Keep Track of What You Do So Resume Updates Are Easy

Keep Track of What You Do So Resume Updates Are EasyKeep Track of What You Do So Resume Updates Are EasyOne of the reasons its difficult toupdate your resumeis because as time passes, your memory of accomplishments and day-to-day responsibilitiescanfade. If you struggle to remember your plans from last Friday, how will you recall the highlights from your year-end performance review? The trick is to write things down now, so that making updates tojob descriptions on your resumeis easy later on. Heres what you need to know. Why Track Your Work Making resume updates easier is just one reason to keep track of what you do, learn, and accomplish at work. Other reasons include acing your performance reviews and making powerfularguments for promotions and raises. It can also be helpful if you have to write a bio of yourself,whether for an event youre attending or aleidher professional moment. Finally, these notes may make it easier to prepare for bewerbungsgesprchs, and acecommon questio ns, such as What are your biggest accomplishments? and Describe a difficult work situation and how you overcame it. What Should You Track? Since you are not directly updating your resume, be expansive in what you log, however you choose to do so (more on that later). Here are some things to track New skillsIf you attend classes or workshops, note it down. Training sessions at work are also worth noting. Did you learn a new software program? Write that down,too.Awards and praiseDid your boss send around an email to the team touting your work? Did you win salesperson of the year from your organization or get acknowledged by an outside group? Write down the date and substance of accolades and compliments. Projects and tasksThink of this as the day-to-day. Like doing the laundry each week, its both essential and infinitely forgettable. Write down at least thewhat(budget analysis for year-over-year projections), and consider includinghowyou accomplished a task, from obstacles to succ esses. As well as being helpful when you update your resume, this can be valuable as you think through answersto common interview questions. Interactions with co-workers, managers, and people you superviseIf you manage people yourself, youll definitely want to include that on your resume. Other interactions with colleagues wont necessarily make it onto this document, but can stillbe quite helpful during interviews. (For instance, if youre askedquestions about teamwork.)ChallengesAgain, you may not want to include this information on your resume, but many interview questions will center on how youve dealt with difficult co-workers, projects gone awry, and other workplace challenges. If you have notes on that time your team missed the deadline for a big project, and how you recalibrated for the next one, youll be halfway to a sharp interview answer if youre asked about a time you hit a speedbump on a task. Accomplishmentsand results Whether its organizing an event, exceeding a sales q uota, closing a deal, orsaving money, write down the big things you get done at work. Include as many specific, quantifiable details as possible, so you wont have to go into your email archive later for the information. How to Track Your Work This task is deceptively difficult. When you receive a compliment, you might think at the moment, Ill never forget this But if you dont write it down, you might. Here are some ideas for where to write down information Draft email ordocument Keep a running log in a draft email or a word processing document.Journal Or, perhaps you want to track your work using old fashioned pen and paper.Voice recorderIf writings a chore, you could use the voice recorder on your phone or another device to track your work. (Note This might be easy at the time, but potentially harder when updating your resume, since its difficult to skim through recordings.)ListDo you have an app on your phone with your grocery list or another list? Use that to track your work, too. Draft of your resume Create a version of your resume where you add informalbullet points as things happen. When youre ready to update your resume, the information will already be there - youll just need to polish the language.Paper or digital calendar Itmaybe helpful to use a calendar to jot down notes.Digital folder Consider keeping a folder where you save emails, performance evaluations, and other documents that provide helpful background. Wherever you track your work, make sure itllbe accessible even if you lose your ability to log-in to your work computer. So, if its a draft email, save it in your personal email account, not your work one. And put your digital folder in the cloud, not on your work computer desktop. Timing is also critical here. While its good to track events when they happen, that may not always be feasible. Consider setting a quarterly (or monthly or weekly) reminder to jot down some notes. Dont let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Get down notes as often as you can, with as much detail as you can. A typo-ridden sentence that doesnt contain the full picture (but will jog your brain later when youre updating your resume) is better than nothing. Even if your notes are fragmented or sporadic, theyll be helpful down the line.