Coworkers.com Blog

Blog will "Hibernate". Tweets, Forum & News keep chugging!

2010-11-10T14:03:00.011-05:00

The Coworkers.com blog has been a helpful way to share product information with our growing community of users. However, we've been so focused on readying Coworkers.com Enterprise Edition - as well as improving our B2C service - that we've grown more accustomed to leveraging Twitter, Facebook, and our own News & Support pages for ongoing communication.

Therefore, we are going to put our Blog into "hibernation mode" for the moment. Instead we ask you to consider staying connected with what's going on at Coworkers.com by keeping an eye on the following:

Coworkers.com Announces Enterprise Edition: Making Workplace Feedback And Reviews Work

2010-09-13T14:18:00.012-04:00

New York, NY, September 14, 2010 – Coworkers.com (http://www.coworkers.com) has launched into private beta its Coworkers Enterprise (CWE) edition, a new version of its professional feedback and analytics service for businesses that want to make workplace feedback and performance reviews work. The new CWE edition will augment the free, individual-focused product that it released in 2009.

“Businesses spend an enormous amount of time and money on workplace review systems for people, projects, documents, and deliverables - from paper-based reviews to complicated software platforms - and those systems don’t work. We’ve received a loud and clear message that businesses need better ways to let their people interact, using social technologies to facilitate honest, constructive peer review. Today we meet those needs with the Coworkers Enterprise (CWE) edition - a secure, easy to setup, easy to administer and easy to use platform for any business that wants to make workplace feedback and reviews work” said founder Jonathan Clay.

CWE contains many exciting new features tailored to companies, employees and various team-based situations:

Real-time feedback and in-depth performance review management, so that both employees and companies can manage performance continuously and not just once a year or only after projects are completed.
Sophisticated work-group functionality, so that businesses can now take advantage of the same feedback and analysis engine that powers the Coworkers.com public site, with the utmost concern for their security and privacy.
An activity stream-based user interface that is familiar to users of social networks.
An analytics engine to measure and extract work performance data from the day to day interactions in the activity stream, giving regular insight into how employees and projects are performing.

CWE allows a company to choose a unique URL, such as “MyCompany.coworkers.com”, and gives administrators full control over who has access to the domain. Employees can freely interact and exchange honest feedback, without worrying about sensitive information being exposed to anyone outside the company. Custom review templates can be developed for feedback that is specific to the company, its teams, its projects and any deliverable. In addition to work evaluation, the CWE edition supports new types of collaboration, such as micro-feedback, quick surveys, crowdsourced decision-making, and brainstorming.

Pricing for the Coworkers.com Enterprise Edition will be per user per month, with a free entry level offering. More details can be found at http://www.coworkers.com/b2b

Read or Download the full press release on Scribd
Visit our Coworkers.com Press Kit Page for additional media information.

Template Tips: when to use Private vs. Public settings on your feedback forms

2010-06-07T07:01:00.010-04:00

Coworkers.com gives you the flexibility to gather feedback in different ways.

Get quick feedback from others by asking a simple question and asking them to give a rating or yes/no type response
Get more in-depth feedback by asking people to respond to a lengthier questionnaire-style online form

Coworkers.com Templates are online review forms that help you capture that in-depth feedback. They can be as simple as a few questions, or as complex as a lengthy form combining various input methods such as: ratings; multiple choice; yes/no etc.

One of the great things about Coworkers.com is that we have a growing library of Templates that anyone can use right away. This library is made up of standard templates that Coworkers.com publishes, as well as custom templates created and shared by our users.

How can you take advantage of custom templates?

Private Templates: You can easily convert or create your own proprietary review and survey templates using our built-in editor. You can also copy an existing template from our library and modify it to suit your needs. When you save these templates, only you can see and use them we keep them safe and secure. We make sure your business intelligence remains confidential.
Public Templates: Want to share a useful form and gain credibility among your network? As above, you can create your own original forms, or customize existing ones and then make them visible to all Coworkers.com users. The advantage of sharing in this way, is that it grows your reputation as an expert and helps encourage sharing and growth within our Template library.

