Suppose your boss asked you to fill out an evaluation form for yourself

[Nikia]

That is exactly like the one that he will fill out for your one year evaluation. He says that he will fill out his form after he sees your form. He says that he wants you to be honest and will know that it is "bs" if you give yourself the highest ratings in all categories. In each of the categories, there is a 1 (Poor) to 5 (Exempletory) rating system. You are the only employee who holds your position in the company. Only one other employee works under this superviser. You work in close proximity to your boss and he already knows what you do and are like. He also knows that you have exhibited insecurity about your job and your abilities. He says that he has everyone who works for him fill out this form though. How do you fill out the form?

[skygazer]

1. What a strange request

I can't really imagine why a boss would ask this or what bearing it would have on his evaluation of you.

I guess I would fill it out honestly but if I had a relationship with my boss that would allow it, I would ask what purpose it serves.

[nini]

4. It's a good way to really think about what you're doing though

I hated them at first but when you do them it does make you think a bit about things you may need to improve on. I'd rather figure that out myself than have some overpaid hack tell me that :D

I think those forms are good and bad really, so I can go either way on their use.

[skygazer]

7. Yeah, I guess I can see that

I've just never come across it before. But judging by others' posts, it's not uncommmon. Learn something every day, I guess. :hi:

[Nikia]

5. He says that is what they did at his previous company

His previous company was much larger though do they could compare themselves against peers.

[nini]

2. we have to do that at my job

It's simple - be honest. If he disagrees with your scores then you get to talk about it. I think everyone knows they are better at some things than others. Give yourself 5's when you deserve it, and lower if it's one of your weaker skills.

It just sounds like he may be too lazy to do it himself.


Keep a copy of what you give him too.

[Deja Q]

3. Other companies do it.

If you've done them before and you notice a pattern, I'd ask about certain questions.

Otherwise be truthful. Never lie and swallow your pride at times. But never lie.

Even if it's the first one, be truthful. If they try to screw you around, you'll know. And if given the opportunity to respond, defend yourself without slinging too much mud at the supervisor. Blame the issues that don't add up; not the supervisor as a person. We all make mistakes and miscommunications.

And CYA. Keep all documentation. I'm learning that one.

[Nikia]

8. This will be the first time I ever filled one out

I have only been at the company 11 months and this is my first evaluation although the president of the company (not my boss) gave me a raise at around 7 months. I have never worked at a company that asked me to do that before.
The problem is that I am very schizophrenic about my opinion of myself at work (and probably in general). One monent I think that I should resign for the good of the company since I doing such a bad job. The next moment, I think that I am majorly shining. I also have difficulty in gauging myself in who I should be comparing myself to.
In an example from athletics, I ran a 6 minute mile in high school gym class. I beat all of the other students in my class by a significant amount of time. On my own track team, most of the boys would have run faster and possibly one other girl. That may or may not have gotten me points in a meet. If I were in a college race, that would not have placed. At a National indoor championship, I would have gotten lapped. Just as I wouldn't have known how to rate my running performance, I don't know how to rate my job performance.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. Be honest about it.

Rate yourself as you perceive your contributions. Then start the grade inflation. Don't self score yourself with anything less than a 3 even if you think you deserve it.

If you think you deserve a 5 in everything, knock down a couple of scores to 4 (or 4 point something if you're allow to rate with decimals.) Choose to lower your score in areas where you would like the opportunity to do things differently (because the current approach is inefficient or silly or whatever ) and articulate how this would be a self improvement.

I worked with this sort of evaluation process for years. At first I was naive enough to think that a true self-assessment, warts and all, was important. The reality in my company was that any low score was used to deflate my raise potential. Once I took the above approach I got better raises every year. What doesn't work is self-assessing with all 5's. That just looks arrogant.

[Nikia]

11. I have considered that low marks will lower my raise potential

And that 5s will make me appear arrogant and unwilling to improve on anything.
I think that you are right and I should choose which areas to give myself less than perfect scores and articulate what my goals are to do things differently.

[wildhorses]

24. gormy, you have hit the nail on the head.

this is the best approach tactic.

[I Have A Dream]

9. My company requires that this be done. I always fill it out totally honestly.

I'm not one for playing games.

Good luck with yours!

[EstimatedProphet]

10. I've had to do that before

I tried to give myself an honest appraisal, and my boss agreed with it. Shame I didn't get to evaluate him though.

