JibberJobber is a career management tool, useful before, during and after a job search. The newest feature, scheduled to be released next week, is a non-job-search feature — The Job Journal.
The job journal was something that I kind of remember hearing about in college. We were told to record all the great things that happened in our jobs, so that when we needed to put together a resume we could pull from a list of accomplishments. Or, more frequently, as we had our regular employee reviews we could go in with the list and refresh our manager’s memory, to get that raise 🙂
I didn’t really understand the importance of this until I got laid off and was trying to put together my resume. It was a nightmare. On top of not having the information at my fingertips, all of the emotions of the job loss were clouding my mind. How powerful it would have been to have a list right in front of me!
Then, last year, in discussion with Liz Handlin, the job journal idea came up again. As a career coach she encourages her clients to keep a job journal… to chronicle dates, happenings, etc. She even put up a blog post about it called Keep a Job Diary.
This will be a simple-yet-powerful feature added to JibberJobber. Here are the main things to fill out (this image doesn’t show the description which, which is right under it):
- The date that it happened – you can back-date if you want to.
- What was it? In the image above it’s for the Employee of the Week award.
- What company was this at?
- You can create your own categories, which might include award, major sale, problem solving, etc.
- Tag (or label with keywords) to your heart’s content!
- Good/positive allows you to pull a report of all good things, or all bad things, or both.
- Nice to know, if you can actually back a claim up with supporting documentation (newspaper clipping, certificate, etc.)
- You can rank each entry to show how important it really is in your career management – maybe an employee of the week is only two stars but an employee of the year is five stars!
- Did you get a bonus or raise or any $ from it? Log that here.
Below this section you can put the description, links to newspaper articles, etc. At the request of executive coach Kent Blumberg, you can further break this down into Problem/Action/Results… so your description can be more structured and you don’t forget to include important information.
Thanks to Liz Handlin, Deb Dib, Barbara Safani and Kent Blumberg for their input on this feature, and to the other coaches and resume writers who have encouraged and supported this development – this will be a premium feature, scheduled to release next week.
Still wondering how to get the most out of JibberJobber? Mark your calendars for the free user webinars!
Jason,
This is a fantastic new feature. I’ve always encouraged my clients to track the good things that happen to them during their employment. These items are great when it comes to negotiating a raise, applying for a new position, and tracking your progress.
Keep them coming.
Thom Allen
Awesome, Jason. This is a unique and very helpful new feature! 🙂
Outstanding addition! What a great way to keep a data bank of PAR statements for your resume. Well done JJ!
Whoooo Whoooo!!!! THIS is the kind of thing that makes JJ so NOT a mere job search tool. THIS is yet another career management “big idea” on JJ. I love it and can’t wait to get my clients on board. JJ is turning into one heck of a coaching tool, Jason. Thank you!
Deb Dib, CEO Coach and grateful JJ evangelist.
Wow!! I love the way it looks and all the features. This is really superior to just having a written diary or a word document because you can search for specific entries. Thanks for creating this Jason. This is one of the things I love about Jibber Jobber: you are really open any new idea that creates a better experience for your clients! I cant wait to tell my clients about this.
Liz
Jason,
I have always told people to keep their accomplishments together and close by. I used to recommend everyone keep a “ME” folder in their desk to put a copy of every review, status meeting notes, emails that say “great job”, awards, letters of recommendation, certificates and everything else. Plus end of season financial reports, who you promoted, and so on and so on….. Also not to forget to write little notes to oneself when something meaningful happens.
I also always recommended that a person take the stuff home on a regular basis, these days weekly, to a “Me” box somewhere safe. Now, thanks to your tireless effort, JibberJobber is the new “ME” folder and “ME” box.
It’s important for one to recognize that the value placed on accomplishments and achivements wane over time. Keeping this stuff handy is a great way to go back and refresh your memory and remember that, at the time, it was a pretty important thing you and your team did and the impact valuable. It’s also nice to have those numbers and dates handy.
Great job as always!
It’s funny how some things in the career development field come back again in a new form.
Richard Bolles, who has revised & published What Color Is Your Parachute? for over 25 years, asks people to write out a work autobiography of, at least, 7 accomplishments.
The accomplishments are to be mined for the trail of transferable skills, which run any job seeker’s engine!
And, keeping a current job journal just might help the weary job seeker from having to recollect just what he/she did at age 16 when working at Uncle Joe’s farm.
However, I would not call any record today a job journal. I would call it a record of my accomplishments, big or small. Regards,
Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A.
Certified Career & Job Transition Coach
E-mail: doitnow@nwinfo.net