The 3 Month Review

Once getting the job, you expect that life will be full of sunshine and rainbows. In Australia, this is not the case. Once you’ve signed your contract, you will then be put onto a 3 month probation period. During that time, you’ll need to ‘fight for your life’ to keep your job. At any time if your boss feels that you’re under performing or just not the right fit, you could get canned. To avoid this, you’ll need to not only perform your job description, but also perform above and beyond expectation especially if you want a raise at your evaluation.

During this period, your peers are watching you. They’re constantly judging you, giving you more responsibility, tighter deadlines, thus added pressure that you just don't need. They’ll liaise with your boss disclosing a behind closed doors sense of your performance, work ethic, personality and ability to handle that pressure. You have no idea this is happening until the day of your 3 month review.

Two weeks before my 3 month review I was asked to fill out a questionnaire with topics like:

• What do you like about your job?
• What don’t you like about your job?
• What do you do in your job?
• How could you do your job better?
• What do you like about your manager?
• What don’t you like about your manager?
• What do you not like about your workplace?
• How could you make the work place better?

These topics, although generic, can really open up an entire account of your experience. Because the questions are so open-ended, you are at liberty to answer in your own tone and reveal what you think is noteworthy to bring up at your assessment. With confidence and a promise to myself that I would always be open and honest at any job I hold, I answered the questions in length about my experience at Taurus.

The week before my review, one of my colleagues was notified that he was under performing. This assessment scared me. His resume boasted of experience and high qualifications. He had a bright personality and the charisma any company would want. He was also one of my first friends at the workplace, not to mention Australia. In the end, he wasn’t the right fit for our company. Gosh, what if I wasn’t the right fit? What if I was under performing? Keeping my composure, I held my head high. After all, I felt that my performance over the last 3 months was actually worth me presenting my case for a raise. I had written for every publication we contributed to, done loads of research, pitched a product into a highly saturated market and even managed the interns just to name a few highlights.

The day before my actual review, I sat down with my manager and talked through my questions. I was confident about the positive questions like what do you do, how have you contributed etc. When it came to the more sensitive questions, I broke down. I hate talking about people and how I felt the department was lacking. I didn’t want my concerns to reflect on management; the person sitting in front of me. I saw the concern in her eyes and the waterworks came. I didn’t want her to think she was a bad manager nor did I want to raise the red flag of the inconsistencies and shortcomings of the office. Nevertheless, I stayed true to myself and raised the issue of being open in our small office and how fairness and individuality need to be addressed. In my mind, wasn’t it better to contribute towards a dialogue of understanding and the improvement of myself, my peers, my department and my office? I was given the questionnaire to answer in my own words and of my own accord. She fully agreed with my advice and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

The second topic of the hour was my salary. I have to preface this bit with the fact that I hate talking about salary and deserving of said salary. To justify my desired salary, I printed off salary reviews and trends from Australia’s most trusted and used source for employment – Seek.com.au. I presented the print out with graphs and descriptions. She asked, “What drives you? For some it’s training. For others, it’s money.” I said skittishly, “Money.” I appreciate training, but I felt that I got enough experience and push by working in an agency itself. Working in an agency is a fast-paced, tight deadline driven and outcomes-based way of working. Those elements in themselves gave me enough of a learning curve to push my professional capabilities and boundaries. Furthermore, I was under-hired. I had previous experience in working with internal and external communications and public relations, but I had come off of 2 years of teaching English in Korea. Australia needed to see my capabilities and in 3 months, I showed them I was definitely not entry-level. So aiming high, my first figure was surprisingly for me and gladly accepted by my manager. Happy with my own self-assurance and the much higher figure, I said nothing more of my salary.

This was the easy episode. My immediate manager wanted to go through my questionnaire as a buffer before I took on my CEO the next day. Because I was emotionally spent at this point, I breezed through the round with my CEO. I was firm, confident and most of all sincere. I had my doubts, but as any good communication specialist would do, I backed myself up with credible examples and won my case. This experience isn't a reflection on my company, but is assessment that exists to bring mutual understanding and agreement between the employee and employer. I've had a wonderful and challenging experience thus far and can't wait to see how my professional self develops until my next appraisal occurs in May 2011.

The 3 month review is unfamiliar and a strange concept to grasp. I now understand why Australia does it and can appreciate the 'try before you buy' concept. After all, there are thousands who enter Australia each year trying to land a job and obtain a business visa. On the other hand, there are just as many who go beyond their tourist visa and just stay illegally. Australia has to be discriminating and that's where the 3 month review fits in the grander picture of living the 'Australian dream'.