career - annual review/appraisal
Discussion
Im soon to experience my first structured appraisal; in preparation I must write a letter documenting the last year; successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses. I have thought this letter through and have a good idea on its content, but I have no idea on how to write it, how I should structure it and more importantly what tone I should employ.
Can anyone give me hints please?
Can anyone give me hints please?
chris you are correct, I feel slightly cheated as I have waited 18 months for an annual review; all annual reviews take place at the same time (also start of new financial year). I did get a 6 month review about 12 months ago but had expected a follwo up after 6 months - not 12. It would be nice to put this down to a misunderstanding but not all things in life are that clear cut in my expereince. 
what happened with you? you were not happy so got another job?
back to my o.p. - can anyone share their wisdom?
what happened with you? you were not happy so got another job?
back to my o.p. - can anyone share their wisdom?
Try to cite any examples of work you have done which has benefitted the department/company in terms of efficiency and/or time saving or cost savings. It's good to come up with specific examples of something you've done when trying to summarise your achivements over the year. Remember that your company will most likely be more interested in what you've done for them rather than personal achievements, i.e. saying "I gained such and such a qualification", you could say something like, "I gained such and such a qualification which meant I could help other people in the team/offer a better service to the company's customers" etc. etc.
Also, when spelling out weaknesses (for God's sake don't use the perfectionist weakness - no one believes you), state the weakness, then state how you will try to address this over the coming year through training, better communication, whatever.
Good luck!
Also, when spelling out weaknesses (for God's sake don't use the perfectionist weakness - no one believes you), state the weakness, then state how you will try to address this over the coming year through training, better communication, whatever.
Good luck!
birdbrain said:
Also, when spelling out weaknesses (for God's sake don't use the perfectionist weakness - no one believes you), state the weakness, then state how you will try to address this over the coming year through training, better communication, whatever.
Good luck!
That's true. I was interviewing someone recently and asked them what their weaknesses were and he said: "I'm quite lazy and find it hard to knuckle down and get on with my work". Being as I wasn't interviewing for a management position he didn't get the job. Typical weaknesses are usually BS, but include: "I can be too focused on my job" and "I'm too much of a perfectionist and I don't suffer fools gadly" and stuff like that.
srebbe64 said:
I was interviewing someone recently and asked them what their weaknesses were and he said: "I'm quite lazy and find it hard to knuckle down and get on with my work". Being as I wasn't interviewing for a management position he didn't get the job.
srebbe64 said:
Typical weaknesses are usually BS, but include: "I can be too focused on my job" and "I'm too much of a perfectionist and I don't suffer fools gadly" and stuff like that.
The last time someone tried that line on me I found it very hard not to laugh as I had the mental image of Spud from Trainspotting in his job interview saying the same sort of thing.
wolves_wanderer said:
I was interviewing someone recently and asked them what their weaknesses were and he said: "I'm quite lazy and find it hard to knuckle down and get on with my work". Being as I wasn't interviewing for a management position he didn't get the job.
srebbe64 said:
Typical weaknesses are usually BS, but include: "I can be too focused on my job" and "I'm too much of a perfectionist and I don't suffer fools gadly" and stuff like that.
The last time someone tried that line on me I found it very hard not to laugh as I had the mental image of Spud from Trainspotting in his job interview saying the same sort of thing.
I know what you mean. On one occasion this really totally arrogant and condescending chap applied for a job. Within a minute I'd decided he wasn't for me. When I asked him about his weaknesses he spouted on about "being too much of a perfectionist" so I said "to be honest, if you really have that weakness then this probably isn't the right job for you". That took the smug grin off his face.
birdbrain said:
Also, when spelling out weaknesses (for God's sake don't use the perfectionist weakness - no one believes you)
I used that one before in an interview and the guy just laughted at me, must have heard it hundreds of times before. It really bugged me though, what else could you say?
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