The standard protocol for working on a resume is to work on it when you’re ready to find your next job. It does make sense. Why would you work on your resume when you’re not looking to move on from your current employer?

However, even if you’re not quite looking to move on, you never know when/if you’ll want to leave – or under unfortunate circumstances – have to leave. It’s for this reason that it’s good to update your resume, not after you leave your employer, but while you’re there and everything’s fresh. However, it’s sometimes difficult to know where to start, so here’s a few tips to get you going.

Note Daily Tasks as You Accomplish Them

Of course, being an executive you don’t have time to note your every move; however, it’s a good idea to keep track of the tasks that you complete as you complete them. The reason that it’s better to keep track of what you do in real time rather than when you’re ready to look for your next gig is because everything’s fresh in your mind at the time.

Think about it. How often do you complain to yourself about your workload, mentally listing everything that you’ll have to do? By this point, probably hundreds if not thousands of times. This is the perfect time to note it all down. Remember, you can always simply sort everything out later if you don’t have time to do it during the project–just copy your notes or to do list.

Keep Track of Exceptional Events

In addition to the goals that you fulfill on a regular basis, you want to be sure to keep track of the exceptional events. Whether you gave a leadership speech that resulted in a new way of operating the company, or you pushed a team of managers through a successful initiative that earned the company tons of money, you want to make sure that you keep track of what occurred.

These exceptional events are usually career-defining moments and something that you want to make sure you’re able to summarize effectively. So rather than minimizing your success later down the line because you’ve forgotten the pertinent details, take time to jot down what occurred while in the moment.

Make Sure to Note the Specifics

When keeping track of the details, don’t forget to make them specific. That is, if you’re jotting down a specific project that you initiated and oversaw, be specific about the number of people you managed, how much money and what items were listed in the budget, how much money was made, how many hours your employees worked, etc. The idea is to be as specific as possible so that a prospective employer down the line can visualize your contributions to a tee.

Hopefully you’ve gotten a chance to see just how beneficial it could be to work on your executive resume while still working. Of course, many people choose to wait until they’re between jobs to update a resume, but why do things the hard way?