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A bit of context first: I recently finished my degree and started just 2 months ago at the company I now work for. However, while I studied, I already worked there regularly. It was a 3-year program which included six "internships" of three months, each one in a different department of the company. (Read here for more info.)

I transitioned from my last "internship" directly into my new position. But the last two months have definitely been something entirely new. New tasks, new responsibilities and a lot more meetings. My job description could be loosely translated into "IT security analyst".

To my question: My company has fixed dates on annual performance reviews. So although I've been working there for only two months, I'm up for one pretty soon, and I'm not quite sure on how to prepare myself. I've asked colleagues how this is handled, and they all gave me the same answer: define goals for yourself and ask for feedback.
From what I've read in other answers, that's been the first advice given to other people as well.

What I want to know now:

Is there anything I should look at in particular, when preparing for my annual performance review, because of the short time that I've been a "full-fledged" employee?

I think this is not a duplicate, because I'm asking specifically if the short duration that I've been an employee plays a role in how I should prepare myself.

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    You say you've talked to coworkers, but have you talked to your boss? They really seem like the best person to answer this question.
    – David K
    Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 19:16
  • No I haven't. She was very hard to reach after the review was announced (last Wednesday), because she has a lot of meetings because it's the end of the year and all that. I'm fairly certain that I won't have a meaningful conversation with her until we have this meeting (which is later this week, writing this on a Monday).
    – Tom K.
    Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 19:20
  • "Yes" to both your questions/assumptions. Most of the training material just spells out what is fairly obvious though. It - obviously - also doesn't say anything about preparing yourself, if you are new to the company. But I feel we are coming back to the "defining goals" strategy and this is pretty much it?!
    – Tom K.
    Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 19:35
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    Your coworkers have given you good advice. As someone who's been in a similar position, I can say that you are probably in for a laid-back and not-very-rigorous performance review. At this point you're still learning the ropes, and any manager worth their salt will know that. So be prepared to talk about what you've done, but don't stress out about it very much.
    – TheSoundDefense
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 16:56
  • Prepare commensurate with the annual Christmas Bonus you expect to receive after only two months employment. Show them you take what they say seriously and that it's important, and they should respond in kind. Still you should not expect an inquisition, but they might look at it as though they've known you for years.
    – Rob
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 1:35

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You should of course be able to describe all the things you have done even in that short time, etc., but honestly, unless your supervisor doesn't know what's going on around him, it's going to be clear to him you've only been there for a brief moment. It's not going to be all that rigorous, I reckon.

Disclaimer: of course I'm not saying don't prepare or don't put in effort. My point is, it's going to be fine, reasonable people often act reasonably, and once you get done, start preparing for next year's review!

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Some advice I was told when I started working and that I've followed until now: document the work you do every day. Do a short summary of the tasks finished every day or every other day and the problems encountered and solved.

This has a number of advantages:

First of all, for reviews such as this one or if a conflict with a senior ever arises, you'll be able to show off and prove the work you've done.

It also makes it much easier to look at your own work with a little step back. If you look back at something you've done a few days/weeks ago it should be simpler to find things that you could have done better and set goals for things you'd like to improve.

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