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Career Development


HOW TO WRITE A SELF EVALUATION (WITH EXAMPLES)

First step, be honest about your hits and misses.
Written byLisa Bertagnoli
Lisa Bertagnoli
Senior Staff Reporter at Built In
Lisa Bertagnoli is a Built In senior staff reporter covering fintech and
blockchain. During four decades as a journalist and writer, she has covered
personal finance, business, arts and culture, philanthropy, health, and the
restaurant industry.
Image: Shutterstock
Jessica Powers
Updates Reporter at Built In
UPDATED BY
Jessica Powers | Oct 28, 2022
Sara Simmons
Head of People at BeatStars
REVIEWED BY
Sara Simmons | Jul 08, 2022

Given a choice between cleaning the office microwave and writing a self
evaluation, most people would probably grab the all-purpose cleaner and a roll
of paper towels.

Self evaluations are performance assessments that bring you and your manager
together to rate your performance over a given time span (quarterly,
semi-annually, annually) either using a scale (one to 10 or one to five) or by
answering open-ended questions. You complete the evaluation and so does your
manager. During the performance review, the two of you compare notes to arrive
at a final evaluation.

Writing about yourself, especially if those words are going to be part of your
permanent work record, can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, self
evaluations give you a voice in your performance review, and they’re
opportunities to outline your career goals and get help in reaching them.


WHAT IS AN EMPLOYEE SELF EVALUATION?

Self evaluations are performance assessments that both employees and managers
complete. Self evaluations can be done quarterly, semi-annually or annually, and
range from open-ended questions discussed to ratings given on a numeric scale.

Workplace employee self evaluations can be traced back to management theorist
Douglas McGregor, author of the groundbreaking 1960 book The Human Side of
Enterprise. McGregor believed that employees enjoy work, are intrinsically
motivated to work and have the self-direction and ambition to do so.

In a 1957 Harvard Business Review article, McGregor presented self evaluations
as a way to give employees and managers a way to work together to judge
workplace performance, rather than handing a manager total control. “Managers
are uncomfortable when they are put in the position of ‘playing God,’” he wrote.

Today, the goal of self evaluations is twofold, according to Leslie Mizerak, an
executive coach at edtech company NimblyWise. They give managers an
understanding of where their employees think they are in relation to their
goals, and they give employees a voice that is heard and documented.

Below, we’ll examine self evaluation examples, types of self assessments, why
companies use self evaluations and how both employees and managers can complete
them successfully.

More on Self EvaluationsSelf-Evaluations Make Stronger Leaders. Here’s How to
Write One.

 


BENEFITS OF SELF EVALUATIONS 

Academic literature indicates that employees are more satisfied with evaluations
that involve two-way communication and encourage a conversation between manager
and employee, according to Thomas Begley, professor of management at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute. 

The thing is, employees have to trust that the process is fair, Begley added. If
they believe it is, and they’re treated fairly and respectfully during the
process, employees react positively to self evaluations. “If unfair, they lose
trust in the manager and process, become disgruntled and are more likely to
leave the organization,” Begley said.

Self evaluations might seem as a way to shift the burden of the review to the
employee from the manager, but in reality, they benefit both.

“Self evaluations enable employees to see their work in its entirety,” Jill
Bowman, director of people at fintech company Octane, said. “They ensure that
employees reflect on their high points throughout the entire year and to assess
their progress towards achieving predetermined objectives and goals.” 

Some companies see tangible results from self evaluations. For example, Smarty,
an address-verification company, enjoys low staff turnover, said Rob Green,
chief revenue officer. The self-evaluation method, coupled with a strong focus
on a communication-based corporate culture, has resulted in a 97 percent
retention rate, Green said.

Since self evaluations are inherently reflective, they allow employees to
identify and examine their strengths and weaknesses. When identifying strengths,
employees will be able to use specific metrics and examples from their work to
demonstrate their value. This helps employees both know their worth to an
organization and what they still have left to learn. 

For Bowman, employee self assessments also help managers more accurately
remember each employee’s accomplishments. 