Now, go take advantage of templates to get and give professional feedback! Browse templates, Read our Template FAQ, or build a custom one today.

Software for Enterprise: "How to get quick and anonymous feedback via a web form"

2010-06-05T17:09:00.007-04:00

The website Software for Enterprise has put together a great overview on our service. In this article they very handily "...walk through a simple process on how a Project Manager would ask his subordinates for feedback on the last project he handled using Coworkers."

They go on to say "I think it’s good to use Coworkers to get feedback because:

It doesn’t force the person to give you an immediate answer.
He / she has an option on whether or not to give you a feedback.
He / she can choose to provide a feedback whenever convenient.
He / she can choose to give a feedback anonymously, if you allow it in the first place.

In addition, they point out:

"Some other ways how you can use Coworkers:

Get feedback from customers
As general assessments for interview candidate
Employees performance management
Do a self review to compare what others think of us against what we think of ourselves."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves!

Read the entire article, including helpful step by step instructions & screen shots, at wareprise.com

ITworld Looks at Coworkers.com & Online Reputation Management

2010-04-22T08:00:00.004-04:00

Dan Tynan was kind enough to speak with us recently regarding his series of articles that explore Online Reputation. Dan focused on some key differences between Coworkers.com and a new site called Unvarnished. Here are highlights from his piece:

Online reputation does matter
(no matter what Michael Arrington says)

"...My point: Of course your online reputation matters. That reputation is formed by a number of things, including what you say in your blog(s) or in comments, what you say and do on social networks and media sharing sites, and what other people say about you on sites like Unvarnished..."

"Jon Clay agrees with me. He’s CEO of Coworkers.com, a site that preceded Unvarnished and has a lot in common with it, but also differs in significant ways. Like Unvarnished, it exists to promote your professional reputation, and people may post anonymous reviews of you. Unlike Unvarnished, you control what others can and can’t see on your profile. So if somebody posts a nasty review of your work performance, you can choose to delete it, keep it but make it private, or show it to the world.

Why, I asked Clay, would anyone ever elect to show a negative review to anyone else? Because, he responded, it could be an excellent way to show how you’ve improved in a particular area over time. Last year, you may have gotten negative marks for your productivity, competence, or interpersonal skills; now your reviews are significantly better.

Another thing I like about Coworkers.com is nobody else can add you to its database. It’s up to you to add yourself. That keeps you from suddenly discovering, years down the road, that somebody has been spreading nasty lies about you on the site. (The downside? It tends to limit the number of people who actually participate -- searching the site for common names like "Smith" or "Jones" produces very few hits.) [*please see our note below]

In other words, it helps you manage your reputation as you see fit, which is how most of us try to operate in the real world. And that’s something we all will need to pay increasingly more attention to – no matter what Michael Arrington tells you."

We appreciate Dan's insight. Regarding profile search and user participation on Coworkers.com: While it's true that searching for people with Public profiles may yield limited results as we continue to grow, it is important to note that there is still a lot of private participation happening among users who do not make their profiles public.

We find that our private users are reaching out to their colleagues, collecting feedback, getting comfortable with using our site as a catalyst for self improvement. These users also share their positive and negative feedback privately and on a limited basis with mentors, coaches, supervisors, prospects etc. We think it's this level of control, on the incoming and outgoing stream, that distinguishes mere "Public ratings" from self-directed Professional Reputation & Career Management.

Read the full article on ITworld.com

On a related note, we were pleased to recently get some coverage in the New Jersey Business News website NJ.com in their article titled Social networking has its perks

What we're about, and what we're not

2010-03-31T09:18:00.013-04:00

So there's an interesting discussion going on over at TechCrunch with the title "Unvarnished: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place For Defamation". It talks about a recently launched service that lets anyone create a profile of another person and review them anonymously.

To be very clear up front: we have several competitors, but we do NOT consider this site one of them. Sure, there are some similarities, but the differences far outweigh them. We actually market tested a similar model early on in our evolution, and decided that it was not viable. Not to mention that we like being able to sleep at night.

