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reviews

What are performance reviews? They're basically a review of your performance on particular jobs, and help dictate whether you get promoted and how much your raise will be.

Man I absolutely hate writing and discussing performance reviews. When someone works with you on a three month job, you have to keep notes of key points during the 3 mth period so you can add it to the review. Then you write a two page review that ends up looking like one or two paragraphs. But you have to be real careful when writing these reviews. Odds are these individuals are going to be working with you in the future, so you don't want them being pissed off at you the whole time. You can't be too brutal in the reviews, since this might change their career path. I've reached a point where I write reviews and won't submit it for a few days, so I can re-read it and make sure it wasn't my mood at the time that dictated the review. Believe me, writing reviews can be heavily dictated by the mood you're in at the time.

Then comes the discussion part, man that's even worse. The only time people want to discuss reviews with you is when you've written a bad one. I've seen one person cry when they discussed their review with me. Then they launch into an explanation as to why they disagree with something in the review. Then you explain why you wrote what you wrote, and it ends on a somewhat amicable note, but it festers on. And then when you write really bad reviews, you duck into hallways and stairwells to avoid seeing the person you wrote a bad review for so you can avoid those awkward moments.

Oh well, at the end of the day, it's a necessary evil. I get why they are important, I just hate doing them. And I'd be willing to bet that most reviewers feel this way.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'd like to add two things regarding the reviews:
(1) Not only does this go on the person's permanent record, it is reviewed by a panel of "independent" "confidential" parties. So, if you receive a poor review unexpectedly and that is your largest engagement, you walk the halls in constant fear that the person you speak to knows. and
(2) you see all the people you thought were friendly coworkers begin to contact you less.
In all honesty, I understand why reviews are important, however, I find that reviewers do not take into consideration all the outside components that may effect a person's performance.
Anonymous said…
I'd like to add two things regarding the reviews:
(1) Not only does this go on the person's permanent record, it is reviewed by a panel of "independent" "confidential" parties. So, if you receive a poor review unexpectedly and that is your largest engagement, you walk the halls in constant fear that the person you speak to knows. and
(2) you see all the people you thought were friendly coworkers begin to contact you less.
In all honesty, I understand why reviews are important, however, I find that reviewers do not take into consideration all the outside components that may effect a person's performance and most importantly do not take into consideration the repercussions of a negative review.
Anonymous said…
Thanks for answering all these questions. Great blog. Can you talk about why you haven't left you firm yet, thoughts on the chances/possibility/desire of becoming a partner? A buddy at a big4 and I were talking the other day how much harder it must be to make partner nowadays. Back in the SOX boom, it seemed like the road was a lot easier.

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