Any time of year is a good time to do a career tune-up. The trick is finding time to do it.
And isn’t this a great time of year to begin anew! Summer vacations are behind us and now it is back to work. We are a bit more than half way through the calendar year and you’ve had some successes you need to take inventory of and document!
Recording Your Achievements
It’s time to step back and review what you’ve done over the past 12 months.
It’s always best to do this when you aren’t feeling pressured because of an upcoming annual performance review or layoff.
Make a list of all your accomplishments – big and small. These are your tasks/goals
Next, identify the steps you took to help you complete the task/goals. These are Actions.
Finally, list the results or outcomes of your actions. It’s best to quantify or qualify the results. Think about what happened because you took those actions (also consider what didn’t happen).
While you are at it, this is a great time to set new goals for the remainder of the year too!
Reasons To List Career Accomplishments
You need to do this for many reasons:
- Performance reviews are largely driven by the information you provide to your manager
- These become content for your resume and stories to tell during interviews
- They help you see exactly how far you’ve come (or how you need to improve)
Taking Credit Where Credit is Due is the new “normal” required of employees and job seekers today. Being too humble won’t cut it!
What Is Your Reputation?
Whether you call it personal branding or something else, how you present yourself and the impression others have about you is what matters.
Sure, you can be the best worker ever, but if no one knows that, what good will it do?
When everyone is pushed to their limits and managers have too much on their plates taking care of you and your professional development tends to slip off their radars.
YOU can and should influence how your work is perceived. Not just inside your company, but outside too!
Here are some thoughts on how you can refine your personal reputation and give yourself a career tune-up. !
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.
