Find a Job You Really Want In
While writing a self-performance review may seem daunting, it’s helpful in terms of your career trajectory. Performance reviews are a way to ascertain where you’re excelling and what areas need improvement. Writing a self-performance review is a good way to take a critical look at your strengths and weaknesses and make sure that they line up with others’ perceptions.
The issue is that you’re not the only one who’ll see the self-performance review. Trying to hit the balance between showcasing your strengths and self-awareness can seem impossible. If you’ve been asked to write a self-performance review or if you’d like to draw one up before going into your yearly performance review, this article will help.
Key Takeaways:
-
Your answers to a self-performance review reflect your professionalism and provide companies with valuable information.
-
When answering a self-performance review: be positive, accept feedback, and provide specific information about your accomplishments.
-
Own up to your weaknesses and show how you are currently improving them.
-
A good self-performance review will show your company how you process feedback and can contribute to a better work environment.
What is a self-performance review?
A self-performance review is a way to evaluate your job performance and engage with your supervisor during a performance review. They have several different names, including self-assessments, self-reviews, and self-appraisals, but the idea is the same.
Self-performance reviews encourage you to take a look at your accomplishments and mistakes, strengths and weaknesses. The idea is to use this to learn more about yourself and use this knowledge to improve your work performance in the future.
How to write a self-performance review
In order to write an effective self-performance review, you’re going to need to address both your strengths and your weaknesses, as well as take the company’s goals into account. This can seem overwhelming, so it’s best to break it down into parts.
How to cover your strengths
-
Having a positive mindset. Regardless of how skilled and efficient you are as a worker, employers always like to see a positive attitude.
When you frame your achievements as having a positive impact on the company or address your mistakes as a positive learning experience, your employer will view you as a productive worker.
-
Provide specific evidence. As with any evaluation, you’ll give a much better impression when you can offer specific examples of your successes.
Further, if you can provide statistics, specific numbers, or any other measurable data, your evidence will be even stronger.
-
Analyze your top accomplishments. Don’t sell yourself short! When you’re writing a performance review for yourself, you should make a list of a few of your most valuable workplace accomplishments.
Outline these in your evaluation so you can show your employer your value to the company.
-
Represent your core values. If you value communication and time management, give some examples of how you show them in the workplace.
When you have core values that your employer will like, writing about them will clarify that you have an ideal personality for the company.
-
Examples of reliability. Employers always appreciate someone who’s punctual, follows deadlines, and completes assignments consistently. If that sounds like you, show examples of your reliability in your self-evaluation.
How to cover your weaknesses
-
Show growth. One of the best ways to bring up your weaknesses is to mention how you’ve improved. If you made a mistake a while ago, write about how you’ve grown by providing specific examples of that growth.
-
Set goals. Setting your own goals is always a positive. Express your willingness to improve by giving your employer relevant, timely, realistic, and measurable goals you plan to achieve going forward.
-
Show honesty. Never lie on your self-evaluations. We all make mistakes, so do your best to own them without undercutting yourself.
-
Outline a plan. If you can, provide a specific action you’re going to take to address your weaknesses.
For example, if you need help learning more about a certain program your company uses, you could mention how you plan to attend a job training or meet with a mentor who has experience with that program.
How to address your employer’s goals
-
Remember company goals. Generally, most companies will outline their mission and workplace goals over a specific timeframe. When you address these in your evaluation, it shows the company that you remember important details and care about meeting its objectives.
-
Address company feedback. If your manager, supervisor, team, or any other co-worker has given you any constructive criticism in the past about how you can improve, it’s essential to address that in your self-evaluation.
Showing your improvement in these areas will reflect your ability to utilize feedback and work with others effectively.
Benefits of a self-performance review
You may be wondering why an employer would ask you to write up a self-appraisal. It turns out that the practice has several benefits to both the employee and employer, and can help with job performance and employee growth. Self-performance reviews:
-
Give employees a voice. It can be difficult for employees to feel like they’re really part of the review process. But including a self-assessment gives you a voice and a way to show your perspective in terms of your accomplishments, growth, and value to the company.
-
Promote self-awareness. While it isn’t easy, critically assessing your own performance helps with being aware of your strengths and shortcomings. Knowing where you excel and where you can improve allows you to compensate for your weaknesses — or find a way to negate them.
-
Help with preparation. Evaluations are nerve-wracking. Writing out a self-evaluation can be a way to prepare for what might come up in the review and be prepared to discuss it. It’ll also help you to draw together all of your strengths and accomplishments so that you can make a case for how much value you add to the company.
-
Identify areas of growth. Going over your performance can also help you spot areas where you’ve grown — or can grow. This is helpful for both employees and employers, as it shows where employees can gain more skills.
-
Compile your accomplishments. Putting all of your accomplishments together in one place is a major benefit. It allows you to showcase them to your supervisor, as well as remind yourself of everything you’ve accomplished over the last period.
Self-preformance review examples
Since effective self-evaluation statements can vary from job to job, here is a list of sample sentences and paragraphs that can guide you. Remember, to highlight your strengths, address your weaknesses, and bring your core values to the forefront.
Bringing up your accomplishments
When you mention your accomplishments in your self-evaluation, make sure to add specific numbers and examples whenever possible!
-
“I decreased customer wait times by 15%.”
-
“I helped my team finish our project over a week early.”
