In your first year on the job, the most exciting (or horrifying) moment in your early career is the annual evaluation. Your boss will provide you with a detailed evaluation on what you have done for the company and if you should be rewarded with a higher wage. If all goes well, your monthly salary should increase while a bad review might even result to termination.

But aside from your supervisor’s evaluation, you should also make it a point to evaluate yourself. Self-evaluation will help you manage your career as you take a look at your current situation and what you need to do if you want to improve it.

Your Present Situation as a Starting Point

Your personal evaluation should start on your current job. Review your salary, how it has affected your work, family and even social life. Take note of the changes that happened to you for the past year since you transitioned from an unemployed or a fresh graduate to a full-fledged professional. While taking note of these changes, notice how these changes has affected you, not only financially but emotionally as well. Ultimately, you need to ask yourself with this question, “Am I Happy?”

Work-Home and Other Routine

If you think something is wrong with your career or you’re not moving fast enough, consider changing your routine. Some have found out that their life just got a little bit boring because all they do is go to work and come home. Boredom could easily lead to unhappiness as you don’t do anything special for yourself. Instead of pushing the routine further, change something as soon as possible. You can look for another hobby, join a non-volunteer organization or take some time-off for a few minutes after work by going somewhere. Breaking the routine should help you snap out of boredom and get excited for work again.

Skills Required

Your annual personal evaluation is also the perfect time to know how good you are in the industry. At first glace, your education should have been more than enough to help you become a competitive employee with chances of a better career. But as you go through your first year, you realize that some individuals are not just content with what they learned in college.

Take this opportunity to identify the areas where you’re good at and to identify the areas that you are not faring well. This should give you an idea on the needed knowledge you should have. If training is necessary, you should on this as soon as possible if you want a better career.

Career Directions

Last but not the least; take a look at the career you have chosen. On your first year, this path may have been the best for you. But that doesn’t mean you’re content with the same path. Carefully consider how happy or satisfied you are with your current career. This is very important since a well chosen direction will not only help you push for a better position but also for happiness and satisfaction.