👋🏽 Welcome back! It's Tebogo with this week's blog post. Last week, we looked at why you need a brag document. If you don't know what a brag document is or why you need it, check out the article here.
This week, we're building on the concept of brag documents by exploring how you can leverage it for career growth.
Regularly Update and Review
The benefit of a brag document comes from its content, and it greatly benefits from regular updates.
Update Frequency: It is important to regularly update your brag document. This avoids the need to recall events weeks later. Instantly noting achievements ensures your document is always current. Whenever you achieve something, take 2 minutes to note it down in your brag document.
Review Frequency: Think of a brag document as a write-heavy datastore. After some time, you'll need to go read and review what was written down. I review my brag document every quarter but this can be done monthly as well. Set some time aside to go through what you have achieved since your last review and adjust your career goals accordingly.
Personal Branding and Networking
A brag document is an indication of your hard work and achievements. You can use it to help promote your personal brand and to network.
Professional Networking: When you review your brag document, look for achievements that you can add to your LinkedIn profile or post as updates. If you are at a networking event, this gives you a lot of points to talk about. (don't go checking your brag document on your phone every 2 minutes.)
Sharing Successes: Sharing your achievements through platforms like LinkedIn and even internal communications at work can be seen as some form of mentorship. Use your brag document to reflect on your past achievements and share them with others.
Preparing for Interviews and Job Applications
As much as your brag document is used for documenting wins in your current work, it can be useful for preparing for interviews or filling in job applications.
Interview Preparation: Your brag document serves as a detailed inventory of your achievements, projects, and skills. When you are preparing for an interview, use your brag document to craft stories around your achievements and experience, preferably using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Use it in answering behavioural interview questions, such as those starting with "Tell us about a time when...".
Job Applications: Integrating your achievements into your job applications is one of the best things you can do when applying for new jobs. Add your achievements to your cover letters, resumes, and your LinkedIn profile. Is the potential company big on Kubernetes and you have a few wins in that space? Include it in your cover letter.
I have made a copy of a brag document template made by Julia Evans for your own convenience here.
Please share your experiences in the comments, and if you found this article insightful and helpful, feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues.
Thanks for reading! 📖