-
“Over the past year, I’ve given exceptional customer service and maintained company standards. For example, even though our target score for mystery shoppers is at least 94%, I consistently received a score of 100%.
Not only does that mean that I live up to company expectations, but also that I helped to maintain monthly paycheck bonuses for all of my co-workers.”
Communication Skills
For many positions, teamwork is an integral part of the job. If that’s the case for you, be sure to express your communication skills in your self-evaluation.
-
“I enjoyed listening to my team’s ideas and incorporating them into our projects.”
-
“When my new coworker didn’t understand how to create the proper formatting for sales documents, I took the time to show them how.”
-
“Last month, there was an issue between two of my team members. Instead of letting that affect our project, I took the time to pull them aside and speak to them individually about their concerns.
Afterward, I convinced them to meet together with me, and we had a productive conversation. This communication allowed us to complete our project in a timely and cooperative manner.”
Workplace Reliability
If you’re the type of worker who’s always sure to show up on time, takes your co-worker’s shifts when needed, and keeps everything to code, be sure to mention that in your self-evaluation.
-
“I consistently clocked into work five minutes early and have no history of tardiness.”
-
“Out of the 314 company and customer service emails I’ve received, I responded to all of them the same day I received them.”
-
“In November, I had a weekend vacation planned. I received the time off, but a few days prior, one of my co-workers became very sick and had to stay home.
They asked me if I could take their shifts, and I decided to reschedule my vacation so I could help. Because of this, none of us fell behind in our work.”
Addressing Mistakes
Even though you shouldn’t focus too heavily on your mistakes and weaknesses, you should still reflect on them in your evaluation. If you can, mention an improvement plan when you bring up mistakes or weaknesses.
-
“While my customer satisfaction rating is 93%, I need to work on doing more follow-up calls.”
-
“Even if I feel as though I have a lot of ideas to share with my team, I need to tackle my anxiety and speak up more often.”
-
“During my first three months of work, I submitted a progress report that was formatted incorrectly. However, my manager gave me the opportunity to correct my mistake and re-submit it.
I appreciated the communication and advice I received from my manager and put it to good use, as since then, I’ve had 100% accuracy submitting properly formatted progress reports and other documents.”
Showing Personal Growth
Nobody’s perfect. However, when you show worthwhile personal growth in the workplace, your employer will know that you’re a productive employee.
-
“I enjoy staying up to date with the innovation in my field, and am currently reading ‘Advanced Accounting,’ a book written this year.”
-
“I initially found our new programming equipment difficult to understand, so I sought out the help of a mentor. Now my coding efficiency is up 27%.”
-
“I find it important to set goals for myself in the workplace. For example, after I failed to cross-sell at least 10% of our products to our customer base last month, I set a goal to cross-sell at least 11% of our products this month.
With determination and clever marketing tactics, I succeeded and was able to achieve sales with 13% of our customer base.”
Following Company Protocols and Addressing Feedback
Completing a self-evaluation is a perfect opportunity to address any feedback you’ve received from your employer, as well as reiterate any company goals or protocols that should be in the back of your mind.
-
“In keeping to the sustainability goals set by the company this year, I decided to implement organized recycling and compost bins in the staff room. This decreased our paper and plastic waste by over 15%.”
-
“When my manager reported that we would be following different customer service protocols, I immediately practiced them so I could live up to company standards.”
-
“Earlier this year, my manager talked to me about how my team members sometimes viewed me as unapproachable. He offered me advice on how to communicate with them, and I took this to heart.
Since then, I regularly discuss plans with my team members, and my manager has mentioned that our projects seem more cohesive now.”
Self-performance review FAQs
-
Are self-performance reviews necessary?
-
Will I sound like I’m bragging in my self-performance review?
-
Are there good weaknesses to talk about in my self-performance review?
-
Is it a bad thing if I’m asked to complete a self-performance review?
No, it is not a bad thing if you’re asked to complete a self-performance review. A self-performance review can be a useful tool not only for your manager to evaluate your performance, but for you to evaluate your performance as well. This is an opportunity to reflect on your own strengths and weaknesses and ways you can improve.
Yes, self-performance reviews are a necessary part of performance reviews for many businesses. Self-performance reviews provide an insight into how you, the worker, see yourself within the company.
Your answers show a level of self-awareness, how you handle feedback, and what you believe you are capable of. All this information can be used by your company to make their own evaluations about you.
No, if you answer a self-performance review correctly, you will not sound like you are bragging. To avoid a bragging tone, strike a balance between confidence and humility. Be self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and own up to both.
Yes, there are good weaknesses to talk about in your self-performance review. A good weakness is one that is appropriate to the workplace and has room for reasonable improvement.
Some examples include improving your delegation skills, having a fear of public speaking, or wishing to become more comfortable with certain technologies.
Final thoughts
With all these examples in mind, you’re more than ready to write an effective self-evaluation. Remember, when you’re able to keep things positive, show why you’re a good worker, and express a willingness to grow in the future, your employer will see your value as an employee.
References
-
Harvard Business Review: How to Write the Dreaded Self-Appraisal
-
Business News Daily — How to Write a Self-Assessment: 5 Tips to Improve Your Evaluation
Author
Jack Flynn is a writer for Zippia. In his professional career he’s written over 100 research papers, articles and blog posts. Some of his most popular published works include his writing about economic terms and research into job classifications. Jack received his BS from Hampshire College.
