Still Avoiding Your NSPS Self Assessment?
Monday, September 29, 2008
By
Nancy Segal
______________
Are you part of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS)? (And did you know that the final enabling regulations have now been issued for this system?)
Are you still avoiding writing your NSPS Self Assessment? You are not alone, but you are running out of time! Here are some simple tips to get started:
- Look at your job objectives. What are your job objectives? What results are you expected to achieve? Not sure? Be sure to look at your PAA (the on-line Performance Appraisal Application) to find your job objectives. Hopefully you don't have more than 3 to 5.
- Figure out your contributing factors. What contributing factors go with each job objective? Not sure? Again, you can check your PAA to see.
- Think about your mission. What is your organization's mission? Not sure? Ask your supervisor or check your organization's website and find your mission.
- Look at your accomplishments. What results are you expected to achieve? Not sure? Think about your results in terms of something concrete you could show your boss—a new policy, a conference you put together, engineering drawings, a calendar. Make a list of your accomplishments for each of your job objectives.
- Find the definitions for the performance indicators and contributing factor benchmark descriptors. Make sure you find these definitions for your pay band and pay schedule. Not sure? Your SF-50 will give you your pay band and pay schedule. The PAA form has definitions of the performance indicators and contributing factor benchmark descriptors.
- Draft your self assessment. Looking at each job objective and your accomplishments, draft your self assessment. Not sure how? Use one or two of your most powerful accomplishments for each job objective to demonstrate how you helped achieve your organization's mission. Incorporate as many metrics as you can to show the scope of your accomplishments. And incorporate the language of the performance indicators and contributing factor benchmarks to the extent possible to show your performance. Feel free to use our free, NSPS key word tree to help you identify words that will help you be seen as a Valued Performer or better! Once your Self Assessment reads the way you want, you can copy and paste it into the PAA.
MORE INFORMATION: Samples, keywords, personal empowerment writing style, and instruction for writing accomplishments are available in Writing Your NSPS Self-Assessment by Kathryn Troutman and Nancy Segal. Click here to order your copy.
Nancy Segal is a Federal Career Trainer, Certified Federal Resume Writer and Federal Career Consultant out of Chicago, IL. A successful government trainer, she has trained NSPS employees, supervisors and agency human resources specialists in NSPS for more than two years. Nancy is an expert keyword analyst for Department of Defense employees for career documents. Previously Ms. Segal was a human resources specialist with several federal agencies and became an expert and advocate for federal employees seeking advancement and career change.
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