Performance Reviews: The Language of Growth
A performance review shouldn't be a surprise. It's a formal summary of the feedback you've been giving all year.
The Rating Scale
Most tech companies (like Google or Amazon) use a 4 or 5-point scale:
- Needs Improvement: Not meeting the basic requirements of the role.
- Meets Expectations: Doing a solid job. This is where most people are!
- Exceeds Expectations: Consistently doing more than the role requires.
- Greatly Exceeds / Outstanding: Changing the direction of the company or team.
Vocabulary of Impact
- Proactive: Taking action before being asked. ("You were proactive in fixing the security vulnerability. ")
- Ownership: Taking full responsibility for a project. ("You showed great ownership of the mobile launch.")
- Stakeholder Management: Working well with other teams. ("Your stakeholder management during the migration was excellent.")
The Development Plan
Every review should end with a plan for the future:
- "To get to the next level (L5), I'd like to see you lead a cross-functional project."
- "We'll focus on your technical leadership skills this quarter."
- "I'm going to pair you with [Senior Person] to help you learn about system design."
Alex's Tip: Don't just talk about what they did (The "What"). Talk about how they did it (The "How"). A brilliant engineer who is toxic to the team is not a "top performer."
Probing and follow-up
Good interviewers probe for depth:
- Can you tell me more about that?
- What was the hardest part?
- What would you do differently next time?
Probing separates rehearsed answers from real experience.
Questions to avoid
In English-speaking jurisdictions, these questions are inappropriate and often illegal because they enable discrimination:
- Age: How old are you?
- Marital status and family: Are you married? Do you have kids?
- Religion: What is your religion?
- National origin: Where are you really from?
- Health and disability: Do you have any illnesses?
Stick to skills, experience, and behavior. If a topic is not job-related, do not ask about it.
Candidate questions
Always leave time for the candidate's questions. Their questions reveal their interests and preparation:
- What does success look like in this role in the first six months?
- How does the team make decisions?
- What is the biggest challenge the team is facing?
Strong, specific questions signal a thoughtful candidate.
Common mistakes
- Unstructured chats. Inconsistent questions produce biased, hard-to-compare results.
- Yes/no or hypothetical questions. They reveal little about real behavior.
- Personal or discriminatory questions. Inappropriate and legally risky.
Practice
Write one behavioral question and two STAR follow-up probes for a role you would hire for:
- Behavioral question: _
- Probe for action: _
- Probe for result: _
Example: Tell me about a time you led a project with a tight deadline. / What was your specific role? / What was the measurable result?
In the final lesson of this course, you will learn to resolve conflict within a team in English.