Protocol
Record the outcome and your contribution while the evidence is fresh
Career evidence decays faster than the work did.
When it fits
- Months later, you remember the project but not what changed or which part was yours.
When to avoid it
- Do not claim confidential metrics, causal effects or sole ownership you cannot support.
Why it matters
At meaningful milestones, record the starting problem, your specific action, outcome, scale and safe verification source. Distinguish team result from personal contribution. Preserve numbers only when you can explain what they measure.
Steps
- A future case description can distinguish your contribution from the team's overall success.
An example
'Reduced reconciliation from two manual passes to one by redesigning the validation step' is captured before the project artifacts disappear.
Check your result
A future case description can distinguish your contribution from the team's overall success.
Keep this limit in mind
- Do not claim confidential metrics, causal effects or sole ownership you cannot support.
Connected ideas
Useful withAttach evidence to every skill you want others to believe
Evidence and sources
Supports
OECD's 2026 brief on skill use emphasizes examining how skills are actually used at work, not only whether workers possess them.
Skill-use frequency is not the same as proficiency or labour-market value.
Putting skills to work · Abstract