How to make performance review season work in your favor

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Perhaps this is unconventional, but there's one thing always I tell my team to do when we're discussing their performance review:

Update their resume and LinkedIn.

It’s always a bit of a funny conversation if I’m being honest. “Before I forget—now that we’re done with this performance review season, you should use this information to update your resume and LinkedIn.”

I always get a blank stare. Why would I recommend something like that? Am I being mildly threatening?

Of course not. But I still think this is necessary.

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Here’s the thing: performance reviews are packed with gold—metrics, accomplishments, and outcomes that demonstrate your value. But too often, those insights stay locked in a performance management tool to be discussed in a single meeting, forgotten until next review season.

I know, because I deal with the same thing. This is also a topic I frequently talk about in my course. In fact, I have an entire module dedicated to driving this point home because we all need to hear it.

When I make this suggestion, I don’t mean you should go out and look for a job. I want you to be happy at the company and on my team. I bring it up because your resume and LinkedIn serve multiple purposes:

1. You’ll always be ready for unexpected opportunities. This isn’t necessarily for the job hunt. You never know if you’ll need an updated resume for an award nomination or you make a dream connection on LinkedIn. I need my resume when I’m nominated for UGA’s 40 under 40. (I’ll get it eventually.)

2. On down days, you can look at everything you've accomplished recently. I like to keep a "wins folder" for days like this, but your LinkedIn and resume can tell a similar story.

3. Reflecting on your growth helps you tell a clearer, more compelling career story. You’ll be able to better describe how you got from point A to point B—from mid-level to senior, or from IC to EM, for example.

The bottom line: Your resume and LinkedIn aren’t going to magically update on their own. You might as well use the information you already have to take care of it. If you want to go a step further, set aside an hour every 3 months to update them. You’ll find writing your self-review to be a lot easier with time.

Want to work with me? Here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Upgrade to paid membership: You’ll get VIP access to Friday deep dives on newsletter topics shared on Tuesdays, as well as the archive of all free Tuesday posts. This includes scripts and templates you can put to use immediately.

2. Sign up for a future session of my course: I’ll help you learn how to identify and coach team members, manage conflict up and down the chain of command, and give and receive effective feedback.

3. Sign up for 1-on-1 coaching: If you prefer to learn alone, I offer one-on-one coaching to aspiring and new tech leaders.