Help me with this appraisal form....please!

[whatsallthisthenhey]

I've got an appraisal at work on Friday and I've got to complete the bloody form. I hate doing these!

Does anyone have any good, standard responses I can crib please?

Questions are generic - main achievements, what are your strengths, what's been most challenging, if you could improve one skill etc.

It's a professional services job - think accountancy, legal, financial services and the like. Run own caseload. Work independently. No real ambition to progress!

I know some people really have a great knack at completing these but I don't!

Thanks in advance

better off asking someone close to you

as otherwise you risk coming across as utterly ignorant about… yourself

It's hard for us because the great thing is to be specific- and we don't know what you have done at work this year!

First up though, I am curious why you find it hard. Is it because you are shy of evaluating your own performance? Is it because you don't see your own performance as something you can influence? That might indicate a lack of growth mindset or a deeper lack of interest in the job or manager. Or maybe you don't really feel ownership of the things you have to do or don't have a strong sense of how they should be done and what helps or hinders you to do them? In that case maybe this is about you being something of a passenger at work, is this because you don't see the point of the organisation's aims, or don't see how you fit? Is it because you do a very templates technical job and have no sense of how it could improve? I'd do some reflection on that to start with - not for the appraisal form but for your own wellbeing and happiness. If there's anything useful for your manager that comes up, you could say it.

For the form. Do you have objectives or KPIs- start from those and think did I achieve this and if so what's the evidence? for example "manage all my projects according to the best practice project management template" - Well did you? what helped you or got in your way?
Main achievements - any particularly challenging or difficult bits of work you did well? Specific projects? Why? It's like prep for a job interview, picking out things that evidence your competency.
Don't forget non project work such as managing others, supporting the team, helping with social stuff etc - that's all relevant.
For improvement- in professional services there must be loads of stuff online as to what's the absolute gold standard service in, say, conveyancing or creating management reports or sorting out the audit or whatever you do. Is your firm doing it this way? Are you? How could you improve? Efficiency, speed, customer care, accuracy?

Greater social contribution? This might not be in your wheelhouse but I believe all of us at work can be happier in ourselves, and lead more fulfilling lives if we think of all of our work as a social endeavour.

Ugh, I hate these. My boss is the sort who will make you practice your weakness 10x a day in order to improve, even if it takes you off other really urgent tasks. So I have to think of a weakness that I wouldn't mind being asked to grind at for 6 weeks while she goes on a power trip. I'm going to pick the easiest part of my job and just pretend I find it difficult!

A couple of these you've answered in your OP:

Strengths: Run own caseload. Work independently . What's your attention to detail like?

Weaknesses or areas for improvement: No real ambition to progress - I'd reword this to say something like you don't see a route to progression/ you don't feel confident to take on more responsibility or similar

You know yourself, you just have to have the courage to put it in black and white!

You can try using something like ChatGPT to help you, it can be good at this sort of thing, organising your thoughts.

@Immemorialelms crikey, that's making me think.

The self flagellation part of me would just say laziness. I just want to be left alone to get on with the job and not have to fill out silly forms. I definitely don't like to be micro managed.

But, I definitely do have some imposter syndrome, particularly since returning from mat leave last year. I don't like highlighting my weaknesses as I'll feel exposed. I do worry I'm not efficient but again don't want to highlight that.

Having said that, I do think I'm good at my job, not stellar, but pretty solid.

You've definitely given me some food for thought.

Thanks to everyone who has replied - talking about it has actually really helped

its a game, some people are good at it, I am not

Strengths - accounts
Weaknesses - eczema

(Big Keith, RIP)