Employee Self-Evaluation Examples

Did you know that employee self-evaluation greatly helps employers critically think about an employee’s performance and contributions? 

However, the truth is that most individuals find this assessment process challenging, and the reason is that it’s difficult to talk and rate your performance and abilities honestly.

The good news is that thoughtfully planning your self-evaluation process can increase your chances of getting hired by top companies and yield great benefits. 

Employers rely on self-assessments to make better decisions regarding promotions, payments, and raises decisions. Therefore, you must learn how to write a comprehensive self-evaluation that effectively highlights your accomplishments, strengths, and even areas for improvement. 

What to Include When Writing an Employee Self-Evaluation

The important point to keep in mind is that every self-evaluation is unique to each employee, and a successful self-assessment must point out important detailed information about the employee. 

We will discuss the most important ones you should include when you write a self-evaluation. 

• What have I achieved so far?
• What is my work ethic?
• What are my goals?
• What are my accomplishments?
• How well do I communicate with my colleagues?
• How do I perform in team works?
• What are my desired areas to grow?
• How do I solve problems?
• How well are my time management skills?
• What are my plans to reach my goals?
• How productive and creative am I?

There are various items you need to mention when writing a self-evaluation as an employee, but the mentioned items are among the most important ones.

How to Write an Employee Self-Evaluation

Note that the ability to write an employee self-evaluation is a vital skill that helps you influence your employer and build stronger relationships with your managers. Let’s see how you can write such a self-assessment.

1- Track your tasks and accomplishments

It is good to know that daily or weekly performance tracking helps you better understand what you have done in the past couple of months.

Therefore, the first step in writing a self-assessment is to keep tracking your progress and ask yourself questions like, “What have I done in the last six months?” “How effectively did I solve problems today?” 

Asking such questions and tracking your performance helps you better understand and assess your progress.

2- Show off your achievements

The next step is to highlight your accomplishments and remind your employer about your shining moments. You can spotlight yourself by sharing your achievements through a report, and don’t forget that you don’t need to be shy when talking about your achievements. 

So, if you want to write a perfect employee self-evaluation, you need to share your success, no matter how big or small the wins!

3- Determine your weaknesses 

The important thing to remember is that an employee self-evaluation is not all about accomplishments; you need to point out the areas of improvement. Otherwise, your boss will do that, which may negatively impact you. 

Don’t be afraid to talk about your weaknesses because this is where career growth happens, as it helps you determine the areas for improvement and try to improve your abilities. 

4- Be honest 

One of the most important things to consider while writing a self-assessment is that you must be honest with yourself and your employer.

It is better not to exaggerate your abilities and answer each question honestly and accurately. 

Note that being honest with yourself provides you with the opportunity to better assess your performance and understand where you need improvement. 

5- Admit your weaknesses 

We all know nobody is perfect, so it is better to admit your weaknesses and talk about how you have grown and improved.

Thus, if you have made a mistake since your last review, try to mention it in the assessment and make sure to discuss how you solved that problem and what you’ve learned from it. 

Employee Self-Evaluation Examples 

Now that you know how to write a self-assessment, it is time to see some great examples of what you can include in such an evaluation.

‍Goal accomplishment

• “I believe that Project X will bring more qualified leads.”

• “I’ve set an OKR this year with the help of OKR Software to grow the company’s social channels by 25%, but gladly, I exceeded that goal by achieving a 50% growth.”

• “I have done personal accomplishment and improved my skills by working with other peers in different departments.”
  

Project management

• “When the team was busy running project Y, I kept following up on work to ensure the team stayed on schedule.”

• “While hitting project deadlines, I improved my time management skills.”

• “I kept communicating project updates with all team members in a timely manner, which helped us deliver the project ahead of schedule.”
• “I can take responsibility for multiple projects and manage their successful completion.”

Team Support 

• “Due to my effective feedback on the past three projects, they were completed faster.”

• “I always go above and beyond to ensure that everyone on the team is performing at their best so I can better support them while they strive to achieve the company’s goals.”