“As many managers often have numerous direct reports, it provides a useful
summary of the achievements of each member,” Bowman said. “Self-evaluations also
help account for performance across the full year as opposed to just the most
recent tasks and accomplishments that are likely still top of mind.”

It may seem obvious, but self assessments also help prepare both employees and
managers for performance reviews. Completing a self evaluation can help guide
the conversation in a structured, but meaningful, way. It also helps both
parties get an idea of what needs to be discussed during a performance review,
so neither feels caught off guard by the conversation.

 


TYPES OF SELF EVALUATIONS

Self evaluations come in several varieties. One involves open-ended questions or
statements asking employees to list accomplishments, setbacks and goals. Another
gives a list of statements where employees are asked to rate themselves on a
scale of one to five or one to ten (generally the higher the number, the more
favorable the rating). Hybrid evaluations combine the two. Each approach has its
own set of pros and cons to consider.

 


OPEN-ENDED QUESTION SELF EVALUATION

Open-ended questions can vary from company to company and can serve different
purposes, depending on the angle of the question. The goal of open-ended
questions is generally the same: to get employees thinking deeply about their
work, how they’ve accomplished their goals and where they need to improve. 

Open-ended questions allow employees a true voice in the process, whereas “self
ratings” can sometimes be unfair, Fresia Jackson, lead research people scientist
at Culture Amp, said. 

With open-ended questions, employees tend to be more forgiving with themselves,
which can be both good and bad. Whatever result open ended questions bring
about, they typically offer more fodder for discussion between employees and
managers.  

 


RATING SELF EVALUATION 

Rating self evaluation systems vary widely too. For instance, Smarty uses a tool
called 3A+. Unlike most self evaluations, this one calls for employees and
managers to sit down and complete the evaluation together, at the same time.
Employees rate themselves from 3, 2 or 1 (three being the best) on their
capability in their role; A, B or C on their helpfulness to others, and plus or
minus on their “diligence and focus” in their role. Managers rate the employees
using the same scale. A “perfect” score would be 3A+, while an employee who
needs some TLC would rate 2B-.

At the performance evaluation meeting, managers and employees compare their
ratings, and employees ask for feedback on how they can improve, Susan Young,
human resources manager at Smarty, said.

Young likes the approach, developed by management company Arbinger, because the
second part of the evaluation acknowledges that employees don’t work in a silo,
and that their actions affect others. “It’s a win-win,” Young said.

But rating systems can have their challenges that are often rooted in bias. For
example, women are more likely to rate themselves lower than men. People from
individualistic cultures, which emphasize individuals over community, will rate
themselves higher than people from collectivist cultures, which place a premium
on the group rather than the individual, Jackson said.

 


HYBRID SELF EVALUATIONS

Hybrid self evaluations, such as the ones from the Society for Human Resource
Management, include a rating scale where employees score themselves one through
five on skills including project management, collaboration and teamwork and
communication. Here’s an example of some questions that might be asked in a
hybrid self evaluation:

 * List your most significant accomplishments or contributions since last year.
   How do these achievements align with the goals and objectives outlined in
   your last review?
 * Since the last appraisal period, have you successfully performed any new
   tasks or additional duties outside the scope of your regular
   responsibilities? If so, please specify.
 * What activities have you initiated, or actively participated in, to encourage
   camaraderie and teamwork within your group and/or office? What was the
   result?
 * Describe your professional development activities since last year, such as
   offsite seminars, onsite training, peer training, management coaching or
   mentoring, on-the-job experience, exposure to challenging projects, etc. 
 * Describe areas you feel require improvement in terms of your professional
   capabilities. List the steps you plan to take and/or the resources you need
   to accomplish this.
 * Identify two career goals for the coming year and indicate how you plan to
   accomplish them.

 


SELF-EVALUATION QUESTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

If you’ve never done a self evaluation, or if you just need a refresher before
your next performance review, looking over some examples of self evaluation
questions — like the ones below — can be a helpful starting point. They provide
a sense of what to expect from your next self evaluation, and they may even help
you craft your answers (or help you write your next round of questions, if
you’re a manager). 

