Over the past couple of weeks there have been a larger-than-usual number of emails and LinkedIn messages from my connections telling me about a move from one position to another, up the career ladder.
Great news is always fun to receive.
I always congratulate the person via LinkedIn’s stay in touch function and email separately to remind him/her to update their LinkedIn profile to fully document the move from one position to another:
- Go back one position and tell us what you learned and the values you carry to the next one.
- Get a LinkedIn recommendation from a former supervisor or colleague telling how and why you were instrumental there.
- Add some comments to the new position you took to say how you are accelerating the learning curve in your field.
“What a great idea!” is often the response.
Really? Should this be a great idea? Or better, shouldn’t this rather be an automatic function taken to document one’s career path.
So I return another email and advise that they take another larger look at what they tell us all throughout their personal profile. I get it–you’re busy acclimating to the new role, new city, new living conditions. Stop for just a minute to review, and if needed, to rewrite, your own history.
Be sure it properly tells your story–in your words.
