7 Tips on Preparing for Your Performance Review

The review is going to help your employer find out not only how you are currently doing, but if you’ve lived up to the goals you originally said you’d achieve. Do a self-evaluation on your own to see if you can list your previous goals and how you’ve accomplished each of them. This would also be a good time to write down any future goals you’ve come up with.

Write down any expectations you might have once the review is over. If you are expecting a promotion, then this would be a good thing to discuss with your employer after the review has commenced. If you are expecting something different from your boss, then discuss this after the review is over, unless he/she brings it up during the actual review.

Video tape this mock review if you want to see how you handle yourself. Try to be as serious and as business-like as you would be with your employer. I know goofing around with a friend might make the review more fun, but this won’t help you once the actual review comes along. Watch the tape and get pointers from your friend. Of course it helps if your friend had a good review too. This will make it easier to get some good criticism you can trust.

This goes for physically and mentally. There’s no need to work yourself into a frenzy over the review process by stressing over it daily from the moment you find out until the actual time of the review. It is good to imagine yourself going through it and visualizing the room, your employer conducting the review, and you answering questions in a fluent manner. If you can have any paperwork or documents you need ahead of time and mentally prepare for the meeting in advance, then you can relax the day before the actual review.

You can probably think of all of your achievements right now, but this isn’t always so once it comes time for the actual review. Write down your achievements, in case your employer hasn’t been keeping track of all the fine work you’ve been doing. Beside each achievement, jot down how your employer has benefited from it as well. Also, if there are any burning questions you’ve had on your mind for quite some time; write these down on your list too. What better time to get answers to these questions than when you are meeting with your employer in a one-on-one review session.

Coming up with a list of possible questions and writing answers down to each one might put you at ease a bit. There are standard lists of questions that can be found online to help you feel more prepared. If you can easily answer each one of these, then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Employers are basically looking for information on how you are doing in general, how you feel they are doing as employers, and if you have any current issues with management.

Don’t create more stress on yourself by not knowing what you are about to go through. Fear is something you can avoid when you familiarize yourself with the review process. Talk to others who have gone through it, so you know what to expect and how you might better prepare yourself. Reviews are generally done by employers who want to praise an employee for their good work or reinforce the expectations the employer has for you. Don’t go in with the thought that you are being reviewed because you are about to be canned, this will only increase your level of anxiety and for no reason at all.

Doing a self-evaluation, tooting your own horn, or confronting your boss about his/her management skills isn’t something everyone is able to do. However, the more comfortable you feel with the review process and with your position in your workplace, the easier the whole ordeal will seem. If you’ve already been through one of these reviews, what did you find to be the most difficult part of it?

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