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Louise
Garver Answers Career Questions
 Is
your job search stalled? Is your resume closing doors instead of opening them?
Are you landing interviews, but failing to get the offer? Is your job unfulfilling?
Do you know how to recession-proof your career? Louise Garver can help. Send her
your career questions today!
Do you have career questions for Louise? Send them to careerpro@cox.net
By Louise Garver
Do your annual performance reviews come and go with no particular recognition
of the contributions to your organization? Start a work journal to track your
performance. It’s similar to a diary in that you must keep it faithfully, week-by-week,
if it's to have any value to your career. It can be a comprehensive record of
your achievements on the job as a paid employee and also your non-paid activities
at work. It should be detailed enough to record your contributions to progress,
productivity, efficiency, cost cutting, problem solving, etc.
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It's helpful not only to keep notes on what you have done, but also samples of
your work. This, then, becomes the raw material for performance evaluation and
for future resumes. If you keep a record of what you are doing as you do it, you
will not have to spend hours tracking down the information when you need it the
most.
A prospective employer is not likely to be impressed with a vague description
of your contributions to the company that you wish to leave. If you can produce
specific, detailed examples of your achievements, it's far more impressive. In
any stress situation, such as an interview or performance appraisal, it is vital
to be so thoroughly prepared that you can recite your accomplishments without
hesitation.
Once you have the job you targeted and are thinking about promotions and raises,
you'll find the work journal very handy. A common misconception is that the organization
you work for has some kind of meaningful evaluation system, which keeps good records,
notices your outstanding performance, and stands ready to reward you appropriately.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Many performance appraisal systems – when they exist – are often vague, inaccurate,
and/or in the hands of the people to whom your promotion may not be a benefit.
These systems may tend to overlook or minimize many of your most important achievements.
When review or promotion periods arrive, you could be overlooked for a variety
of reasons, including political and social ones. If this happens too often, you
may want to look for another job.
Everyone always seems to know about your failures, but few will know who had the
initial idea, diagnosed the problem, developed the plan, cut costs, or resolved
the problem. In other words, you are the only one who can tout your good works
and you must do so. In order to do it, you need facts and figures.
Record every achievement, idea, report and activity. Every six months (even if
you are reviewed only once a year and are not preparing a resume), look over this
material and write up a one or two-page summary showing what you've contributed
to the company. Start with a statement of your job objective and then support
it with the same kind of statement-but new evidence-you used on your resume.
If you are up for a review, you will want to take along your version of events
and give it to the reviewer. You may discover that, since no one else is as well
prepared as you are, your version becomes the official version and ends up in
your personnel file.
About the Author:
Louise Garver, CMP, CPRW, JCTC, CEIP, MCDP, has assisted senior executives
and management clients worldwide in all aspects of job search, interviewing and
negotiations, development of resume and marketing letters, career transition and
career management since 1985. President of Career Directions, LLC, she is an award-winning,
published and certified career coach, professional resume writer, outplacement
consultant and former corporate recruiter. For help in winning the career your
deserve, visit http://www.resumeimpact.com.
Louise
Garver Answers Career Questions: Click Here For Free Answers
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