Create a file that documents your career accomplishments. Recording your successes is beneficial for a number of situations, including:
- Negotiating your salary
- Asking for a promotion or raise
- Answering questions when interviewing
- Performance Reviews
- Updating your resume
- Boosting Your confidence
What Accomplishments should I Document?
You should record all accomplishments. Why?
Because your accomplishment record becomes a time-line for your growth. And on those days that you may feel like nothing is going right, reviewing your list helps you see that you may not be where you want to be, but you’re not where you used to be.
You can make note of how you increased your company’s bottom line, How you helped the organization fulfill its mission statement or problems you solved on your job.
Where should I Document My Accomplishments?
In addition to keeping your list either on paper, on a spreadsheet, etc., You can also document your accomplishments by:
Portfolio. You can create a physical “scrapbook” of your certificates, letters of commendation, recommendation letters, articles written about you, articles written by you.
Personal Homepage. Create a digital portfolio on your own website. What’s nice about having a personal homepage is that you can customize your page to fit your personality. And there’s help. Sites like About.me and onepagelove.com provide templates that you can customize.
LinkedIn. A valuable resource to document your professional achievement, LinkedIn gives you the exposure to millions of people that can potentially connect you to your dream career.
Recording your accomplishments is an essential part in your career plan because you become aware of your strengths and areas of growth.
Do It Now:
1.) Make a list of your accomplishments.
2.) Provide details for each accomplishment. Quantify. Did you increase the company’s bottom line? By how much? Include how each accomplishment helped the company? Be creative.
3.) Share your accomplishments on one of the platforms in this week’s proactive tip.
