Evaluations: Your boss hates this as much as you do

Performance evaluations are your opportunity to make sure your boss knows what you've accomplished.  Note that I didn't say 'what you are doing'.  You were hired based on what was in your resume, how you reacted during the interview, and the strength of your references.  Now your boss has had a chance to see what you can do.  Never mind what skills you bring to the job - what accomplishments can you point to? This is an important distinction.  I've said it before: you were hired on your skills and your potential, you'll be promoted and get raises based on your performance.  Let's make sure you can present a strong case:

• Plan for your performance evaluation on your first day of work - It's really important to keep track of your achievements and accomplishments as they happen.  Start a file - either on paper or online - and whenever you've done something significant, make a note of it.  Not a long dissertation, but a reminder of what you did, what obstacles you had to overcome, and what the result was.  It is much easier to do this when it is fresh in your mind, rather than at the end of the year before your evaluation.  Like with a resume, don't document your responsibilities (what you were supposed to do).  Document your achievements and results (what you actually accomplished and why it was important).
• Know how you will be evaluated - Sometime during your first weeks on the job, ask your boss to spend some time with you and make sure you know how you will be evaluated.  Most medium to large companies today have a form listing all the criteria on which employees will be judged.  You should go over this form to make sure you understand each item.  Some of these are going to be 'soft' goals like 'works well on teams' or 'upholds the company values'.  Other may be more concrete like 'sells $1,000,000 worth of product'.  Whatever the criteria,  several times during the year, review the criteria and how you will show that you have met or exceeded the expectations.
• Understand the process - Most medium to large companies have automated the review process and take great pains to ensure fairness and objectivity in evaluations.  This is mostly because they don't want to get sued or defend against claims of bias.  The process will be different for different companies but typically the manager and employee will agree on a set of goals at the beginning of the year.  Just before evaluation time, the employee reviews the goals and submits a 'self-assessment' of whether the goals were achieved.  The manager then reviews the employee's written comments and makes his own comments in writing.  An HR specialist then reviews the form to make sure that there is no bias or discrimination in the manager's comments, at which point the manager and employee sit down and discuss the evaluation.  There may be a numerical rating scale to provide an objective result.  Any final comments arising from the interview will be incorporated into the written evaluation and the employee is asked to sign it - not to signify agreement necessarily, but to show that she has read it.  In small companies, the process can be decidedly less formal, but in general the manager and employee should agree on joint goals, the employee should self-assess, and the employee and manager should meet to review the evaluation and agree on goals for the next period.
• Create concrete and objective goals - If your evaluation process is anything like what I have outlined above, you can see why it is to your advantage to have concrete goals and to document your achievements toward those goals as they occur.  Your self-assessment is your opportunity to prove your value along the agreed-upon criteria.  The more objective the goal, the easier it is to determine whether or not you have met it.  Your self-assessment should be a strong argument that you have met or exceed the expectations set forth at the beginning of the year.
• Don't wait until the end of the year - It's a good idea to schedule one or two meetings with your boss throughout the year as a informal metric of how you are doing.  (Some companies make interim evaluations a formal part of the process).  This is your chance to make sure that you and your boss agree on the goals and how you are doing so far.  It's also a time when you can point out goals that might not be met because you haven't been given an opportunity.  For example, one of your goals might be 'to prepare client status reports and present them in client status meetings'.  If it is mid-way through the year and your boss hasn't asked you to prepare those reports yet, this is a good time to remind her that you need to be given the opportunity to meet this goal.
• During the meeting - If you've followed these suggestions there shouldn't be any real surprises by the time that you get to the evaluation interview.  Your boss may disagree that your achievements as you have documented them fully meet or exceed the goals.  Try not to get defensive (it's hard!).  It's best to ask questions, rather than try to refute their observations.  So "I'm not sure why preparing client status reports for five clients this year doesn't meet my goal of participating in more client-facing activities", is better than "If preparing client status reports isn't a client-facing activity, I don't know what is."
• If you disagree put it in writing - I wouldn't sweat the small stuff, but if you and your boss really don't agree on an important point, you have the right (in most companies) to provide a written rebuttal to an evaluation and have it placed in your file.  Your HR dept may help out with the process, but remember that their job is to defend the company.  If you are constantly finding that you and your boss are disagreeing over your evaluation, then you are working for the wrong person or the wrong company.