Performance reviews are a great time for you to show off what you’ve done during the year and also find out how you can become a better worker to continue working towards your career goal. 

To get the most out of any performance review, however, you need to prepare yourself and your documents, so you don’t spend the time during the review trying to collect yourself or your thoughts. 

These tips will help you be prepared walking into that review. 

Collect your accomplishments 

As much as you can, throughout the year take note of any accomplishments you want to revisit during a performance review. Here are some things to collect or make note of to bring for the review:

• Work examples that show you met or exceeded a goal 
• Customer reviews specifically about you 
• Certifications you earned 

Try to focus on accomplishments that highlight how you met goals you and your manager previously planned on or that show you learned or improved upon skills. 

If your goal was to increase your time management skills and you’re a housekeeper, do you have a log that shows you were able to cut down your time by being more efficient? If you were a line cook, can you show how you decreased food waste for your property by finding new uses for products? Maybe you work in a front desk role and you helped raise the rating of your property and there are guest reviews that support your actions towards that?

Set Some New Goals

You’ll most likely collaborate with your manager to finalize your goals, but it’s a good idea to have some ideas going into the review. Here are a few things to consider when setting new goals:

• What career path are you interested in?
• What numbers can you use to measure your success?
• Do you need to learn or improve skills in order to advance in your career?
• What are the natural progressions of your role/career path?

Having some ideas put together will prove to your manager that you are thinking forward and invested in your own career path, as well as showing that you are aware of your own performance and success. 

Write down a list of questions/feedback

Similar to when you’re going into an interview, if you have any questions ahead of time, write them down! This is your time to clarify anything with your manager in a one-on-one setting and make sure that you are on the right path or progressing well. 

Reviews should also be a give-and-take format, so feel free to write down some feedback you may have for your manager that you feel would help improve your time as an employee and the guest experience. Make sure, to be honest, but not just vent to your manager. Offer constructive ideas that will benefit everyone. 

• Do you have an idea on how to increase internal communication?
• Are there things your company could do to help diversity and inclusion?
• Do you think there are enough career development opportunities? 
• Would you like to see more training? 

Mentally prepare yourself 

Take some time to reflect on your performance over the past year or 6 months. Do you think you’ve done a good job? Have you met goals or milestones that you and/or your boss set for yourself? Were there situations that you mishandled? 

By taking the time to reflect, you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect during your review and therefore you can react appropriately and make the most out of your review. 

Don’t forget, we are human, and humans make mistakes, but did you take that mistake as an opportunity to learn and better yourself, or did you let it beat you down? Or did you accomplish something really great and take it as an opportunity to help others learn? 

Celebrate making it through the year

We made it through a very difficult year, not only professionally but for many people, personally as well. Give yourself a pat on the back for having made it and celebrate the small wins. Maybe your accomplishment for the. the year was just making it on time to work every day, or your manager telling you “great job.” Take everything you learned from the past year and your review and gear up for 2021.