October 27, 2010 by

There has been much talk in the business press lately regarding the benefits of peer review, as opposed to or in conjunction with a superior’s review. So what is peer review anyway?

Peer review is a term that is used to describe a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the related field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance, and provide credibility.

How does peer review work?
During a peer review, a professional’s colleagues or peers provide feedback on his/her job performance, skills, aptitudes and knowledge. Peer reviews can be done anonymously, in order to improve the quality and the usefulness of the feedback. Professional peer reviews focus on the performance of professionals, with a view to uphold standards. Professional peer review activity is widespread in many fields and can be done in a corporation or a department of any size.

What are the benefits of a peer review?
Peer reviews can be more effective than reviews done by a person’s superiors, due to the fact that peers can often be more objective and can rate a professional on a variety of different skills and talents that the supervisor may not be privy to. Peer review can offer a different perspective or an angle on one’s job performance.

In the past decade, peer review has surfaced as an incredibly valuable tool for judging an associate’s abilities and talents.

Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Performance System Broken

March 3, 2010 by

A business professor at Stanford University claims that performance reviews can’t accurately access employees. Jeffrey Pfeffer says bosses hate doing them, and workers don’t learn from them.

In his Business Week editorial, Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior, gives a dozen reasons why. He says bosses give higher scores to those they personally hired. And performance depends mainly on the systems involved.

The purpose of www.CareerRating.com is to help employees obtain objective, accurate performance reviews.

Posted in career rating, performance reviews; job performance; manager review | Leave a Comment »

Points for the Employee to Keep in Mind

March 2, 2010 by

Companies that were giving everyone an easy pass a year or two ago are now making more stringent performance reviews, according to Cambria Consulting, a human resources firm in Boston. Reviews are no longer thought of simply as required paperwork.
Here is some advice on how to handle an upcoming review:
* Don’t panic if your job is in an area that has been hit by recession, such as sales. Instead, demonstrate how you have adapted to changed business circumstances. Management consultants say you should be ready with a list of creative ways you’re solving problems with limited resources.
* Rather than dwell on what you couldn’t do during the past year, focus on your future plans. At most companies, employees and supervisors work together to set individual goals.
* Be as specific as possible in asking for any help or training you need.
* Even the best workers should be prepared to hear some criticism. Don’t act defensively. Instead, discuss what you learned from a failure and how you’ll do things differently, says Robert Gorden, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Performance Appraisals (Alpha Books).
* You don’t have to accept a poor evaluation. Immediately contact your human resources department to see if there is an objection process, suggests Tom Coens, a labor lawyer and co-author of Abolishing Performance Appraisals (Berrett-Koehler).
If there is no complaint process, meet with your boss to voice your objections. Also ask that your written response be put in your file.
Done right, performance reviews motivate people and keep everyone focused on key goals. For more great ideas on performance reviews, visit www.CareerRating.com.

Posted in good job review, how to do well at your job review, performance reviews; job performance; manager review, positive job review | Leave a Comment »

In Praise of Performance Reviews

March 1, 2010 by

Some human resources people claim that annual pay and performance reviews aren’t good for morale, kill teamwork and hurt an organization’s bottom line. Human resources expert Samuel A. Culbert says it’s impossible to be truly objective, especially when the boss bases the review on feedback from others who may have political interests involved. He notes that two different bosses can have entirely different views of the same person.

He recommends a performance preview instead. It features discussions about how the boss and employee are going to work together more effectively than they did in the past. This makes the boss partially responsible for the employee’s performance rather than placing the entire responsibility on the employee.

The boss’s assignment is to guide, coach, tutor and assist a subordinate to help him or her perform successfully. Look interested, stay awake. Long meetings can sometimes become boring. Clowns on the Internet have suggestions for you, but most are humorous; the rest will insult the speaker, and none will do your image any good.

Business writer Tony Reiman has these more constructive suggestions.

  • Tilt your head to the right to indicate you are listening.
  • Smile occasionally at the speaker.
  • Keep blinking so you don’t have a glazed look.
  • Nod in agreement from time to time.

