By: Megan Jones

As we near the end of the year, your organization may have you complete or provide you with a performance evaluation. This is a great time for you to sell yourself! Take a moment to look back at your accomplishments and provide your manager with a list of what your successfully worked on throughout the year. Performance evaluations may seem frightening however, it is a great time to remind your manager of your successes and accomplishments. Here are a few tips on how to prepare for your performance evaluation.

Be Prepared

Whether it is an in-person meeting or a written self-evaluation, ensure you have done your due diligence. Take the time to come prepared with a list of what you have completed, your personal successes, and you can even provide insight on how you want to continue to grow within your position. This is a great way to remind your manager of what you have completed all year. Additionally, it shows your manager that you take the evaluation seriously and understand its importance.

Keep a Running List

As the year progresses it can be easy to forget what you completed in the beginning of the year. In order to help me remember everything I have done throughout the year I create an excel spreadsheet. Then at the end of each month I review what I have worked on, awards I have been given, and extra opportunities I assisted with. At the end of the year I have a complete list of everything I have worked on. Then you can format how you contributed to your projects. This is your opportunity to sell yourself, ensure you make your manager aware of all the work you have done. I guarantee there are plenty of projects that you went above and beyond. If you don’t bring attention to your successes they may accidentally be forgotten.

Do Not Make This Your First Evaluation

Your end of the year evaluation should not be the first time you have asked your manager about your performance. When I start a new position, every quarter I ask about my performance. Then every subsequent year I ask every 6 months and do a final recap before it is evaluation time. This way you provide your manager the time to give you feedback before your final performance evaluation. If there are areas of improvement, you can address them earlier in the year. Then at your end of the year evaluation you can talk about how you have improved. You can discuss what steps you took to improve and streamline your growth.

Additionally, by checking in with your manager about your progress you are taking the initiative to let your manager tell you their feelings about your performance. Moreover, by having them earlier in the year you should be able to go into your end of year performance evaluation confident, and there should not be any surprises about how your manager feels about your performance.

Be Prepared to Negotiate

After your performance evaluation, reflect on what your manager has said. Then if you believe you deserve to be compensated at a higher rate given your performance and the increased responsibilities you take on ensure you bring that to your managers attention. Compensation is important and you should advocate for yourself. However, ensure you take the time to truly reflect first and then have a conversation with your manager.

Be Confident

You are an incredibly capable individual and you should feel confident in your performance and contributions. Performance evaluations can be daunting, however if you come prepared it should help ease any feelings of anxiety. Consider it as more of a conversation about your growth and accomplishments. Be prepared, be confident, and you will have a successful performance evaluation!

Best of luck in your upcoming performance evaluation and we hope these tips help you prepare for your performance evalation!