kranky
Elite Member
Wouldn't it be great if you could write your own performance evaluation? Well, you can (almost)!
It's the beginning of the year. Start keeping track of your accomplishments in 2007. You should keep a week-by-week list of what you did. Do you have specific tasks you have to accomplish in 2007? Make sure you don't forget about them. Keep a list of what you did along with other notable incidents each week. Some examples of things to keep track of:
- Saved employer money
- Finished a task on time
- Output was of high quality
- Was complimented
- Had a suggestion implemented
- Did something beyond your normal duties
When the end of the year rolls around, go through your list of things and organize them to align with your company's format for documenting performance evaluations. Write it up as if you were reviewing yourself, but don't go overboard on the boasting. Keep it factual, especially including any failures, but this is the time to emphasize your achievements. If you have negative things to report, mention something about what you learned from it and/or how you will prevent it from happening again.
About a month before the performance reviews are due, give your boss a copy of your self-review (labeled appropriately).
Here's the thing: your boss doesn't like writing performance evaluations, especially if there is some mandatory, long, detailed form. They take a lot of time to do well, but sometimes bosses take shortcuts and zip through them. But because YOU did all the work already, I can practically guarantee that a great deal of your self-review will end up in your official review. Very few bosses can resist saving a lot of time by reformatting and rewording some of what you gave him/her. Since what you wrote is going to be positive overall, this will help get you a better performance evaluation.
But if for some reason you had a miserable year, skip the self-review unless you are required to do one.
It's the beginning of the year. Start keeping track of your accomplishments in 2007. You should keep a week-by-week list of what you did. Do you have specific tasks you have to accomplish in 2007? Make sure you don't forget about them. Keep a list of what you did along with other notable incidents each week. Some examples of things to keep track of:
- Saved employer money
- Finished a task on time
- Output was of high quality
- Was complimented
- Had a suggestion implemented
- Did something beyond your normal duties
When the end of the year rolls around, go through your list of things and organize them to align with your company's format for documenting performance evaluations. Write it up as if you were reviewing yourself, but don't go overboard on the boasting. Keep it factual, especially including any failures, but this is the time to emphasize your achievements. If you have negative things to report, mention something about what you learned from it and/or how you will prevent it from happening again.
About a month before the performance reviews are due, give your boss a copy of your self-review (labeled appropriately).
Here's the thing: your boss doesn't like writing performance evaluations, especially if there is some mandatory, long, detailed form. They take a lot of time to do well, but sometimes bosses take shortcuts and zip through them. But because YOU did all the work already, I can practically guarantee that a great deal of your self-review will end up in your official review. Very few bosses can resist saving a lot of time by reformatting and rewording some of what you gave him/her. Since what you wrote is going to be positive overall, this will help get you a better performance evaluation.
But if for some reason you had a miserable year, skip the self-review unless you are required to do one.
