How to Ace Your Self-Evaluation (with Examples)

Not sure what to write in your self-evaluation? You’re not alone.

It doesn’t matter how far along you are in your career. Writing a self-evaluation can be nerve-wracking. Striking the right balance between showcasing your hard work and overselling yourself is tough. You might also worry about leaving out key accomplishments or being too honest about your struggles and areas for improvement.

Having these fears and doubts is normal, but self-evaluations don’t have to be stressful. When done right, they’re a powerful tool for growth—and can set you up for promotions, raises, and other opportunities.

In this article, you’ll learn what a self-evaluation is, how it impacts your career, and what criteria to focus on. You’ll also get self-evaluation examples to guide you and answers to frequently asked questions.

What is a Self-Evaluation?

A self-evaluation is a document or form where employees evaluate their job performance. It’s kind of like writing your own report card. You can reflect on your successes and challenges, highlight your strengths, identify improvement areas, and set goals. It also helps your manager better understand your contributions before a more formal performance review.

The Impact of a Self-Evaluation

Self-evaluations aren’t just another box to check off. They have a considerable impact on employees, managers, and your organization as a whole. Here are three key ways self-evaluations make a difference.

An Opportunity to Pause and Reflect

With all the day-to-day tasks, deadlines and meetings, it’s easy for employees to lose sight of how they’re really doing. A self-evaluation allows employees to zoom out, and get a clearer view of their strengths, weaknesses, and overall growth. This insight supports professional development and encourages employees to take control of their career paths.

Bridge Communication Gaps

Busy schedules and different priorities often make it hard for employees and managers to stay on the same page. Self-evaluations act as a bridge where employees can share how they see themselves within the team, what motivates them, and where they need support. Managers, in turn, learn more about their employees’ mindset, which they can use to build stronger, more aligned relationships with their team.

Lay the Groundwork for Promotions, Raises, or Extensions

Self-evaluations help employees build a case for their next big step, which could be a promotion, raise, contract renewal, or extension. Clearly laying out achievements, challenges, and growth areas helps managers see the full scope of an employee’s contributions and make more informed decisions about their future.

Self-Evaluation Criteria

Self-evaluation criteria act as a roadmap, guiding employees through the self-evaluation process. Breaking down the assessment into specific areas — like skills and competencies, teamwork, professionalism, etc. — makes it easier for them to judge their abilities and reflect on their performance.

Here are some common criteria and sample self-evaluation answers for different job types.

Self-Evaluation Examples

There is no one-size-fits-all template for writing a performance review for yourself. But we do recommend approaching each section by breaking it down into four parts: strengths, weaknesses, areas for improvement, and future goals.

Here are some examples of self-evaluation answers to help you get started.

Strengths

As a Business Development Representative, you may highlight how you’ve consistently exceeded sales targets to show your strengths in Job Performance. You may write something like, “I’ve averaged 120% of quota, generating $500,000 in new revenue, including a $150,000 contract.”

Weaknesses

For a Project Manager, struggling with proactive communication may be a weakness in the Skills and Competencies section. They could include this on a self-evaluation: “While I try to be proactive about project updates, I sometimes wait for issues to arise before reaching out, rather than anticipating questions or concerns. To address this, I will schedule regular Slack check-ins with the team and stakeholders to keep everyone informed.”

Areas for Improvement

An HR Manager who struggles with interview fatigue may identify this as an area for improvement in the Professionalism category. They may write in their self-evaluation that they've noticed that after long interview days, "Applicants start to blur together, and it’s hard to remember key details. To address this, I will incorporate pre-recorded interviews into my recruitment process.”

Future Goals and Objectives

An Executive Assistant who finds that scheduling interviews takes up a lot of their time may set a goal to streamline the company’s interview scheduling process. This objective could look like implementing new scheduling software and aiming to reduce their time spent on this task by 20% over the next six months.

Self-Evaluation Best Practices

Self-Evaluations: Making the Case for Your Next Big Move

A self-performance review can initially feel awkward, but it encourages you to reflect on your progress and can open doors to exciting career advancement opportunities. Just be honest about your strengths, improvement areas, and future goals. You don’t need to be perfect to write a great self-appraisal. Instead, aim to be thoughtful, clear, and growth-oriented.