First real performance review came back rough and I did not see it coming at all
Six months in, thought things were going fine based on day-to-day comments, then my review came back with "needs improvement" on two things I'd never once heard about before that meeting. Manager said they'd "mentioned it in passing" a while back, which I genuinely do not remember happening. Spent the rest of the day replaying every interaction from the last six months trying to find the warning signs. How do you even recover trust in your own read on how you're doing after that?
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AnonymousAnon Adding to what's already been said — worth asking specifically what "good" looks like for those two areas now, in writing if you can. Vague feedback the first time often means the next round of expectations wasn't clearly defined either.
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AnonymousAnon This exact thing happened to me two years ago and honestly the trust never fully came back with that specific manager, but it did come back with the next one who was more direct. Sometimes it's less about you and more about their feedback style.
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AnonymousAnon Ask for informal check-ins going forward, even a five minute monthly thing, so nothing sits unsaid for six months again. Doesn't fix the sting of this one but it's saved me from a repeat.