Posted in career rating, performance reviews; job performance; manager review | Leave a Comment »

Doing Better Performance Reviews

February 28, 2010 by

How do you approach performance reviews in a way that will benefit employees and improve their work and compliance?
Books such as “Perfect Phrases for Performance Reviews” provide an array of canned comments you can use. Problem is, they may not help you make a person-to-person connection. Co-author Robert Bacal, quoted in The Wall Street Journal, says the popularity of such books shows that managers are “deceiving themselves into thinking what they are doing is an objective process.”
If you have to write the review, you are also saying something about yourself. Written comments actually can be incriminating for the manager. Poor performance of staffers seems to show that the manager may have failed to manage someone as effectively as others. Some managers inflate the grades of their staffers in an attempt to make themselves look better.

Telling the truth about performance also leads to further responsibility. If an employee is not doing the job, you then have to figure out how to make the situation better. If people are already doing a good job, you have to figure out how to reward them.

One manager quoted in the Journal says his least-favorite criticism is calling a worker a “non-team player.” It is frequently used to demoralize overachievers who deserved promotions but didn’t get them. Rather than review staffers’ work annually, it would be much better to talk with people occasionally throughout the year, some experts say. Organizations are often reluctant to change review policies, since they give the company some protection from risk.

Career Rating is a great tool for doing effective performance reviews.

Posted in career evaluation, career rating, performance reviews; job performance; manager review | Leave a Comment »

Get an MBA Part-Time

February 27, 2010 by

Many top-ranked MBA schools saw full-time applications fall between 20 percent and 35 percent in 2004. At the same time, part-time applications stayed even or increased. More students are attending classes in the evenings or on weekends in order to obtain a high-quality education and keep their present jobs at the same time. Tuition reimbursement programs by employers have added to the attractiveness of the plan. On the positive side, students can bring their corporate experience into the classroom and put their new education to work immediately on the job.Some educators, however, feel that the immersion experience of full-time education is more productive.

Posted in carer rating, MBA; part-time MBA; education; work edutation | Leave a Comment »

Health care, Technology Grow Faster

February 25, 2010 by

New Labor Department statistics show that one-third of the 30 jobs projected to grow the fastest in this decade are in technology. Some of these jobs require computer know-how, but not necessarily a college education.

Health care will account for about half of all new jobs according to government projections. Other job growth will occur in education, fitness, and animal health. Experts say jobs are increasing in government, finance, security, and defense.

Posted in health care jobs; technology jobs; job growth; career rating | Leave a Comment »

Be Open to Feedback

February 24, 2010 by

The best feedback is constructive, not confrontational. Even if it’s not pleasant, your outlook is the most important part of it. Before becoming defensive, let the point be made without interrupting. Listen carefully. Ask questions and ask for clarification so you can understand the situation from the other person’s perspective. What if you don’t get feedback? Ask questions about projects or situations.

Career Rating is the perfect tool to help you receive constructive feedback from your manager and co-workers.

Posted in work feedback; work criticism; manager feedback; career rating feedback | Leave a Comment »

How To Stay Focused

February 23, 2010 by

Canadian doctor and psychotherapist Gabor Mate suffers from attention deficit disorder. He lectures on that topic, but his advice works for everyone who wants to stay focused:

* Connect emotionally to the task. Ask yourself what part of the task you care about the most and build on that.
* Consider the time of day. If you think better in the morning, schedule important work for that time.
* Decide how long you intend to work and what you plan to accomplish. Keep that in mind.
* Remove items that break your focus. Remove photos, magazines, and any material not relevant to the task, even the icon on your computer that alerts you to an email.
* Take a break every 40 minutes.

Posted in ADD; attention job, stay focused on job; focus on job | Leave a Comment »

Can You Re-define Your Job?

February 22, 2010 by

Many support jobs are not completely defined and that could mean an opportunity to redefine what the job entails. Often people have skills which aren’t used in their present jobs, but could be used under certain circumstances. If they choose to, they might be able to mold their jobs into what they want the job to be and what could serve the organization better, according to Geoffrey M. Bellman in his award-winning book “Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge” (Berrett-Koehler).

Posted in re-define job; change job; change work duties | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.