It's tempting to take shots at these guys, but frankly it's unnecessary, and the majority of the commenters at TC have already roundly panned the idea. Instead, I will simply reiterate some of our key concepts, and you can draw your own conclusions.

Building up, not tearing down: We believe that everyone can benefit from honest feedback. However, it should be done in a constructive way, and the goal should be to help that person improve his or her work, not to "name and shame" them. Transparency is a good thing, but it must be superseded by an individual's right not be defamed.

Ask and ye shall receive: Coworkers.com is built around the question "how's my work? ®" not the statement "what a jerk". It's for people who want to advance their careers and strengthen their reputations by asking their coworkers for genuine, detailed feedback about their work. Yes, you can also send unsolicited, optionally anonymous feedback. But it is only displayed to the world when the recipient says it should be.

Cherry picking allowed here: on Coworkers.com, nothing is publicly displayed about you unless you confirm it. If you get an unwarranted or irrelevant review, you delete it, it's that simple. Does that mean that some valid, negative feedback will be deleted? Yes, of course. But we believe that's better than the alternative. And many people actually publish not-so-positive reviews of themselves, because they can use it to show how they have improved over time (see http://www.coworkers.com/analytics).

Don't like it? Fine, opt out: We do not try to hoodwink anyone into using our service. It's out there for anyone who derives value from it. If you don't like it, you can make your profile private, or remove your profile altogether, at any time.

Free speech is limited: Finally, and possibly most importantly, we believe that every person has a fundamental right to privacy. If you are a celebrity, different rules apply, which is why we have sites like TMZ. If you hang up a shingle as a lawyer or carpenter or restaurant, different rules apply, which is why services like Yelp are completely legitimate and useful. But if you are just a guy or gal trying to make your way in the workplace, it is simply wrong for someone to be able to spew venom about you for the whole world to see. We have all had bad moments with coworkers, and yes, retribution can be tempting. And to be honest, some people really do deserve it. But is it worth it if even one person's career is destroyed unfairly? We think the answer is no.

Jonathan Clay
Founder and President, Coworkers.com

Twitter Lists and Coworkers.com

2010-03-16T07:28:00.000-04:00

In addition to using Twitter to share information and provide updates on Coworkers.com, we have also been building various Twitter "Lists" that follow career and job related users. Take a look, we hope you will find them useful - http://twitter.com/coworkers/lists

Also, please let us know if you have any suggestions for people to add to these lists, or if you'd like us to track additional topics! You can email us via the site, or DM us on Twitter @coworkers.

Request Professional Feedback & Coaching via Google Buzz

2010-02-26T06:12:00.009-05:00

Coworkers.com now makes it easy for you to share your feedback requests via Google Buzz (in addition to Twitter & LinkedIn). Our Get Feedback tool helps you quickly configure a request for feedback regarding: your work performance, a document or deliverable, an event or milestone, or even just ask a simple question. With one click, you can share that request any way you want - via email, URL, Twitter, LinkedIn, and now Google Buzz!

To Buzz your request:

Choose "Get Feedback" from the "Feedback" drop-down menu on the site
In the "Ask Via..." options, make sure "Web..." is checked
Finish setting up your request, and you'll be presented with one-click links that let you share your request via Google Buzz & other services (see screen capture below)

Happy buzzing

Coworkers.com introduces affiliate program

2010-02-23T09:53:00.005-05:00

Affiliates generate revenue with referrals

Coworkers.com is pleased to introduce a new program that allows affiliates to earn money through referrals. The program is targeted primarily at career and job experts such as consultants, coaches, recruiters, and trainers. By referring paying customers to Coworkers.com, these people can supplement their income with no obligation and little effort.

“Since we launched our Professional (subscription) service in November, we have been approached by many career-focused business people who tell us that our service facilitates exactly the type of interaction they already recommend to their clients: ongoing, constructive, multi-party feedback” said founder Jonathan Clay. “Since these experts are already effectively selling what we offer, we decided to give them a way to profit from it.”

