One of the best pieces of advice Maddie Machado received from a former boss at Microsoft was to keep track of all her career wins.
Machado would log “anytime I did a good job, anytime I made someone’s life easier, anytime I got kudos” first in a Microsoft document, then a running email draft and now in a slide presentation. She calls it a “brag doc” and says she’s used it in every interview for the last 10 years.
Machado, 35, is a reverse recruiter and founder of SkillScript, a resume platform, in Tampa, Fla.
The concept of documenting your career wins isn’t new, but her method categorizes four specific aspects of your professional success:
- What I’m good at: What roles and responsibilities come naturally to you that’s harder for others? What tasks are you constantly complimented about? These are your “corporate superpowers,” Machado says.
- What I deliver: This section should highlight the impact of your unique skills, Machado says. For example, if you’re really great at cross-functional collaboration, you likely deliver efficient teams and great communication. Think of it this way, Machado says: “What is something that wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t there? Or what is something that wouldn’t have happened as well as it did if you weren’t there?”
- What I’m most proud of: These are the “exceptional” accomplishments where you went above and beyond, Machado says. Some of her favorite guiding questions: Did you save the company money? Did you make the company money? Did you save the company time? Did you create a process improvement that created more efficiency? Think big picture in terms of your impact on your team and the business.
- Why they should hire me: Finally, when you’re preparing a brag doc for a new job, tailor this section to demonstrate your alignment with the role, the team and the company you’re applying to. Research the company’s mission and culture and show how you’d be a good fit. For example, if the company is known for moving fast, this is the time to tell them that you work best that way, too. Your elevator pitch here should show that “not only would you be a good fit technically, but you’re also a good fit for the company as a whole,” Machado says.
Better than a resume or cover letter: ‘No one’s reading cover letters’
Machado says having a brag doc on hand can help you network and could make a bigger impact than a traditional resume or cover letter.
“No one’s reading cover letters,” Machado says. “Even when I was a recruiter for so many years, I can count on maybe one hand how many times I actually read a cover letter.”
A brag doc, meanwhile, is “a time for you to toot your own horn,” Machado says. “It’s hard to see on your resume the amount of impact and the things that you actually owned and are actually proud of.”
It also shows off the most important aspects of a candidate a hiring manager wants to know, Machado says, based on her time working with hiring managers at companies like Meta and LinkedIn.
Hiring managers will generally already know what you do day-to-day in your role, Machado says, but are looking for what you’ll bring to a new company and things that will make them think, “Wow, look at what she did there. Imagine what she could do here,” she says. “And that’s what your brag doc is doing.”
A brag doc is a useful resource to attach to your application, to follow up with a hiring manager on LinkedIn after you’ve applied for a role, or even to cold-message someone to network, Machado says. It won’t necessarily get you the job right away, but it could get you in the hiring pipeline that much faster.
Then, use it to prepare for interviews and negotiate a strong offer, Machado says.
“It’s nice to be able to remind yourself what you’ve accomplished so far, whether it’s big or small, and also be able to share with other people,” she says.
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