 


SELF EVALUATION QUESTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

These are some questions commonly found in a semi-annual or annual performance
review:

 * What are you most proud of?
 * What would you do differently?
 * How have you carried out the company’s mission statement?
 * Where would you like to be a year from now?
 * List your skills and positive attributes.
 * List your accomplishments, especially those that impacted others or moved you
   toward goals.
 * Think about your mistakes and what you’ve learned from them.
 * What are your opportunities to grow through advancement and/or learning?
 * How do the above tie to your professional goals?

 


SELF EVALUATION QUESTIONS FOR CAREER PLANNING AND GROWTH 

Questions on this type of evaluation tend to focus on an employee’s goals for
their job and career:

 * What are you interested in working on?
 * What are you working on now?
 * What do you want to learn more about?
 * How can I as your manager better support you?
 * What can the company do to support your journey?
 * How can the immediate team support you?
 * What can you do to better support the team and the company? 

 


SELF EVALUATION QUESTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE AND CAREER GOALS

This type of self evaluation puts a premium on career goals and how well
employees meet them:

 * How did you perform in relation to your goals?
 * What level of positive impact did your performance have on the team?
 * Did your performance have a positive impact on the business?
 * What was your level of collaboration with other departments?
 * What corporate value do you bring to life?
 * What corporate value do you most struggle to align with?
 * Summarize your strengths.
 * Summarize your development areas.
 * Summarize your performance/achievements during this year.
 * How would you rate your overall performance this year? 

More on Career DevelopmentHow to Set Professional Goals

 


HOW TO WRITE A SELF EVALUATION

The ability to write a self evaluation is a critical career skill, said Richard
Hawkes, CEO and founder of Growth River, a leadership and management consulting
company. 

“Self evaluations give you a platform to influence your manager and in many
cases, reframe the nature of the relationship with your manager,” Hawkes said.
“And all results in business happen in the context of relationships.”


6 TIPS FOR WRITING A SELF EVALUATION

 * Keep track of your hits and misses throughout the review period.
 * Take your time writing the evaluation.
 * Have a mentor, trusted colleague or friend read over your draft.
 * Acknowledge mistakes and how you learned from them.
 * Be clear about your career goals.
 * Use the evaluation as a starting point for a conversation with your manager.

In Hawkes’ estimation, the ability to write a comprehensive self evaluation
becomes a career tool and a life tool. 

Below are some tips from Hawkes and others on how to complete a self evaluation.

 


 TRACK YOUR WORK

Daily or weekly tracking of your work can help you keep track of your progress
and also prevent last-minute “what on earth did I do the last six months?” panic
at performance evaluation time, said Peter Griscom, CEO at New York-based
Tradefluence, which makes a stock-picking app. “Strip down the questions to two
or three, and just ask yourself, ‘How well did I communicate today?’ ‘How well
did I solve problems today?’ ‘What have I achieved today?’” Griscom said. 

“Get in the habit of writing those things out and keeping track and over time,
that will help you get very comfortable with self evaluations and understand the
purpose behind them,” he said, adding that he’s done just that over his career
in tech.

 


TAKE YOUR TIME

“It’s not something you can do in 15 minutes,” Hawkes said. “Slow down, take
time and let your objectives stew a little bit.” Write a first draft as soon as
possible after getting the email or message from your manager. Let it sit for a
few days and then return to it to polish and revise.

 


BE HONEST 

Griscom remembers his first self evaluation, asked of him when he was head of
product at a consumer-goods company. He remembers wondering whether he had to be
overly brutal on himself, deciding how to best answer the questions, and trying
to figure out how the answers would affect his career. “I think I over-thought
it the first time,” he said.

Rather than plague himself with questions, he asked his manager, the CFO of the
company, for guidance. “He said, ‘just give me your honest answers; there is no
right or wrong,’” Griscom recalled. So Griscom answered the questions as
accurately as he could. “What came out of it was really valuable, because it
gave me a chance to reflect on my own achievements and think about where I can
improve,” he said. “It forced me to do the thinking instead of just accepting
feedback.”  