The affiliate program offers a one-time, 15% “bounty” to affiliates when they refer new customers who sign up for Coworkers.com’s Professional Edition. Each affiliate gets a unique “discount code” which is used to tie referrals back to them. Suggested methods of promotion for affiliates include blog entries, podcasts, and e-newsletters.

“This is truly a win-win deal,” said Clay. “With this program, we provide enterprising small businesses a way to generate passive revenue streams. End users get a substantial discount via the affiliate who referred them. And of course, we are happy to have a new distribution channel that will help us spread the word about Coworkers.com and gain new customers.”

Program details can be found at http://www.coworkers.com/affiliates

Use your LinkedIn Account to instantly Sign up for Coworkers.com

2010-01-29T07:31:00.019-05:00

We're excited to announce that new website visitors can now use their LinkedIn account information to sign up instantly for a Coworkers.com account. This is made possible thanks to the recently announced LinkedIn API.

How does the sign up process work?

If you have not yet registered with Coworkers.com, you can do so quickly, without a password, by signing in to your LinkedIn account. Simply visit our Free Registration page, and click on the "Connect via LinkedIn" link at the top of the page. We will import some information from your LinkedIn profile, such as your name, location, and work experience - so you won't need to enter it again. After you have registered, you can log back in to Coworkers via LinkedIn.

What about people who already have a Coworkers.com account?

If you have already signed up with Coworkers.com but have not yet filled out your profile, you can do so quickly by clicking on the "Import from LinkedIn" link on the Account page. This will instantly transfer information such as your industry, company, and work experience from LinkedIn.

Over time, we plan to add tighter integration with LinkedIn to include features that will benefit existing Coworkers.com users. We will continue to develop simple and effective tools for analyzing and improving your work, while leveraging the networking and messaging capabilities of LinkedIn, as well as other sites. We will keep you updated as we roll out new integration features, so be sure to login in to your Account Settings and sign up for our newsletter by selecting the "Send me periodic web site announcements" option - if you haven't already done so.

What is the difference between Coworkers and LinkedIn?

We realize that professionals use a portfolio of online services and tools to advance their career. Coworkers.com and LinkedIn work well together. LinkedIn is primarily used for networking – finding and connecting with other professionals, with whom you may or may not have work experience. Coworkers is focused solely on the people you have close working relationships with.

While LinkedIn has the concept of "recommendations" which are focused on personal marketing, Coworkers greatly expands the range of collegial input you can receive and share, giving you privacy control, the option for anonymity, templates, analytics, and other features focused on professional development. Bottom line: LinkedIn and Coworkers have different missions and serve different purposes, and we think you should use both – which is why we've made it incredibly easy for you to do so!

Feature Update: Feedback Template Library

2010-01-27T16:58:00.009-05:00

We've made it even easier to browse, preview, edit, create, and share Review and Feedback templates. You'll find a number of predesign templates covering everything from in-depth 360 degree work performance reviews to simple forms for getting feedback on a meeting or presentation.

Our users can create their own templates by either modifying an existing one, or building one from scratch. If a user decides to, they can share their custom templates so that they appear in our ever-growing library. As always, our templates fall into the three major categories of:

Work Performance
Event/Milestone
Document/Deliverable

Visit our Template Library today!

Get Valuable Input, on Autopilot: Schedule Feedback Requests

2010-01-05T07:30:00.009-05:00

Have a weekly meeting that you manage or attend? How about a monthly or quarterly milestone? Do you wish you could setup an annual or quarterly review request today, that will go out on a future date?

Coworkers.com PRO users can now Schedule Feedback Requests. This is a helpful way to get into the habit of collecting ongoing comments and ratings from your colleagues. Simply use our Get Feedback wizard and include the optional scheduling information. Set it up once and you can:

Schedule a one time request to go out on a future date
Schedule a recurring request to go out: daily, weekly or monthly
As always, the feedback you receive can be private, and people do NOT need to be Coworkers.com members to respond to your requests

Find out more about Scheduled Requests and other great features included in our Professional Account.