[hippiechick]

12. My company does those every 6 months...

... I've learned to keep an ongoing list of stuff I'm working on, projects completed, good stuff, stuff that got FUBAR'd because of other people, etc ... because most of the time he's too busy chasing his own tail to know WTF I do all day.

Self-evaluations suck rocks, to be sure, but just be honest and take some time thinking it through before you just scribble something down and hand it to him. And don't forget to highlight GOOD THINGS about yourself and your performance!


:hi:

[HEyHEY]

13. "Devastatingly handsome"

[Wcross]

14. They have us rate ourselves- I am always "outstanding".

I always act hurt/confused when the boss adds his rating (always below the outstanding level). I told him I only rated myself as outstanding because there is no "incredible" column!

btw- we all know its B.S. so why not have fun with it?

[fortyfeetunder]

15. Yes you can complete it

But on the side, keep a log of what you accomplished, showing your strengths in those areas and a list of things you can do to improve the others.
Attach that log to the evaluation and give it to the boss. That will show him you did take time to think about these topics and offer a comprehensive evaluiation. A 1-5 evaluation means nothing unless you have tangible evidence to support these results.

PM me and can help you with it...

[billyskank]

16. I am quite used to that

Fucking companies expect me to evaluate myself :grr:

[tjwmason]

17. I have to do that.

Then follow it up with a discussion about my answers with my line-manager. Honesty seems to work well for me, but then my line-manager is a very good person - oh and where I work it's a pointless exercise because there is no effect in terms of pay &c. ... except, of course, to keep some extra people in H.R. (since when did we become mere resources b.t.w.?) happy and "gainfully" employed.

[ForrestGump]

18. I encountered that for the first time last year, when I worked for a

Vegas Strip casino that was legendary for its terrible treatment of employees. I was already being attacked from two sides by a couple of the a**holes in the hierarchy (basically my immediate, incompetent supervisor and another incompetent who was supposedly lower on the totem pole than me but with whom the supervisor had a special bond) so I just never filled the form out. I was able to get away with a lot of stuff like that 'cos I was one of the élite (he's Elvis!) but my supervisor finally prevailed and got me out of there, proving that being the élite in a sh**hole like that doesn't mean much at all. :D

If I had filled it out, though, I'd have backed away from ego and wishful thinking and tried my utmost to view myself as a third party, honestly appraising what I think my strengths and weaknesses (or not-so-strengths, if you prefer) were. I have a feeling that I'd have underrated myself in some things and overrated (in terms of their rating) myself in others, the latter perhaps because I knew contexts for aspects of my job performance that were not apparent to the managers (such as clashes with coworkers and sabotage by them, etc...seems very common an influence on job performance and the management often are unaware of such conflicts).

[Crabby Appleton]

19. I'd add a rating of 6 (extra-exempletory) and mark myself

all 6's.

[NMDemDist2]

20. I have done that several times. I love it! I can lay out concrete actions

I have taken in the last year to save money/save time/increase productivity in the different categories and lay out goals for the next year.

I never got into nebulous stuff, I just listed what I had done that year, what worked and what didn't

good luck!

[cobalt1999]

21. I do that to my group.

First off, it gives me a great sense of how that person feels they are doing in each area. Most of the time people are amazingly accurate rating themselves. Secondly, it lets them emphasize any outstanding accomplishments they've achieved (this helps counter the human nature as a boss to remember the issues/problems/disappointments more).

Even when it doesn't match reality, it tells me something. One example was with one employee who was terribly incompetent, had numerous complaints from co-workers, one I'd had plenty of one-on-one sessions with, and one who never improved. That person gave themselves the highest rating across the board and was expecting a raise/promotion. The self eval told me that person's view of reality was not and would never be in sync with the rest of the department. I fired the person during the review session.

[Ariana Celeste]

22. I had to do that in high school

So, not exactly the same... Just be completely honest... Chances are his scores for you will be higher then what you give yourself. If you are good at what you do you don't need to worry.

[philosophie_en_rose]

23. Rate yourself at least as high as you deserve.

I'd rate myself an average of 4.75, with narrative notes about performance and challenges.

Be honest, but no need to be hard on yourself.

[Nikia]

25. Thanks for the advice, everyone

I have a much better idea of what I will be doing with the self evaluation form now.