 


TOUT YOUR WINS

If your boss has a handful of direct reports, chances are good they haven’t
noticed each of your shining moments during a review period. This is your chance
to spotlight yourself. Quotas exceeded, projects finished ahead of schedule,
fruitful mentoring relationships, processes streamlined — whatever you’ve done,
share it, and don’t be shy about it, said Alexandra Phillips, a leadership and
management coach. Women, especially, tend not to share achievements and
accomplishments as loudly or often as they should, Phillips said. “Make sure
your manager has a good sense of where you’ve had those wins, large and small,
because sometimes they can fly under the radar,” she added.

More on Career DevelopmentLong-Term Career Goals: How to Set a Successful
Development Plan

 


ADMIT WEAKNESSES (AND HOW YOU’VE GROWN FROM THEM)

If you’ve made a whopper mistake since your past review, mention it — and be
sure to discuss what you’ve learned from it. Chances are good your manager knows
you made a mistake, and bringing it up gives you the opportunity to provide more
context to the situation. “It’s the perfect time to do so,” Culture Amp’s
Jackson said. 

 


ACKNOWLEDGE WHERE YOU CAN IMPROVE

When you’re meeting with your manager, listen to what they say, both positive
and negative. And be prepared for your manager to point out a few areas for
improvement. This tension point is where career growth happens. “If you want
something,” whether it’s a promotion or move to another department, “you need to
know how to get there,” said Phillips. Just as people find it hard to brag, some
find it hard to acknowledge their weaknesses. Knowing your weaknesses, “you can
make some personal choices as to how to potentially bolster those spaces.” 

 


GET A SECOND OPINION

Share a draft with a person you trust, whether it’s your partner or a colleague,
advised Jackson. It’s a good way to have someone else weigh in, especially if
you have difficulty bragging about yourself, she said. Plus, an extra set of
eyes can help spot typos and grammatical errors. 

 


SELF EVALUATION EXAMPLES AND TEMPLATES ANSWERS

Still not sure what to do when you put pen to paper? Here are six open-ended
questions from a sample self evaluation from the Society for Human Resource
Management, as well as example answers you can use to prepare for your own self
evaluation.

 

List your most significant accomplishments or contributions since last year. How
do these achievements align with the goals/objectives outlined in your last
review?

How to answer with positive results: In the past year, I successfully led our
team in finishing [project A]. I was instrumental in finding solutions to
several project challenges, among them [X, Y and Z]. When Tom left the company
unexpectedly, I was able to cover his basic tasks until a replacement was hired,
thus keeping our team on track to meet KPIs. 

I feel the above accomplishments demonstrate that I have taken more of a
leadership role in our department, a move that we discussed during my last
performance review.

How to answer with ways to improve: Although I didn’t meet all of my goals in
the last year, I am working on improving this by changing my workflow and
holding myself accountable. I am currently working to meet my goals by doing [X,
Y and Z] and I plan to have [project A] completed by [steps here]. I believe
that I will be able to correct my performance through these actionable steps. 

 

Since the last appraisal period, have you successfully performed any new tasks
or additional duties outside the scope of your regular responsibilities? If so,
please specify.

How to answer with positive results: Yes. I have established mentoring
relationships with one of the younger members of our team, as well as with a
more seasoned person in another department. I have also successfully taken over
the monthly all-hands meeting in our team, trimming meeting time to 30 minutes
from an hour and establishing clear agendas and expectations for each meeting.
Again, I feel these align with my goal to become more of a leader.

How to answer with ways to improve: Since the last review period, I focused my
efforts on improving my communication with our team, meeting my goals
consistently and fostering relationships with leaders in other departments. Over
the next six months, I plan on breaking out of my comfort zone by accomplishing
[X, Y and Z]. 

 

What activities have you initiated, or actively participated in, to encourage
camaraderie and teamwork within your group and/or office? What was the result?

