How to Prepare for a Performance Review
By
infocvconsulting

It doesn’t matter whether it is your first engineering performance review or not, the nerves don’t always go away. A way to give yourself a vital boost of confidence is to ensure you are well prepared before you go in and meet your employer.

What follows is our best practice advice for preparing for a performance review, covering tips for those heading into their first review meeting, along with some refreshers for those with more experience.

Understand the Process

Contrary to popular belief, a performance review does not normally encompass a salary discussion. Most companies today prefer to separate the two, with a performance review solely focused on assessing your performance and providing feedback for professional development purposes.

While your employer will share their evaluation of your work, your role in the meeting is just as important. It is your chance to highlight what you feel you have achieved in the past year, alongside any lessons learned. You can also take the opportunity to speak about your goals and hopes for the forthcoming year and tell your employer anything they could be doing to make your life easier while working for them.

It is worth noting that performance review processes differ across companies. It might relate to timing, so instead of an annual review, your company may prefer to hold them quarterly. It could also be the format—it might be a 360 review that involves your manager, peers, direct reports and/or clients, or it could involve a self-assessment questionnaire that you complete prior to the meeting.

It is a wise move to ensure you understand how your performance review will run. Even if you have been with the business for several years it is worth checking with your direct manager or your company’s HR team in case there has been a shift in HR procedures.

Prepare Early

No professional Engineer would start working on a project the night before the deadline. As your career development is just as important as any other project you undertake, it is good to treat your performance review accordingly.

As soon as you know your performance review date, begin your preparation, clearly mapping out what you would like to cover. While your manager will carefully prepare for your performance review, it is difficult for them to remember – or even be aware of – all that you have achieved in the past six or twelve months. This may also be the case when it comes to your future goals and career progression desires. Your performance review gives you an occasion to share them.

Here are some suggested preparation steps:

  • Review previous goals and accomplishments

You likely set some goals with your manager last year. Consider now whether you have met or even exceeded them. If you didn’t, how far did you get?

In reviewing your goals, articulate which achievements you’re most proud of, along with why and how they added value to the business. If you can quantify them, all the better.

  • Consider your lessons learnt and identify your challenges

As you reflect on your achievements, your mind will naturally turn to the obstacles and challenges you faced. What lessons did you learn when you encountered them? These answers will inform areas for improvement.

Next, brainstorm ways of dealing with them in future. Can your company assist? How? It might be providing extra resources in a particular area or improving workflows.

When you reach this part of your performance review discussion, you might like to begin by directly asking your manager what they feel you could do better.
It is likely an uncomfortable topic for your supervisor, and you can ease the stress of this by broaching the subject first.

  • Growth and future goal setting

As a professional Engineer, you’ll probably be familiar with the range of opportunities around you, and many may require you to continually sharpen your skill set. In this rapidly evolving industry, it’s necessary to remain at the top of your game.

Reflect on whether there is a specific area you would like to improve upon and investigate training opportunities. It might be a formal course, job shadowing or mentorship. From here you can set some goals for the next year. This should tie into the professional development options you’ve researched, whether that’s developing a new technical skill set or honing your team building or leadership abilities.

In setting goals, try to align them with the company’s greater ambitions. This clearly demonstrates that what you want to achieve professionally offers direct value for the business’s bottom line, exponentially increasing your worth as an employee.

Salary surveyAs mentioned previously, a performance review is not usually combined with a salary review. However, it is still a wise idea to be aware of the current market rates for your role and how this aligns with your remuneration wishes.

If you would like support in this area, you can reach out to us. An important part of our job as engineering recruitment specialists is to conduct regular salary reviews to keep abreast of industry salary benchmarks.

  • Offer thanks

No matter how your performance review progresses, try to find a chance to thank your Manager for the support they have shown you over the past year. Managing people is not easy and thanks are sometimes few and far between. They will appreciate your acknowledgment.

Reviewing Your Post-Performance Review

After your review has concluded, take some time to debrief. Consider the feedback you received and what actions you can put in place to address it. You may like to seek out your manager’s assistance with this by scheduling an additional meeting to put a plan in place.

Extra Support?

We hope this advice is beneficial as you prepare for your next performance review. As you head into it, it might feel akin to the nerves you felt during your job interview (something we see a lot of as a UK recruitment agency!), but it is good to keep in mind that there is much to gain from the experience in furthering your professional development.

Our team has more than 25 years of experience in Engineering recruitment. If you’re looking for advice about your upcoming performance review with your employer or are just keen to discuss your options, reach out to our UK team today for a no-obligation chat. Contact our recruitment specialists today!