There are several things a new hire should be doing throughout the year (prior to their first performance review). The performance review or evalutation process really starts on day 1; not just on the day of the meeting.
Therefore, from day 1:
1) They should take the initiative to schedule regular (weekly) one-on-one meetings with their manager. These meetings can be as short as 15-20 minutes in length. The idea is to have frequent meetings with your manager about your challenges, your accomplishments, your questions, and your performance. If you take the initiative to set these up, you will always know where you stand in regards to a performance review.
2) They should already have created a Personal Business Commitment plan with their manager (use your weekly one-on-one meetings with your manager to do this). The PBC outlines your role, responsibilities, expectations and success criteria for your position. Once you have your commitments outlined, the new hire should create specific SMARTER goals on how they will accomplish those goals and how they plan to track and prove their progress on those items.
3) They should create an Accomplishment Folder and collect any and all awards, recognitions, thank you notes, and accomplishments in this folder (as it is happening). Trying to remember everything that you have accomplished the day before the performance review is short-changing yourself. Most people will remember the last thing you’ve done (which could be good or bad). But if you deliberately collect the information as you go along, you won’t be missing some important achievements.
In general – if you document your goals, expectations, and accomplishments as you go along (and continue to be open and transparent with your manager) on a weekly basis, you will be well repaired fo the reivew and not have a surprise at your performance evaluation.
If you are interested in more information along these lines, check out some of the free online career management courses on Udemy.com
Check out the Get That Well-Deserved Raise Laser Lesson
Check out the Professional Development Toolkit