5 Tips to Ace Your Annual Appraisal

With the end of the year looming, many recruiters will be facing their annual performance appraisal. Very few people look forward to this exercise- from either side of the table!

From an employee perspective, appraisals often make them feel vulnerable as it opens them up to criticism they sometimes feel has been ‘saved up all year’.

For the billing manager, conducting performance reviews can also be a nerve-wracking experience, as they fear that the recruiter will react badly to any negative feedback.

This atmosphere of nerves and uncertainty from both parties often really derails the appraisal process, as the recruiter often reacts defensively and the manager offensively. In haste to get the experience ‘over with’, managers often rush to the ‘bad bits’ before covering all the good stuff, and employees race to defend themselves with excuses before properly digesting what was said.

Yet performance appraisals don’t have to be nearly this difficult! After all, they are designed to improve employees’ performance, not to break employees’ spirits or to make the manager look and feel ‘mean’.

The good news is that as a recruiter, you can really make the most of your unique skill set to ace your annual appraisal. After all, you understand a job description and employer expectations better than most!

Here are our top 5 tips to ace your annual appraisal

1. Go back to your job description and any expectations that you were expected to meet in your role. (These need to have been discussed with your manager rather than inferred or assumed.) List these duties and performance expectations, and then write a parallel list of where you have met these targets and fulfilled your duties.

2. Identify ‘mission creep’. Mission creep is a military expression for when an operation becomes much bigger than it was originally intended. This often happens in jobs too, as you take on extra responsibilities, often without formal discussion or recognition. It’s worth assessing how your job has changed over the year so that you can perhaps redefine your role with your manager during the discussion and take these added responsibilities into account.

3. Assess your flaws, but kindly. Look at your performance, and try and perceive it as your manager would. Where do you think you need to improve? What have you learnt from any failures? Accept that no-one is perfect and that you now have the chance to improve.

4. Prepare some questions for your assessor. Make it clear that you’re open to feedback, and that you genuinely wish to use it to improve your performance. It’s important to ask them how they think you could improve- and this has the added benefit of putting their mind at ease. Yes, I know it’s your performance appraisal, not theirs, but your manager will find it much easier to give you good advice if they’re not nervous about your reaction. This is also your chance to clarify your expectations and experiences of the role.

5. Boost your confidence. Get yourself in a good mood before the performance appraisal by doing something you enjoy, and then boost your confidence further by reviewing some past successes in your life. This will give you an emotional ‘buffer’ during the review, allowing you to examine any perceived failures less defensively.

By preparing well for a performance appraisal and setting the tone of being willing to listen, you can easily transform performance appraisals from something that most people dread, to something that you can genuinely see as a helpful process.  Remember, it’s not only their opportunity to examine your performance: it’s also your opportunity to discuss your place in the company and your future.

Until next time

Cheryl