Have you ever had to do your own performance review?

I had to a few times – but it was a form where I had to rate myself on different situations, capabilities, and goals reached. Then I had to write down goals for the future. One thing I never did was give myself the top of the line in everything, even if I thought I was ‘Outstanding’. There is always room for improvement, and that way, I put myself in a position to learn more, and not come across as Miss Perfect. And I continue to learn. I’ve worked at my job for 11 years and love it!

I’ve never had to write my own performance review, but I have had to write plenty of letters of recommendation for myself (that I would email to the actual recommendation writer to modify and/or sign). I suggest you be as honest as possible about your performance (both good and bad), and let the chips fall where they may.

I had to rate myself on a scale of 0–9 in 10 areas, I gave myself nine 9’s and one 8.

My supervisor gave me ten 9’s. and commented “you’re a bit arrogant, I like that.”

I have. I tried to be honest. I always backed my score up with examples that were consistent throughout the year. Not just isolated incidents. Basically, be prepared to back yourself up.

I always give myself the highest scores. I think performance reviews are bullshit. They are worthless tools. However, if they are going to use them for pay increases, and if they are going to ask me to rate myself, then by damn, I’m gonna give myself the best.

Obviously, this has nothing to do with what I really think about myself or my work.

Assessing your own performance can be a valuable part of the appraisal process. It is an opportunity for you to highlight to your supervisor the successes you have had—remind them of the great job you did on certain tasks, especially those that happened more than about 2 months ago (we all suffer from long-term memory loss when it comes to focusing on the good job people do).

It is an opportunity for you to identify things that could have gone better (improved communication, clarity of goals, etc.) and to identify things you could improve on.
Since this is a work-study position, hopefully your employer sees this review as a way to improve this type of relationship in the future for others who may have work-study positions.

Be honest—give yourself “atta boys” or “atta girls”, but I agree with @autumn43 that there’s always room for improvement, so think of areas that you need support/training/assistance that will help you in this position and down the road.

I am doing it all the time, kinda. I guess it comes with the complex nature of being me, but I am terribly self-analytic in every aspect and I have the worst self-confidence ever. Reviewing myself in everything I do… Not recommended.

If you have a decent manager, performance reviews are not bullshit. They can be a great tool to help you further your career and skill set. They can be a way to make sure your happy and that your manager is doing everything he can to help you to do your job and achieve your career goals. There should never be any surprises.

That is how I worked them with my employees. That is how they SHOULD be, but very seldom are.

@Bri_L
Where I work, performance reviews have nothing to do with my manager. They are centrally mandated by HR. This is an organization with some 5000 employees. HR uses them for pay raises, to some degree. The rest of it is nonsense. My manager always gives me the best evaluations, to help me out. It’s no skin off his back. It’s pretty much a joke.

They can be all the things you talk about, but that is pretty rare. Even the goal setting stuff and happiness stuff is bullshit. You can’t speak the truth if you want to keep your job. You have to play the game, especially with people who actually believe in performance reviews.

I’m glad you did that with your employees, although, I bet if you asked them, and they felt safe enough to tell the truth, you’d be surprised. It doesn’t matter how sincere the boss is, it’s still pressure on the employees, and unwelcome pressure, for the most part. Of course, we’ll never know for sure, what they think.

The things you talk about—building a career, and helping folks in their jobs? That happens or it doesn’t, regardless of performance reviews. Good people do that, the others don’t. If your boss doesn’t know and work well with you, a performance review is not going to change that. If they do work with you well, a performance review adds nothing.

@daloon I was a good manager and my people did trust me. I worked with them to help them with their jobs wether it was program training or content training. I also determined the raises. Who got them and what percentage.

And if done correctly, a performance review adds something. It adds one more opportunity to sit down and discuss how things are going towards achieving those goals that should have been set. If they are in the right job, their goals and the goals of the position go together.

2/5 of my employees told me they didn’t like the way I handled incoming work orders. 3/5 said that they felt I was condiscending to them when I explained programs to them. And 4/5 said I worried to much about wether they had to much work. Everything was said to my face, in separate meetings and discussed.

But like I said, that is how they SHOULD be, but very seldom are.