Week 12: Build Your Brag Book to Highlight your Value

I discovered that one of the fastest ways to advance your career and become invaluable at work is to demonstrate you can do something and do it well. As we move forward, polishing your skills and then showing off your abilities will be a critical step in your success. 

For me, I didn’t sit around and wait for opportunities. As I grew my network, I intentionally showed interests in different projects in the company and was able to work on those projects. Each of these projects worked as a stepping stone to the next project. I made sure that as I built my skills, I updated my Brag Book to show off all that I was learning and was capable of doing. Not only did I have the evidence to show others my value, but I was also able to reinforce my confidence and fight imposter syndrome.

As you build your skills, it is extremely important that you document the skills you learn. Employers love to see how you overcame a challenge, how you work with other people, and the end results of your work. One lesson I’ve learned: document the work you do in the moment so that you don’t forget what you’ve accomplished. 

This week, we turn our attention to learning. In Week 5, you reflected on the skills you would need to meet your Main Goal and you budgeted time in your week for learning. We will circle back to that time we created for ourselves to make sure we are using it effectively, and, at the end of the week, we will make time to communicate our value by using LinkedIn and other professional networking resources to tell others about the work we are doing.