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Brian Watkins

Create Your Brag Book

My oldest daughter is finishing up her internship and getting ready to apply for jobs. She is facing something that too many professionals know about - what to add to a resume.

Templates and advice are available everywhere on the internet - much of it bad advice. We give the resume too much power - but I'll ignore going into that rant here.

The hardest thing about any resume is writing out your accomplishments (in her case, because she is so early in her career).

I tell her what I tell all professionals - start to keep a brag book. When you have a success, no matter how little, add it to the brag book. Write down the situation, what you did, the result, and what skills you called on to be successful. Be sure to add these when they happen so the event is fresh in your mind. When someone compliments you or sends you a congratulations, put it in the brag book.

Then, when it comes time to have to talk about your accomplishments - on a resume, in an interview, or during performance review time - you have it all in your file. You don't have to try and remember or think about the situation, it's all there.

Managers - suggest your team does this. Tell them that you are creating a file on them where you are recording the things they do well and the things they could improve on. Teach them to have their own file so they can have evidence when it comes time to promote themselves.

Plus, on those days when things don't go as planned, they can pull the book out and remember how great they are.

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