Is your CV and LinkedIn profile updated?

The past few days I’ve been working on updating my CV and LinkedIn profile (still in progress), so I had to take some time to think and write down some of the most important things of my career and I wanted to share my thoughts about this exercise.

I think that most of us, when we have a job or we are not actively looking for new opportunities, we don’t take the time to have our professional profile up to date and maybe we don’t build new professional connections out of our circle, which is a huge mistake and here are some reasons why:?

1.???? You don’t know you need it until you need it.

Don’t wait for this moment!

It will save you a lot of time if at some point you feel the need of changing job or you lose your job.

Don’t think that it is something to do only when you are unemployed or looking to move to another company. As part of your career growth, you may also look for internal moves.

You better have all set to go for it either internally or externally!?

2.???? It is a great exercise to remember and document all your achievements.

As time passes, we forget some of our accomplishments. It is normal as we start to have a lot of information from many years.

3.???? It makes you feel proud of yourself and valuable.

It feels so good to look back and see your professional history and successes. After seeing this, it may give you more confidence to go for that new role and remember the value of your experience.

4.???? The content will help you to better assess your performance reviews on your current job with your manager.

Have you ever felt not being 100% prepared to discuss with your manager about your performance or feeling that you are forgetting to mention many things? No one knows better than you everything you have done. Give to this the importance it has. Your next career steps may depend on the outcome of these meetings, and not less important, your bonus, salary increase or promotions.

5.???? Always keep your eyes open to what companies are looking for.

Be open, there may be great opportunities and companies out there! Companies and roles change. The market may require new abilities that you could be missing, or your current role could evolve into something different for what you should be prepared.

6.???? Interact and build connections!

The world is much smaller than you think. If we are connected, our paths may cross in the future even if we haven’t met each other or we may work together again in the same or new company if we have done it in the past.

Be nice. It is a very basic principle that applies to every aspect of our life.

The list could continue but these could be some of the key reasons.

If you do this constantly, you may see the results on many ways and an important part of the work would be already done when you need it.

LinkedIn should be updated even more you do any of your other social media profiles, especially considering that this one tells what you really do most of the time and are paid for.