How To Advocate For Yourself In Your Year-End Review

Leaving out areas for improvement could be a missed opportunity to make the evaluation a pitch to your boss about what skills you would like to learn or ideas you want to explore.

If you want to move up the corporate ladder, ensure your self-evaluation reflects that. If you feel you are ready for more responsibility or a promotion, express that.

Using the pandemic as an excuse for not performing your job in the best way is not going to put you in the best light.

Language that shows you are stagnant, such as "we did not have enough resources", will taint your evaluation. Instead, use words that show you are moving forward, such as "I was able to be agile during our challenges and changes."

It's difficult to remember in December what you worked on in February.

• Habitually keep track of emails, collaborations and projects that are applicable to the team and business goals.
• Every month, ask what you did that month. What stood out to you? 
• Keep track of project milestones reached, emails with positive feedback, reports with sales numbers or other metrics and moments that make you proud.