How to Keep Track of Your Career Achievements All Year Long
Whether you’re considering a career change at the end of the year or you’d like to ask for a raise at your next performance review, compiling your career achievements throughout the year is a great way to keep track of all your wins and to make tweaking your résumé or coming up with talking points for your performance review much easier.
To stand out from other job applicants, it’s absolutely crucial to highlight your achievements on your résumé. Hiring managers and recruiters spend an average of 14 seconds reading each résumé, so using statistics and other data to illustrate what you achieved is essential to capturing their attention and making them want to learn more about you. Only 26% of résumé include at least 5 instances of measurable results, so including plenty of measurable results on your résumé is a great way to stand out and intrigue the hiring manager or recruiter.
Adding qualitative results as opposed to quantitative results is a great way to stand out from those who don’t include data on their résumés, too. You can use qualitative data on your résumé to prove that you added value to your company, even if you work in a field where contributions are not easily measurable in dollar amounts or percentages.
Similarly, during your job performance review, statistics and other data can help you give your supervisor a complete and accurate picture of all that you achieved during the past year. When you provide proof of your achievements, it’ll be much easier for your supervisor to see the value you bring to the company, which may make your salary negotiations go more smoothly.
Many job seekers and professionals wait until they’re gearing up to apply for a job or ask for a raise to start compiling their achievements. By keeping track of your achievements all year long, you’ll make it much easier for yourself to update your résumé or prepare for your performance review later on.
Here are a few tips to make compiling your achievements easier.
1. Write notes, take screenshots, and/or make a spreadsheet: Find a way to keep track of all your major wins at work that works for you. For example, you can jot down a quick note when your boss compliments you on your work or when you contribute to a major project. Include the date and information about your accomplishment in your note.
As you achieve more during the year, compile your notes together to get a comprehensive overview of what you achieved during the year. If your boss or another coworker compliments you via email, Slack, or text message, you can take a screenshot of the message to refer to later. Save your job-related screenshots to a special album in your phone, so you can easily access them. If you’d prefer to make a spreadsheet, you can make a simple spreadsheet including the dates you were complimented or had a big win at work along with information about each accomplishment.
2. Track your metrics: Hiring managers prefer seeing metrics that illustrate what you achieved over reading a list of your job responsibilities. Human eyes also process numbers faster than words, so including figures and data in your résumé can help you make a great first impression during the few seconds the hiring manager spends reading your résumé. Similarly, presenting your supervisor with metrics during your performance review can help you illustrate the impact your work has had on the company during the past year. Throughout the year, keep track of your metrics.
Here are a few examples of metrics you can keep track of during the year:
The total amount of money you brought into the company through your sales each month or quarter
The percentage of sales growth you contributed to the company per month or quarter
The total engagement on the social media posts you create for the company’s pages
The total amount of money or time your streamlined processes help the company to save per quarter
3. Compile your awards and acknowledgments: Keep track of the awards you earn at work and any acknowledgments you receive from your boss. Include the name of the award and the reason you won it in your notes or spreadsheet, so you can refer to it later. If you’ve won the award for multiple years in a row, keep track of the number of times you won the award. If you received any acknowledgments for your hard work, keep track of them, too. Whether you were acknowledged during a meeting or won a small gift as a token of appreciation, include it in your list of achievements to refer to later as you prepare your résumé or prep for your performance review.
4. Keep track of your committee and board positions: Keep track of any leadership positions you held throughout the year. Including your leadership positions on your résumé is a great way to show hiring managers and recruiters that your former employer trusted you to lead a team and make a positive impact on the company. Similarly, reminding your supervisor of your leadership positions during your performance review can help you further highlight the great work you did all year long.
Wrapping Up
With these tips, you’ll be able to make keeping track of your achievements throughout the year simple, and you’ll be able to update your résumé or prepare for your performance review much more quickly.
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