Five tips for incorporating work feedback into your daily routine

2009-12-28T11:48:00.003-05:00

The most effective individuals and companies share a common trait. They encourage frequent, honest feedback. The key to evolving beyond the dreaded periodic performance review, is to make workplace feedback more granular, recurring, and measurable. Here are some tips for leveraging professional feedback in order to improve the work you do.

Foster a feedback-friendly work environment. Tell your colleagues that you think an ongoing, open, honest, and informal peer review process is good for everyone. Don't be afraid to get the ball rolling without a formal process. Lead by example and start off by requesting feedback on a recent meeting, project, presentation or other current bit of work you have been involved with. Something specific and timely may be an easier starting point than than requesting a general work performance evaluation. Feedback should be exchanged frequently in all directions. When asking for feedback, focus on results and quality, not just on how hard you work or how nice you are.
Anonymity is your friend. When requesting feedback, try to share your request with as many people as is relevant to the question at hand. If possible, let people know that they are not the only one being asked, and allow them to respond anonymously. This helps people open up and underscores the non-threatening nature of the process. You are looking to gather unbiased constructive input, so do what you can to make people comfortable.
Be quick and proactive. If problems are exposed, don't let them fester, deal with them early. Don't complain about coworkers behind their backs. It is better to discuss concerns with them directly and get issues out in the open. Always try to resolve problems unofficially first. Only go to HR as a last resort, because then it becomes a matter of record.
Be honest with yourself. Get in the habit of doing regular self evaluations. You will often be your most honest and thorough critic. Taking the time to reflect on your work, a few times a week or month, is a lot easier than waiting every quarter or longer. No one is perfect, and your boss(es) will appreciate that you take the time to set the bar for yourself.
Analyze and learn. You can't manage what you don't measure. Repeat the process frequently, track the results. In reviewing your feedback over time, you will be able to spot strengths and weaknesses. You can keep an eye on trends, and set personal development goals more effectively. When you have greater insight into your abilities, you can present yourself with a confidence that gives you an edge.

'Tis the Season to Give & Receive (Feedback)

2009-12-18T08:57:00.005-05:00

As 2009 draws to a close, it's important to look back and review the things that you and your colleagues have achieved. Reflecting on things that went well, or maybe not so well, can help you better understand how to make 2010 even better. If you're already sharing ongoing feedback with the people you work with - good for you! If not, make it a New Year's resolution that you will actively gather input in order to improve your career.

Give feedback to a colleague

Request feedback from the people you work with

P.S. Get 25% off your first year annual Pro subscription - only $29.95/yr while our promotion lasts (use discount code EARLY). At less than $2.50/mo for advanced workgroup features, analytics, and more, it's a great present for yourself that will last all 2010. Order Now or Compare Account Types first.

Share your feedback requests on LinkedIn

2009-12-04T08:23:00.004-05:00

You told us we should do more mashing with other sites, and we heard you. You can now share your feedback requests with your network on LinkedIn, as well as Twitter.

To try it out, just create a new feedback request (be sure to keep the "Web" option checked), and then follow the instructions on the confirmation page. Have fun networking!

NOTE: This feature is also available for your previously-created feedback requests. Just login to your account and go to "Requests" in the Feedback drop-down menu. Click to view a particular request, and you will now see the new LinkedIn sharing option in the Details screen.

Coworkers.com Announces Professional Edition

2009-11-24T10:08:00.001-05:00

Coworkers.com Releases Professional Edition of its Career Management Social Network Site; Subscription Version Provides Advanced Features, Including Tools for Workplace Collaboration

Coworkers.com today announced the launch of a subscription-based Professional service to complement its free, web-based suite of career management tools. The new enhancements give users the ability to attach documents for specific feedback, access more detailed performance analytics, and share materials and feedback within a group. They can be especially valuable to multi-site or global workgroups, virtual teams, and consultants.

