wish to. Then describe 30 of your best professional characteristics and underline them with examples drawn from previous work experience. Pick the top 12 and write 100-400 word stories about them, focusing on the skills you used in each accomplishment.

To ensure your stories are memorable, use the ‘SOAR Sell’: that stands for Situation, Opportunities, Actions, Results – and the ‘Sell’ part: it’s just another form of your 60 Second Sell. Remember, never speak for longer than 60 seconds at a time in an interview – or you’re asking for trouble from a disinterested interviewer. Instead, stick to your 60 Second Sell or SOAR Sell to insure interview success.

Here’s how you create your SOAR Sell – start by writing down the following:

Under ‘Situation’, review a job that you did by describing the situation when you began: it should be no more than one sentence long – and make it catchy! If this were a TV show, it would be your scenario. For example: “The company I had just joined recruited 5,000 people a year, but had never created a good training program.”

Next, under ‘Opportunities’, talk about what opportunities the job presented you to show off your particular skills. Use no more than two sentences and be very clear about where your strengths lie. For example, you could write “When I joined KM Systems, sales were dropping for over two years. Due to my extensive knowledge and experience in the company’s markets, I saw the opportunity to target new areas.”

Next: the most important part of the SOAR Sell: ‘Actions.’ Describe the actions you or your team took to turn the situation around and save the day. Don’t be shy here: use this opportunity to show off your initiatives, your innovation, and/or your process – whatever applies to the situation you’re describing. Keep your actions in chronological order so it’s easy for the interviewer to follow along form a memorable mental picture of what you undertook to achieve.

Now relate what results occurred. If possible, try to quantify: for example, you cut costs by $100,000 or by 30%. When you’re communicating this, smile! It’s your time to shine!

The SOAR sell means telling your whole story: if you deliver it well, it will make a far greater impact on the interviewer than some dry recitation of ‘when’s’ and ‘where’s’: BORING! Use your SOAR Sell to shine: and be a winner every time.

Read the next interview coach Interview Tip: To Be or Not to Be

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