• “I always review and check my team member’s tasks within 24 hours after being asked.”

• “I received valuable praise from our Vice President of the Marketing Team after I supported the success of our customer conference.”

Non-Technical Skills

• “We were able to complete three different projects in a timely manner due to my effective decision-making skills.”

• “My problem-solving skills helped everyone in the team to overcome a strategic challenge in the previous project.”

• “I was able to follow my to-do list in the last six months, which led to effectively communicating project details with team members.”

• “I always keep sharing my ideas and criticism in team meetings to help reach our goals faster.”

Ongoing contributions

• “I keep sending weekly reports and updates to everyone in the team about my function and progress.”

• “I mostly contact the prospects in the morning because they are in a different time zone.”

• “I’ve set up and moderate a daily discussion channel to better communicate with others.”

• “I gladly help our new employees to get familiar with every section in the organization.”

Examples of How to Talk About Areas of Improvement

As you may know, it is hard for some people to talk about their mistakes or areas of improvement. That is why the tone is very important when talking about these aspects.

If you are among these people and find it difficult to discuss your weaknesses, it is good to know that you should be honest and try not to be defensive about yourself or blame others for your mistakes or areas of improvement. 

Note that everything you say is from your point of view, which means it’s a great opportunity to practice phrasing things correctly and talk about how you want to improve your abilities in your job. 

Moreover, staying positive about your mistakes and focusing on discussing what you have learned and the solutions you found for those problems is better.

The following are great examples that help you better talk about your areas of improvement.

• “I made a mistake while scheduling the project’s planning details, which delayed the team’s previous project. But I learned that I need to focus and improve my time management skills to avoid such issues in the future.”

• “I understood that I get uncomfortable when I want to present in front of others; I’d be happy if someone could help me overcome this challenge.”

• “I know I can take the lead in project management scenarios, but I have difficulties accepting such responsibility. It would be great if I could take leadership classes to help me develop.”

• “I can’t easily share my ideas with other team members because I feel shy and stressed; however, I am learning how to develop my confidence.”

Pros and Cons of Employee Self-Assessment

It is good to know that self-evaluation can be a great performance tool for both employees and employers, especially when it is completed without bias and with the goal of improvement.

However, there are various advantages and disadvantages, which we will review in this section.

Pros

1- Employees get better insights about their performance

Writing an employee self-assessment helps employees to take a closer look at their performance, which helps them improve their skills and weaknesses.

2- It helps employees to better discover their abilities

This is among the most important benefits of completing an employee self-evaluation because it enables the employees to give feedback on their own performance, which helps managers to better understand employees’ highlights and weaknesses. 

As you may know, a self-assessment is usually part of the employee evaluation process, and HR and managers can use such information to encourage employees to grow, be more productive, and make informed decisions about promotions. 

3- It helps managers and employees prepare for performance reviews 

Writing a self-assessment can be a challenging process, but it helps managers and employees better prepare for the performance reviews, and they understand what they need to discuss during this process.

Cons

1- They are all about accomplishments, not weaknesses

As mentioned earlier, it is hard for some individuals to talk about their performance and weaknesses, which is why they only share their accomplishments and successes in their self-assessment, which is not an honest evaluation of themselves.

It also stops managers and employers from correctly assessing employees, so they can’t help them grow their weaknesses.

2- Employees don’t know how to complete a self-assessment

One of the common challenges for employees is that they don’t know how to assess their performance and complete a self-evaluation.

That is why it is better if employers give them the tools they need to help them come up with the most valuable and honest assessment. 

Conclusion

Your self-evaluation is a great opportunity to be your biggest advocate and better express both your strengths and weaknesses.

However, note that while you are working on writing this assessment, it is better not to exaggerate your weaknesses, mistakes, and failures. Instead, try to better describe your achievements and accomplishments.

Doing so helps your future employer make more informed decisions about your career path and helps you reach your goals faster.

We hope this article helps you better understand what an employee self-evaluation is and better express yourself in the hurting process.