“Our new Professional edition maximizes the site’s capabilities by providing Coworkers.com users with the premium experience that we've been planning for all along, including advanced and time saving features such as access to workgroup interactions, scheduling tools, and more sophisticated analytics,” explained Coworkers.com founder and president Jonathan Clay. "And of course Coworkers.com will continue to offer a powerful set of free tools that anyone can use to manage and advance their career, including the recently introduced Sharing and Network Activity features.” The Professional offering introduces the following new features:

Workgroup Feedback Requests: Professional users can send out requests to a group of people and collect feedback that allows every participant to automatically access and track incoming responses.
Scheduled Requests: Professional users can schedule recurring requests. For example, a user might schedule a feedback request to be sent out after a weekly status meeting.
Attach Files to Requests: Professional users can attach files to their requests, such as: documents, presentations, spreadsheets, images, etc.
Advanced Analytics: Professional users can access additional analytic charts and have the ability to view the underlying data used to develop the analytics.
Ad Free: While Coworkers.com subsidizes its free user accounts by displaying a modest amount of advertising, Professional users do not see any ads.

An annual subscription to the Coworkers.com Professional edition is $39.95. For a limited time, users can receive a 25% discounted rate of only $29.95 for a one-year subscription. "The Coworkers.com Professional edition comes at a price that is nominal when you consider the potential return on your investment - landing that dream job, getting a promotion, closing on a big contract, or improving the dynamics in your workplace," continued Clay.

Feature Update: Share Any Feedback You Receive

2009-11-24T08:40:00.003-05:00

Privately & Selectively Share Any Feedback
with an Individual or Group of Contacts

One of the key strengths of Coworkers.com is that it allows you to send, receive and manage both Public and Private feedback. Public feedback is usually provided in the form of testimonials or ratings that are visible to all the people who visit your public profile page. Private feedback, on the other hand, is input that you receive from others that can only be seen by you.

In speaking with users, we realize that sometimes you will receive Private feedback that you wish to share with a select person, or group of people. That's why we are happy to announce that we've added robust Sharing controls to Coworkers.com.

Want to share received feedback with your boss, a recruiter, or colleague, etc.?

Simply go to "My Feedback"
View a particular entry
At the bottom you will now see a new Sharing box that allows you to share with: a Group of contacts; and existing contact; or anyone with an email address - the people you share with will not be required to have a Coworkers.com account.

Feature Update: Network Activity, see what your colleagues are up to

2009-11-20T10:59:00.009-05:00

Coworkers.com is pleased to announce a new addition to your personal dashboard. It's an information stream called Network Activity. Now, in addition to seeing activities directly related to your own account, you can get a quick overview of updates related to your Coworkers.com contacts.

Login (or Signup) today and check it out!

Link to Feeback Requests with Custom Buttons

2009-11-19T22:05:00.000-05:00

When you request feedback using Coworkers.com, you have many options for distributing that request:

Email your request to one or more people
Link to it via simple URL - which can be pasted into email or social network etc.
Embed a Graphic Button with link on a web page or blog (shown below)
Instantly "tweet" your request on Twitter

Below is a screen capture showing the various Graphic Buttons we offer. Give it a try today, request feedback!

CNN Radio Interviews Coworkers.com CEO

2009-11-06T16:12:00.000-05:00

Take a listen to CNN Radio. Our CEO, Jonathan Clay, was interviewed today on the topic of the newly announced unemployment figures (10.2%) and what people can do to manage their careers in this environment. http://www.cnnradio.com

EmploymentDigest.net features Jonathan Clay – Founder Coworkers.com

2009-10-23T10:07:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Clay, President and founder of Coworkers.com, recently had the pleasure of speaking with Bill Vick at EmploymentDigest.

