Easy promotion steps
Want to maximise your promotion chances? What makes a good report? SQNLDR James Allen gives us the inside scoop.

Volume 48, No. 10, June 15, 2006

MAXIMISING your promotion prospects is a simple five-step process entirely within your control.

1. Know the system
Take ownership of your career prospects by familiarising yourself with the Defence Instructions regarding performance reporting and promotion. These instructions are detailed at the end of this article. While it might seem that these instructions are perfect bedtime reading for insomniacs, the information they contain is important to you.

Perhaps the most important message to understand is that your promotion prospects hinge upon your reported performance and most importantly, the quality of the narrative sections of the Performance Appraisal Report (PAR).

Understand the PAR. Each section serves a purpose:

Nature of Duties. This section gives the promotion board an understanding of your duties and, across a range of reporting years, the breadth of your experience at rank.

Performance Dimensions. This section gives a quick overview of your strengths and weaknesses and, for airmen and women, contributes to your running average performance which dictates your initial cohort placement.

Assessment of Performance in Current Job. The purpose of this section is to expand upon your reported strengths and weaknesses by detailing specific examples of your achievements and capabilities. Your assessor need not produce a Shakespearean work of art; concise statements will suffice.

Do not accept flowery statements, reiteration or duplication of the word pictures from the check box section, or a copy of last year’s narrative.

Suitability for future employment.

The promotion board should be able to gauge your competence at your current rank. In this section the board wants to see what other types of duties the assessor thinks you are/are not suited to and why. The board wants a feel for your potential to perform at the next rank.

Examples and substantiated statements hold more weight during the board’s consideration process.

Senior Assessor’s Statement. The senior assessor’s role can be vital as they are normally more experienced than your direct assessor and can potentially offer a more objective assessment. Make sure your senior assessor does not simply state that they agree with your direct assessor as this does not ‘value add’ to the report.

2. Be visible
Set yourself apart from your peers through your performance, conduct and adherence to Air Force values. There is nothing wrong with being the quiet achiever, as long as your superiors recognise your achievements.

Let your boss know when you complete a significant or complicated task. Look to strike a balance between “brownnosing” and keeping the boss informed.

3. State your case
Encourage your assessor to provide a narrative that describes your actions and achievements and justifies your assessment. A high-scoring PAR without justification and amplification does you a disservice as does a PAR which has minor cosmetic changes when compared to your previous PARs.

Review your own performance before the debrief and make a mental note of specific occasions when you’ve performed particularly well in each of the areas listed.

If you receive a poor, or even an average mark in a certain field, compare the assessment to your performance and be honest with yourself. PARs are based upon sustained effort over the reporting period not just a few isolated examples.

4. ‘Not happy Jan’
If you do not believe that your assessment accurately reflects your performance discuss the matter with your assessor in the first instance.

If necessary avail yourself of the PAR representation process. Be un-emotive and offer specific examples to endorse your opinion.

This process is preferable to seeking retrospective invalidation of the report through redress of grievance as a reporting gap is not likely to advantage your promotion prospects. Additional information may be found in the article entitled ‘Report Representation and Invalidation’ in the Promotions Section of Air Force People Central.

5. Your efforts count
Make sure that your PAR is submitted in a timely fashion. You can confirm that the report has been received by DP-AF and successfully loaded by checking PMKeyS Self Service. Contact your promotion cell if you have any concerns.

Summary
Working hard and performing well is a good way to make sure you are assessed well in your PAR, but when your reports are considered by a promotion board, potentially among hundreds of others, it’s important that the board has confidence in the assessment. A little thought and planning, and an understanding of how the system works, can make all the difference.

Promotion information is available via Air Force People Central. Read the DIs on performance reporting and promotion: Performance Appraisal Officers and Airmen – DI(G) PERS 10-8 Promotion– DI(AF) PERS 5-1 (Officers) and DI(AF) PERS 5-9 (Airmen)..

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