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Writing a self-assessment may seem daunting or even stressful, but it can play a crucial role in advancing your career and adding value to your organization. Whether it's a mandatory task or part of a personal development initiative, taking the time to reflect on your achievements, provide concrete evidence, and set fresh professional goals is always beneficial.
Steps to Follow
Assistance with Self-Evaluation
Self-Assessment Guide Template
Example Action Verbs and PhrasesReflecting on Your Achievements
Set aside dedicated time. A well-crafted self-evaluation requires focus, so make sure to allocate sufficient time for the process. Rushing through it may lead to overlooking key accomplishments or opportunities for growth, ultimately resulting in a less effective evaluation that doesn't truly capture your progress.
- It can be useful to prepare an outline in advance to guide your reflection.
Assess your goals. Your self-evaluation should highlight how you are meeting both your personal goals and the broader objectives of the organization. To demonstrate that you are a valuable employee, it's essential to show alignment with the company's mission.
- Completing a self-assessment allows you to gauge whether your efforts are aligned with your career goals, helping you see if your hard work connects to your aspirations.
- Remember, it's often easier to stay focused on short-term goals that clearly tie into the larger vision of your life and career.
Document your achievements. Based on your goals, compile a comprehensive list of the work you’ve done throughout the year. This includes completed projects, committee memberships, and any reports or presentations you've contributed to. This catalog should encompass everything, from minor tasks to major leadership roles.
- Review your work materials, such as emails and reports, for concrete examples of your contributions. These documents can help jog your memory, and you may even extract quotes to support your accomplishments.
- As you detail your achievements, consider how they align with your goals. For instance, if one of your objectives is to boost sales, you might say you “initiated sales” or “expanded sales opportunities” rather than just “made cold calls.”
Keep the spotlight on yourself. Since this is a self-evaluation, focus on your individual achievements rather than those of your team. Highlight your contributions to team projects and demonstrate your qualities as a collaborative member.
- Reflect on what’s working well, and be as specific and detailed as possible.
Address your challenges. Everyone has areas of weakness, and acknowledging them is crucial for personal growth. You need to evaluate your struggles to set new goals and seize the right opportunities for improvement.
- Consider instances where you fell short, needed help, or doubted your work’s quality.
- Provide concrete examples. Just like your successes, backing up your challenges with specific examples will highlight areas for professional growth.
- If you’re struggling to pinpoint your weaknesses, seek input from a colleague, mentor, or supervisor. This will give you the chance to address them before your evaluation and show progress in your next review.
Highlight your growth efforts. Document the professional development activities you engaged in over the past year, tying them back to your goals and previous challenges. Show how you’ve worked hard to overcome obstacles and become the kind of employee your company values.
- Include growth activities you pursued on your own as well as those undertaken as part of your job duties.
Compile your feedback. The feedback you've received throughout the year will be crucial in validating your achievements and identifying areas where you can continue to grow. Be sure to include insights from your supervisor, colleagues, and clients when available.
Set yourself apart. Highlight the unique qualities you bring to the organization. Do you have a diverse educational background or speak multiple languages? Showcase these aspects in your self-evaluation to demonstrate how you're adding to the company’s culture.
- What makes you stand out as an employee? Think about the traits you offer that go beyond the typical job description. Since the evaluation centers on your performance, be sure to emphasize how you contribute as an individual.
- Describe how your efforts have helped your team meet or exceed company goals, where applicable.
Backing Your Claims with Evidence
Validate your achievements. Review your list of accomplishments and compile a record of the specific work you completed for each. Once you have an overview of your efforts, provide a concise description using action verbs.
- Action verbs clarify what you did in measurable terms. For example, you might say you analyzed survey data, mentored a new employee, or launched a new initiative.
- Be truthful. While it’s important to present your accomplishments positively, ensure accuracy. For example, don't claim leadership experience simply because you were self-managed in a task.
Measure your impact. Back your achievements with quantifiable evidence such as numbers, percentages, or totals. For instance, say, “I boosted customer retention by 20%” or “I reduced error reports by 15%.” You can also use direct figures like “I completed 10 surveys” or “I handled 5 customer interactions daily.”
Offer qualitative proof. Provide qualitative examples to support your accomplishments, especially when numerical data isn't available. Qualitative evidence demonstrates that you took actionable steps, even if they can't be expressed in numbers. For example, say, “I enhanced customer service by launching a new mobile app.”
- Qualitative examples are valuable when the actions you took are meaningful in themselves, regardless of the result. For instance, if you oversee a program to combat underage drinking, every effort counts, even if you only prevent one teen from drinking.
Integrate feedback. Tie any positive feedback you’ve received to your accomplishments to highlight that others have noticed your successes. Only include feedback that clearly correlates with a specific achievement, ensuring that your self-evaluation remains accurate and impactful.
Establishing New Professional Objectives
Evaluate your progress. Review your self-assessment carefully, focusing on how well you met your goals from the previous year as well as the broader organizational objectives. Identify any areas where more progress is needed and reflect on the challenges you faced, which will help pinpoint areas for further development.
Create your new goals. Based on the gaps and challenges you’ve identified, set new professional goals for the upcoming year. Aim for two primary goals, keeping in mind that you will continue to work toward the company’s objectives.
- As you define your goals, make sure to consider how you can support and achieve them, including taking the necessary steps for personal growth. Phrase your goals in a way that allows you to demonstrate measurable progress.
- Avoid creating overly ambitious goals that may be too difficult to achieve. Set realistic goals that can be accomplished by your next evaluation or review.
Review your evaluation with your supervisor. Arrange a meeting with your supervisor to go over your self-evaluation. Be ready to explain the details of what you’ve written, present your new goals, and clarify why you’ve chosen those priorities for the year ahead.
Request feedback. After your supervisor reviews your self-assessment, ask for input on areas where you can improve and where you’ve shown success. Seek their thoughts on your new goals and invite them to help refine them for a more focused approach to the year ahead.
Propose professional development plans. Share your past challenges with your supervisor and suggest potential professional growth opportunities for the upcoming year. Be receptive to their advice and be willing to pursue their recommendations. Demonstrate your commitment to overcoming weaknesses and striving for success.
Confirm your new objectives. After considering the feedback from your supervisor, finalize your new goals and revise your self-assessment to reflect these updates.
- Make sure to retain a copy of the updated evaluation for future reference.
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Collaborate with your manager to plan your next evaluation, setting specific objectives and defining how your performance will be measured (e.g., metrics). Agree on the evaluation criteria upfront to ensure both you and your supervisor are aligned on expectations.
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Update your resume once your evaluation is complete.
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Schedule quarterly check-ins with your supervisor to discuss progress, improvements, and goal-setting, which will be helpful for your next self-assessment.