How to answer with positive results: I launched the “No More Panicked Mondays”
program to help on-site and remote colleagues make Mondays more productive. The
initiative includes segmenting the day into 25-minute parts to answer emails,
get caught up on direct messages, sketch out to-do lists and otherwise plan for
the week ahead. NMPM also includes a 15-minute “Weekend Update” around lunch
time, during which staff shares weekend activities. Attendance was slow at first
but has picked up to nearly 90 percent participation. The result overall for the
initiative is more of the team signs on to direct messages earlier in the day,
on average 9:15 a.m. instead of the previous 10 a.m., and anecdotally, the team
seems more enthusiastic about the week. I plan to conduct a survey later this
month to get team input on how we can change up the initiative.

How to answer with ways to improve: Although I haven’t had the chance to lead
any new initiatives since I got hired, I recently had an idea for [A] and wanted
to run it by you. Do you think this would be beneficial to our team? I would
love to take charge of a program like this. 

 

Describe your professional development activities since last year, such as
offsite seminars/classes (specify if self-directed or required by your
supervisor), onsite training, peer training, management coaching or mentoring,
on-the-job experience, exposure to challenging projects, other—please describe.

How to answer with positive results: I completed a class on SEO best practices
and shared what I learned from the seminar during a lunch-and-learn with my
teammates. I took on a pro-bono website development project for a local
nonprofit, which gave me a new look at website challenges for different types of
organizations. I also, as mentioned above, started two new mentoring
relationships.

How to answer with ways to improve: This is something I have been thinking about
but would like a little guidance with. I would love to hear what others have
done in the past to help me find my footing. I am eager to learn more about [A]
and [B] and would like to hear your thoughts on which courses or seminars you
might recommend. 

 

Describe areas you feel require improvement in terms of your professional
capabilities. List the steps you plan to take and/or the resources you need to
accomplish this.

I feel I could do better at moving projects off my desk and on to the next
person without overthinking them or sweating details that are not mine to sweat;
in this regard I could trust my teammates more. I plan to enlist your help with
this and ask for a weekly 15-minute one-on-one meeting to do so.

 

Identify two career goals for the coming year and indicate how you plan to
accomplish them.

One is a promotion to senior project manager, which I plan to reach by
continuing to show leadership skills on the team. Another is that I’d like to be
seen as a real resource for the organization, and plan to volunteer for the
committee to update the standards and practices handbook. 

More on Career DevelopmentHow to Find the Right Mentor — and How to Be One

 


HOW SHOULD MANAGERS APPROACH SELF EVALUATIONS?

It’s clear here that self evaluations, as a type of performance review, are more
employee- than manager-driven. That said, managers are a key ingredient in this
process, and the way managers handle self evaluations determines much about how
useful they are and how well employees respond to them.

To make sure they’re as effective as possible, consider these suggestions from
Elisabeth Duncan, vice president of human resources and Adam Kanouse, chief
technology officer at Evive, a provider of IT systems and platforms for HR
teams.

 


TRAIN MANAGERS ON HOW TO USE EVALUATIONS

“If you don’t, there’s no point in doing them, because the manager is going to
be the one driving the conversations,” Duncan said. “Without training, the
(evaluations) will be a checkbox and not meaningful.”

 


DON’T USE RATINGS FORMULAICALLY

The results of self evaluations that employ a scale (say, one to five) can vary
wildly, as one manager’s three is another manager’s five. Use the scale to
identify and address discrepancies between the manager’s and employee’s answers,
not to decide on raises or promotions across the company. 

 


HOLD SELF EVALUATIONS OFTEN

They work best as career-development tools if they’re held semi-annually,
quarterly or even more often. “It’s about an ongoing, consistent conversation,”
Duncan said. 

 


TAILOR THEM FOR EACH DEPARTMENT

Competencies in sales very likely differ from competencies in tech, marketing
and other departments. Competencies for junior-level employees probably differ
wildly from those for senior managers. Self evaluations tailored to different
employee populations will be more effective, and fairer. 

 


STRESS THAT THE RATING IS JUST THE START

The rating or the open-ended questions are the beginning of the evaluation
process; they are not the process itself. “These are tools to trigger a
conversation,” Duncan said. 

* * *

Overall, think of self evaluations as a way to engage with your manager and your
work in a way that furthers your career. Embrace the self evaluation, get good
at writing them, and in no time at all, you’ll find they’re more productive —
and definitely more fun — than scrubbing the office microwave.  


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