A is for… Appraisals

A is for… Appraisals

Welcome to our A to Z of Getting a Promotion. Our theme this year is all about things that you can do to maximise your chances of getting a promotion (and using your career journal to do so).

Let’s kick off with yet another A is for…. Appraisals. However, Appraisals (whether formal or informal) are often a vital part of the promotion process.

If you don’t have a formal scheme

If you don’t have a formal scheme/process then this can limit your chance to have an open conversation about your performance and your progression. Therefore it is important to seek out the change to have a direct discussion.

If you have no formal structure you should ask your line manager or boss for an opportunity to “check-in” and see how you are getting on. After all, if there are any issues, you will want to get them sorted before they become a problem. The last thing you want is issues coming to light after the promotion process or when someone else has been given the promotion you were after (when it is too late to do anything). You need to be proactive and have a direct conversation about your performance and ask for feedback.

If you do have a formal scheme

If your company has a formal process for appraisals and promotions, you will be expected to work within this framework. So it is in your favour to find out as much as possible about the framework:

• What is the process?
• What is done and when?
• What are the next steps?
• What are your targets/goals?
• Where do you find out more information?
• What is expected?
• Are you meeting company expectations?
• What do you need to do to get to the next level?
• Is there anything “formal” that you need to achieve or do?

We recommend that you keep a record of this. We use our Career Progression Goals & Meetings Notebook for this purpose. You can also use your career journal and prompts to help you note questions that you might like to ask and identify where you are perhaps missing information.

Action Point: Write a list of questions for your next appraisal and keep a running list so that you are not worried about it at the last minute.

This blog post is an extract from our upcoming book “Prompt: 52 Prompts for Getting a Promotion Using Your Career Journal” which is being published later this year. You can pre-order your copy.

If you are dropping by as part of the A to Z Challenge – don’t forget to leave a comment to say hi with a link to your blog.