Continuing on the Career Guidance I will write a series of articles that will be titled 'Career Advice'. My previous articles focused on getting into a career. But these articles will focus on What after getting a job? How to get satisfaction at work? How to make work enjoyable etc.

 

Getting into a job is not enough. Keeping the job is important. You get to keep your job by meeting expectations of your employer. Employers will grade you on following performance grades based on how you perform. a) Excellent b) Always Exceeds Expectations c) Exceeds Expectations d) Meets Expectations e) Does not meet expectations. Even if your organization may not perform any formal analysis your supervisor will be mentally appraise you and have this kind of rating in his mind. 

 

It is important to understand at what level you are performing by doing a self evaluation. What do these rating mean to employers.

 

Whether you like it or not any profession you are in (unless self employed) you will be reporting another person whom you may call your boss, supervisor. The rating you receive will be from your 'boss' point of view. First and foremost it is important to get to understand what your boss expects of you and then only you can know what your performance is compared to his expectations. It is not enough if you exceed 'your' expectations.

 

The following is a suggested criteria for each performance category from my experience: 

Does not meet expectations:

- You are irregular in attendance and don't give a damn about it

- You consistently don't complete tasks given to you by your boss

-  You are disobedient and arrogant

- You lack self discipline and consistently fail

- You don't have right attitude to work and don't care the words of caution/advice by your boss or HR Department

 

Meets Expectations:

- You perform only tasks assigned to you

- You are regular in attendance

- You lack motivation to Excel.

- Your boss knows that you have higher potential but don't try

- You lack zeal and enthusiasm towards your work and don't take pride in your work

- You need constant attention and guidance at work

- You have adequate skills for the job you do.

- You have lot of areas to improve in your work

 

Exceeds Expectations:

- You consistently meet expectations of your boss (90% of cases). You might have made some mistakes but that is acceptable

- You are well motivated and enthusiastic about your work

- You have good skills suitable for job and you put skills to good use.

- You may have some areas of improvement and your boss has confidence in you that you can improve if you try.

 

Always Exceeds Expectations

- You are very good and your boss is extremely happy with you.

- You have very good skills and you are self learner

- You are self motivated

- You may have some areas of improvement which will help you to advance in your career, but nothing related to your current role.

- Your boss is proud of having you on the team

- You rarely make mistakes

 

Excellent

- You are highly self motivated

- You are your boss's best guy on the job

- You don't need any guidance at any time

- Your boss is always comfortable with you and sends you for the toughest task

- Your boss completely trusts you

- Your boss has to think hard to find 'areas of improvement'

- You are a guy your boss would hate to loose from his team and will gladly welcome you whenever you are willing to come back to him

- Your boss will praise you for rest of his life: "You know this guy.. he is very good..." even when you are not there 

- You never make mistakes when I mean never it means NEVER.

- You add value to your company and team consistently

- You are innovative, creative and have the right skills for the job

- You are recognized for your performance not only by your boss, but many more people in top management. (Word gets around)

 

Many times during reviews the question asked by employees is why didn't I get next rating? I have done a good job which qualifies me for Excellent but you have rated me Always Exceeds Expectations. Explain OR you rated me Exceeds Expectations but I am 'Always Exceeds Expectations' explain.

 

Our self rating has to be understood from boss's perspective and then one will understand what made the difference. There are fine distinctions in each category and when you don't meet one of the criteria your rating will change.

 

In general 1-2 out of 100 people get rated in Excellent Category. 20-30 out 100 people get rate in Always Exceeds Expectations. 30-40 out of 100 get Exceeds Expectations 10-15 get Meets Expectations 1-5 get Does not meet expectations.  This trend is mostly universal. Every organization has very few Outperformers and underperformers. All other people do their best and because of minor differences in performance end up in other categories.

 

In my personal experience as supervisor I have encountered people in each category and judging people comes with experience. But while counseling persons after reviews needs careful preparation in stating facts and explaining what a person needs to do to get into next level of performance.

 

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