Read the in-depth article and see the video interview on the EmploymentDigest.net website. We've also included just the video below:

Read the full article here

New York Post - Jobs column highlights Coworkers.com

2009-10-02T15:06:00.000-04:00

New York Post Jobs column "The site stuff" has listed Coworkers.com among their "picks for what’s new, notable and work-related on the Web"

Here are some highlights from the article:

"By now we all know Monster.com and LinkedIn, but practically every day new Web sites launch that aim to help you find jobs, stay on top of your industry, improve your career prospects or otherwise help you along in your work life. We sifted through the latest offerings and compiled the following list of sites that are worth a click..."

"CoWorkers: This brand-new site follows the model of Ed Koch, who as mayor famously queried constituents with “How’m I doin’?” The concept is to aim that question at work colleagues, requesting feedback by forwarding various review forms for them to fill out. In addition to general reviews of your job performance, you can request feedback on your interpersonal skills or “core values,” as well as on a specific achievement such as a report or a presentation.

The site — which calls itself a “career development and reputation management” tool — offers a dizzying number of options. Feedback can be made anonymously or not, it can be requested or offered unprompted. Results can be kept private or made public for bosses and recruiters to see, and can be viewed in various formats, such as graphs and pie charts. So it takes some navigating, but it may be worth it to see how you stack up in your colleagues’ eyes."

We're excited to be included in this list of up and coming career-related websites.

Read the full column at New York Post

NY1's Employment reporter Asa Aarons features Coworkers.com

2009-09-30T14:59:00.000-04:00

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Asa Aarons of NY1, New York City's 24-Hour News Channel...

New Websites Provide Inside Look Into Jobs

"The Internet is where practically all of the good employment information is showing up these days. Two new companies are promising ways to help job seekers land their dream job...

...Staying with the idea that feedback is a good thing in the career world, check out Coworkers.com, which is based partly on the idea that successful people thrive on honest feedback...

"Coworkers.com is all about the question 'How's my work?'" says James Young of Coworkers.com. "We provide tools that let you get feedback so that you can figure out what your strengths are and promote them, and also figure out where your weaknesses are so you can improve them and advance your career."

Watch a video of the full segment on NY1.com

Self-Reviews can help you improve work performance and boost salary

2009-09-27T13:32:00.000-04:00

Coworkers.com has offered self-review tools since it's inception. A recent article on Cube Rules discusses the real world benefits of self-reviews in the workplace:

"Your performance review facts become your performance review ratings. And what you can’t tell your coworkers is this: you will write an accurate self-review while most of your coworkers will not. If they write a self-review at all...

As a manager, I looked at hundreds of self-reviews given by the people that worked for me. I can count on one hand how many people provided a complete self-review. Those that did had one of two influences on my rating: they justified my thinking on the rating by providing facts and figures. Or they showed me accomplishments that I had forgotten about and needed to include in my thinking about the rating...

You understand that only the employees, focused on their career, did this accurate self-review, right? And when I say they justified my thinking on the rating by providing facts and figures, you realize that the justification was for a higher rating, right? More pay and a larger bonus..."

Honest, accurate, and frequent self-reviews not only help you focus on improving your skills, they can have a concrete impact on your career and compensation. The article quoted above makes this point quite clear.

RiseSmart: "Coworker feedback: transparent versus confidential"

2009-09-19T15:58:00.000-04:00

We have been featured on The RiseSmart Blog

Here are some highlights: "...Transparency is great… for recommendations, which are meant to seen by strangers, and need to be trustworthy and verifiable. But for improving your current work habits, without switching jobs or involving a recruiter, isn’t confidential feedback more valuable and timely?

That is where Coworkers.com comes in. They launched about a year and a half ago, and the purpose of the site is to let you accumulate frank and private evaluations from past and current colleagues. You are evaluated in terms of your core values, your interpersonal skills, your general competence, and your productivity, and given analytical tools to help you interpret and improve your skills..."

"With this broader focus, the site is mixing private and public feedback. The site also has a paid section that is targeted at Human Resources, and aims to assist in researching candidates and managing employees...

...But I just haven’t seen anything with the scope and ambition of Coworkers, particularly with this recent drive to be used by entire teams and supplant enterprise software with a website. Very interesting, indeed."

Click here to read the full article

Image credit: Risemart.com