Self-evaluation

What It Means

A self-evaluation, also called a self-assessment, is the part of a performance reviewPerformance reviewA formal look back, usually once a year, where a manager rates how an employee's work measured up to the standards set for that period. See more you write yourself: what you achieved, where you struggled and what you learned over the period. Your manager reads it next to their own view of your work. The Office of Personnel Management's guidance for federal employees treats it as a starting point for a fuller conversation in the review meeting, and notes that setting your own ratings beside your manager's can show where the two of you see things differently.

How People Say It at Work

• "HR wants my self-evaluation by Friday."
• "I never know how high to rate myself."
• "I put the client launch at the top of my self-assessment."

The Breakdown

How to write a self-evaluation (Buhata's suggestion)

1. Pull out the standards or goals you were given at the start of the period.
2. Gather evidence: finished work, dates, numbers, and any thanks you received in writing.
3. For each goal, write what you did and what came of it, in two or three plain sentences.
4. Name one or two things that didn't go well and what you changed because of them.
5. Say what you learned and what you'd like to work on next.
6. Read it back as your manager would. Cut anything vague, and keep the tone factual.

Weak and stronger lines

Try it today. Write three lines about your last month, each with a date or a number in it.

Good to Know

Rate yourself honestly against the standards, with evidence, since OPM's guidance points out that the useful part is where your view and your manager's differ. A self-evaluation may stay on record with your review, so keep it factual and leave out complaints about colleagues; raise those separately with your manager or HR.

Related Terms and Categories

• Performance review

  A formal look back, usually once a year, where a manager rates how an employee's work measured up to the standards set for that period.

• One-on-one meeting

  A regular private meeting between a manager and one person who reports to them, used for check-ins, feedback, problems and career growth.

• Constructive feedback

  Specific, fact-based feedback that describes what someone did and its effect, so they can keep doing it or change it.

• Asking for a raise

  Requesting higher pay from your current employer, usually backed by your results, your role's market pay and what you plan to take on next.

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