Career Journal lists six tips for acing your year-end review as follows:
1. Be prepared.
2. Be sure to share one or two stories that illustrate how you've gone above and beyond the call of duty.
3. Study your weaknesses.
4. During your review meeting, take notes.
5. Keep the conversation focused on yourself, advises Erisa Ojimba at Salary.com.
6. By the end of your review, try to reach some kind of consensus about your overall performance.
Decent tips (not great, mind you). The one I like best is #1. Here it is with details:
Be prepared. Conduct a self-review before you meet with your manager. Be honest with yourself -- evaluate how well you managed your objectives, summarize what you accomplished and give yourself an overall rating. Be sure to include detailed information. Did you save the company time and/or money on a certain project? Determine the numbers. It also helps to create a detailed list of everything you've accomplished since your last review. It's good to have concrete information you can point to when you're meeting with your boss.
This is good advice -- the same I shared regarding interviewing in How to Answer Tricky Interview Questions, Part 1. In that piece, I suggested the following system for interviews:
1. I write down the questions I expect them to ask. My last list was somewhere in the 30-question range.
2. I write out an answer for each question. This takes time and effort as I write them out (really type them on the computer), then edit and re-edit them a few times. I get them to the point where they are short yet packed with examples from past work experiences that highlight my points and make the interviewer salivate at the thought of hiring me.
3. I also add some questions I have for them. Don't think you can just come up with these on the spur of the moment. Instead, think about them in advance, then write them down.
4. I rehearse the answers to the interview questions over and over until I can deliver them flawlessly. I concentrate on hitting all the main points as well as making sure that the answers sound new/fresh/unrehearsed. You can only get to this point after going over them again and again. I usually review them once a day for two weeks prior to the interview.
I have personal experience doing this and I know it works like a charm. I go in knowing that I have great answers to almost anything they ask and as such I'm more confident, relaxed, and prepared (especially compared to the competition). Using this method, I've ALWAYS gotten a second set of interviews and have had a job offer all but one time (and then only when I was interviewing for a spot that I was under-qualified for). Try it for yourself and you'll see what I mean.
The same can be done for job reviews. List your accomplishments, write down a succinct description of each of them, then rehearse how you're going to deliver them.
Why all the time and preparation for a "simple" performance review? Well, it's because your career is your most valuable financial asset, and you need to actively manage it to help achieve its full potential. Doing this well can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime.
Besides, once you look at all you've accomplished, you might feel like it's time to ask for a raise. ;-)
Or, just work in a straight commission job and answer to no one! (As long as you're selling!)
Posted by: Caleb Morken | December 22, 2006 at 12:07 AM