How to ace your performance review

Back yourself!

Back yourself!

It's hot girl performance review season and it's all about you.

So why are 26% of employees unprepared for their performance reviews, according to research from SEEK?

One-on-one time with your boss talking about your future with the company, reflecting on the ways you've grown, and maybe pitching for a promotion or pay rise.

This is golden time with your leader. Here's how to make it work for you.

What can you expect in a performance review?

Ahead of time, you might be asked to fill out a "self-assessment" where you have to rate your performance on a scale from 0 to 5, or answer free-form questions about what you've achieved in the past year.

Questions might include: "How would you rate your overall job performance over the last year?", "What are your strengths that have contributed to your performance?" and "How have you invested in your development over the past six months?".

Your manager will then fill out the same assessment, reviewing your performance.

When you sit down at your performance review, you then compare your answers and see where the discrepancies lie.

When assessing your performance, list specific examples of where you have sought better outcomes even if you fell short, or where you hit it out of the park entirely. Also, set SMART goals - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.

Salary, salary, salary

According to SEEK’s research, 75% of candidates are eager to discuss salaries in their upcoming performance reviews. At The Oz, we are always wanting to talk about salary progression. 

Sometimes performance reviews are paired with salary reviews, but not always. Be really clear about your company's process before going in. You should be laying the scene for your salary pitch in this session, even if the remuneration review is separate.

"Often it's based on how your performance is assessed compared to everyone else in your team as to what percentage of a (salary) increase you might get," SEEK's Career Coach Leah Lambart said, which is why a leader might conduct all reviews before looking in to salaries.

It's also important to understand how the pay increase is calculated. For example, it's not always based on individual performance but on team or company performance.

If a salary review isn't in your contract but you want to ask for a raise at your performance review, you should give your manager a heads up that you want to have that discussion. "I don't think any managers want to be put on the spot," Lambart said.

Then it's all about preparation.

You are highlighting your achievements since your last performance review or since you started the job, to make a case for why you deserve a pay rise.

Then, if you believe you're being paid less than others who do your job elsewhere, you will need to benchmark your salary against other people in the industry.

How to benchmark your salary:

• Speak to recruiters to get a feel for where you sit in the market
• Speak to colleagues who do similar work in other organisations
• Speak to recruiters who specialise in your particular field 
• Utilise salary guides that get released by recruitment companies
• Use websites like PayScale and Glassdoor where people share their salaries

Once you have your case prepared, send it over in advance, reminding your boss how organised and diligent you are 😉

Keep an achievements journal

By the time you get to your six-month or annual performance review, it's hard to remember all the ways you've contributed to your team and your company day-to-day.

"I would recommend keeping on achievements journal, which can be used on a weekly basis to just jot down some achievements that you've had for the week," Lambart said.

Outside of your performance review, this achievements journal can also be helpful to look at when you're feeling imposter syndrome or feeling down about your performance.

What's stopping you from setting a reminder to jot down your achievements at midday every Friday?

Create a feedback folder in your emails

A helpful way to prepare for your performance review is to collect positive feedback from customers, clients, or internal people. A lot of the time, this kind of feedback is sent through via email.

"Collect positive feedback ... so you've sort of almost put together a little portfolio of all the good things that you've done," Lambart said.

"I'd recommend having a little feedback or testimonial folder (on your computer) or you might create a Word document, or a folder in your email where you can just drag across an email, and then even print them off or, you know, people print things off or have it handy for your performance review so that you can be really open about what you've achieved."

An opportunity to plan for your future

You might want to chat with you manager about what you need to work on to get to your end career goal.

"People should use it as an opportunity to start mapping out their career. So, if they've got an idea of where they want to get to, it's using that performance review to understand if I'm at A and I want to get to C, what experience or soft skills do I need to develop or maybe it's building relationships, networking, building a personal brand," Lambart said.

Be open about your weaknesses

"I think it's best to be honest and open about why things didn't go well and what you plan to do to improve on that in the next six months, rather than trying to cover it up and pretend it didn't happen ... It might be deadlines you've missed," Lambart said.

"I think it's about being open about your weaknesses and being forthcoming with how you think you can improve in that area but also asking, telling your manager if you need additional support or training to help you overcome some of those weaknesses."

Women, back yourselves

"Women tend to undersell themselves often, where men perhaps do the opposite ... It's a bit like an interview, it's not the time to be humble. I think you need to be realistic about what your strengths and weaknesses are but you certainly want to be promoting your achievements," Lambart said.

"Often an employee might be working for multiple managers. The person doing your performance review might not be completely across the great things you've done for your organisation. They might only see a part of what you do. So, it's definitely an opportunity to showcase your achievements, whether that's key projects you've worked on, relationships that you've built."