Can a work journal increase your dietitian salary?
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Do you keep a work journal? You probably should. If you have never thought about a work journal or can't imagine what it is, then read on. There are many benefits to the work journal.
One benefit of a work journal is it gives you the chance to speak up in your annual performance evaluation or job interview and actively negotiate for a higher salary or compensation boost. Showing your value with solid evidence is key.
Here's how to use a work journal
What is a Work Journal?
A work journal is a relatively new idea. Imagine driving home from work on a Friday smiling to yourself thinking about all that you accomplished during the week, your work wins, challenges you figured out... then you got home and completely forgot about all those wins come Monday or come Performance Evaluation day.
That's where a work journal comes in.
First, what a Work Journal isn't ...
A work journal isn't what might first come to mind ..."Today at work I had a tuna sandwich for lunch!" or, "Today I parked in Lot A - don't forget!".
A work journal also is not a work schedule or a work planner. It's not your list of to-do's or who you should meet with next week. It's bigger than that.
A Work Journal and your Work Wins
A work journal is a chronicle of your quantifiable value, your work successes, mini and maxi successes. It's what you can add to your resume under your quantifiable work success bullet points. It's documenting challenges you overcame at work, positive feedback you have received at work, problems you solved, small achievements, big achievements. All that happens at work.
Why Keep a Work Journal?
You know that feeling when your annual review is coming up and you need to pull together a list of your yearly accomplishments. It's so stressful. Your salary raise may even be dependent on what you accomplished (or didn't) or what you remembered you accomplished.
Or that feeling a client asks for your media kit, which isn't updated, and you need to pull it together FAST.
Keeping a work journal of your successes and wins consistently throughout the year can really help you get ahead and even make more money as a dietitian.
How It Works
It's actually very simple. Whether you are working for yourself or for someone else, you can keep a running list of your work successes and wins, either daily, weekly, or monthly. It can be a digital document or a paper journal. It can be from a template that you download daily or weekly and put into a folder. It can live in your Performance Evaluation folder, if you work for someone else.
If you are running your own business, it can live with your KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) on a spreadsheet or as a printed document. I do both. I like to print out my work journal then enter into my KPI's at the end of the month.
Here are 4 Wins to Include in your Work Journal
Now that you know the benefits of the work journal, here's what you can include to show your wins.
There are lots of different types of wins or successes you can include in your work journal. Some might want to include social media metrics, blog engagement, revenue, or required reports completed. But here are a 4 key wins you should include in your work journal, especially if you work for someone else and need to advocate for your own pay raise.
1. Positive or nice things people say about your work - Your personal testimonials from co-workers, clients, boss, medical staff, etc. Keep a list of these. Watch them add up - not just in your heart but documented on paper.
2. Work accomplishments this day/week/month - Bigs and littles, minis and maxi's. They all add up. Cross check against your job description and department meeting minutes to make sure there is alignment. You want to make sure there is no misunderstanding, especially leading up to your performance review.
3. Struggles or challenges you overcame and how you used your skills (leadership, critical-thinking, problem-solving, team work) to work through the challenge - Add these skills to your resume/CV. These then become your Success Story Circles along with your quantifiable work successes.
4. Quantifiable work success to add to your resume/CV - Some accomplishments are so stellar that you need to immediately add to your resume: "Increased patient satisfaction by 25% in 6 month period of time" or "Decreased HbA1c in outpatient diabetes group by 40% over 9 months in Steps for Success Program".
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How to find work success for your work journal
You might be thinking that you need some inspiration or some examples of work successes for work journaling. We've got you covered.
Here are ways for finding work successes if you are stumped for ideas:
- Performance evaluation - Start with your annual or semi-annual Performance Evaluation. What are you supposed to be doing to get excellent marks? Make a list of the items and start addressing them. When you've got something, document in your work journal.
- Job description - Review your actual job description. HR usually spends a lot of time crafting this document. It's a goldmine of info. It might be vague, e.g., "Ensures excellent patient satisfaction", but still can give you some framework for what you are supposed to be doing. Create a two-column document that lists your job duties in one column and specific examples of how you met that goal like a rockstar in the other column. Think about simple stuff you have done, like maybe you went out of your way to track down a patient's family members for discharge instructions. Or a patient satisfaction success story. These all add up!
- Step-up job descriptions - If your goal is to get promoted within your company, research the next level job description or your manager's job description and identify ways in which you have, or will have, accomplished their responsibilities. Speaking of your boss, don't forget to get them involved. Learn how can you help meet their goals (but where you also get the credit). Or think about your company mission. Research your company's mission and metrics of success. Identify ways in which you have worked on projects that helped meet that mission.
These articles can also help:
Summing it up
Work Journaling can help document your successes so that you can get ahead as a dietitian and even make more money! Tell me how it goes! Share a screenshot or photo or your work journal and tag @nutritionjobs I'll add to my work journal happiness success.
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About the Author
I'm Stacey Dunn-Emke, MS, RDN, Founder of NutritionJobs and established dietetic career expert. I help steer dietetic and nutrition professionals to a successful job search process with NutritionJobs. I am the author of The Dietetic Resume Guide and numerous dietetic career actionables. I give the tools to create a modern standout dietetic resume to land that job interview. I also help with job interview prep and creating All-Star LinkedIn profiles. I have interviewed and hired many dietitians. And in running NutritionJobs since 2000, I have reviewed thousands of dietetic resumes. I work closely with dietetic hiring managers and recruiters to know what standout resume elements land a job interview.
