Anxiety approaching my probation review
Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a bit of reassurance due to anxiety ahead of my probation review in Europe.
I'm coming up to the end of my 3-month probation in a fairly complex private sector role. Overall, I feel like I've learned a huge amount and I'm noticeably more confident than when I started. I've had positive feedback as well as constructive feedback, I've improved whenever feedback has been given, I've never been late or had repeated sickness, there have been no complaints from customers or colleagues, and I've never had any formal meetings suggesting I'm underperforming.
The reason I'm so anxious is because of my previous job. My probation was extended after a review that was completely unfair. Some of the criticisms were genuinely fabricated and never raised at the time they supposedly occurred, the one thing that was true she still exaggerated the negatives, accepted my corrections when I told her she was incorrect, and even said I'd improved aince anyway. So i had the extension based on something that had occurred 3 months before the review, which I'd since turned around. There was no mention whatsoever of me meeting my KPIs or the positive feedback I'd had from colleagues and clients, and when I tried to raise this afterwards I was told it was inappropriate to do so.
Now I'm anxious that my probation review will end the same way, because I have no reassurance that not hearing about issues will mean everythings ok.
In my current role, the main mistakes have been a couple of customers i hadn't kept updated on a delay and one misunderstanding around something i hadn't clarified with a customer that affected an outcome. My manager highlighted it, I contacted them the same day, so it was sorted.
She'd actually commented previously praised my communication with customers, so this isn't something I'd been consistently failing to do.
I now have annual leave and My manager wished me a lovely trip, and didn't seem annoyed, with my review planned after I return. She hasn't delayed the it despite me being away, but my past experience really wrecked my confidence so I'm still nervous.
Finally, a few weeks before all this, I actually asked my manager directly if there was anything significant I needed to improve before my probation review, and she said there wasn't.
So my question is: does this sound like a fairly normal first three months in a challenging new role where someone would usually still pass probation?
Do people generally pass probation having made a few genuine learning mistakes as they learn the companys system and standards, provided they take feedback on board and improve?
Or do these sound like the sort of issues that would reasonably lead to a probation extension?
Posted Jul 30, 2026, 2:16 PM UTC