Preparing for Annual Review

Believe it or not, it's that time of year again--time for your annual employee review process. This year, instead of thinking of your annual review as a dreaded trip to the office, wouldn't it be great to have a game plan ready to get you through it?

Female: Believe it or not, it’s that time of year again. Time for your company’s annual employee review process but this year instead of thinking about that annual review as a dreaded trip to the dentist office, wouldn’t it be great to have a game plan ready to get you through it all? Well Better’s financing career expert Maribel Aber, stop by Better to tell us what we can all do to get ahead and control our career path by being proactive. It’s all in today’s Your Money. Well, Maribel this is a timely topic. A lot people are through their annual review. A lot of people are trying to hold on to their jobs, kind of an awkward situation at times. But you have to really prepare for the conversation, right. Maribel: You nailed it right there. It’s all about preparation. Because you’re having conversation about yourself, you wanted to be a two way conversation, right. Female: Not a one way. Maribel: Not a one way. You want to make sure that you have all the materials ready. You know, right now companies are going through a review process. They usually start around November and it goes to January and what happens there is you sit down with your manager and they give you your performance review and the salary and all this and that. But what you want to look at is how did the company do that past year because that’s what it’s all about. You want to tie your progress to the achievement of the company’s goals. Female: Okay, you said you have to be really be able to show all your achievements upfront. Some people are better showcasing than others are. But this isn’t the time to be shy. Is this the good time to ask for a raise? Maribel: Well, we’ll cover that. There’s five steps that I want to talk about just to help us get prepared and not be so anxious. Female: Got to have your materials ready, that’s one of the main thing. Maribel: That’s number one. Have your materials ready. If you don’t have like a little diary of how you’ve been doing throughout the year. Pull out your old goals, look through them. Look for emails, correspondence from clients. Even your manager, where they’ve talked about your review or your performance over the year, that’s always great to put the kudos in there. And you want to tie these things directly to what’s called revenue and cost reduction because today, companies are really looking at the bottom line. Female: That’s what they want to see. You also said, I love this point, think like a marketing and PR person. You have to be, right? Maribel: You have to, and this is for all the people out there who aren’t into bragging about themselves. This is not about, this is how great I am. This is about focusing on how to market your achievements. And you start thinking like you’re doing a marketing PR effort for your efforts and not yourself. You think about it differently. And the other thing, I know I have this happen before when people come to me with a laundry list of everything they’ve ever done for the entire year. We’re looking at thoughtful ways of bringing everything back to how the company perform. Female: Which brings us to our next point to. You say be willing to be the idea person. In other words, yes your manager doesn’t really have an idea. They’re not a mind reader, they don’t know. Maribel: That’s right. I mean, and think about it. Your manager has, I don’t know how many employees are managing, how they can possibly know what motivates you. What your career goals are. You want to come in, you’re two steps ahead. You could come in and say, you know, this is what I like to work on next year. And this is how I want to contribute to the organization. So be willing to do that. Female: Alright, this answers my next question to, be tactful. It says, no time to ask for a raise. I guess the answers no, right. Maribel: Well, this is kind of a, I said, it’s a tactful time right now. What happens is companies probably already have budgeted for whether or not you’re going to get a raise. So you’ll know when you have that conversation. But this is a great time to be talking about the next six months. The next 12 months, how to be planning forward. And think about things beyond just, you know, hey I want a raise. Think about, you know, other incentives. You know, would you like a title change, maybe get an office instead of a cubicle. Stock options. Vacation. Just things that’ll help you make your life better and your career better that it’s not so focus on just a raise. Female: And last but not least, you also say leave the door open. Going to ask them, can we talk a little bit more about this. Maribel: You do have to leave the door open, because gosh lot of times you're anxious because this is the first time you seen your boss and gosh knows how long. Female: Especially in that setting to. Maribel: Exactly. So I say, you know, set up may be once a quarter. Maybe even 6 months, but make I separate from your staff meetings. Make it really about, okay, I just want to let you know how I’m doing. Am I on point to achieve this goal for furthering my career. Female: Great, thank you so much Maribel, good to talk to you again. Maribel: Thank you, it’s a pleasure. Female: And if you have any financial questions that you like Maribel to answer, just email her at askmaribel@bettertv.com.