Welcome to Job Hunt January!
Hello and happy New Year, everyone!
I hope you had a restorative holiday season and feel ready to take on 2024. To that end, I’m dedicating this month to preparing for your next job hunt. Whether you’re currently looking for something new or just want to dust off the ol’ resume in case something comes up, each week I’ll share one quick tip to prepare for your next opportunity.
But first! To kick off the year, I’m offering a limited number of one-on-one career chats to subscribers. Reserve your slot early as these tend to go fast!
I started these virtual office hours years ago to manage the flow of requests to “pick my brain.” I’m glad to discuss careers in audience engagement/collaborative journalism or your career river journey more generally. These sessions are private unless you specifically give permission to share something from our conversation.
If you’d like to connect on a virtual session — absolutely free — sign up here.
💼 Rock that resume with an achievement tracker
Whether or not you’re currently on the job hunt, there’s a very quick and easy step you can take today to supercharge your resume: start an achievement tracker.
This can take whatever form makes the most sense for you. I have a Google Sheet where I park meaningful accomplishments and kudos. That’s how I was able to dig up those tweets about my career chat sessions so quickly! You can copy this for your own use: Template: Professional Development Tracker.
If a spreadsheet’s not your style, use any system that is intuitive for you. I know someone who has a desktop folder where she puts congratulatory messages. You could use an email label or even print out and store documents.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure it’s easy to save and find information. And then, use it as you go and park anything you want to remember in your tracker as it happens.
This is a handy tool not only for updating your resume but also for writing a bio blurb, prepping for your annual review or to remind yourself why you’re great anytime you need a boost.
Because I’ve kept this tracker, now anytime I introduce myself I can share the exact number of newsrooms I’ve worked with as an audience engagement consultant and collaborations manager (currently 131). This level of concrete detail will help you stand out.
I encourage you to start your tracker as soon as you finish this post. And if you have any tracking tips to share, please share in the comments!
Happy navigating,
Bridget
If you are in resume mode, you may want to check out this Jan. 18 workshop from career coach Phoebe Gavin: Resumes That Pop (Without So Much Pain!)