4 Self-Evaluation Examples for Your Next Performance Review

Performance reviews are still a key component of talent management. Love them or hate them, performance reviews can serve as a structured way to evaluate employees’ contributions and guide their growth. Depending on the template or approach, performance reviews typically include feedback from a manager to the employee, and do not consider an employee's self-evaluation process.

But companies and HR teams can certainly ask the reviewed employee to come up with words to describe their progress or contributions—and get something valuable from these questions. At the heart of this strategy lies self-evaluation—a method that invites employees to think back on their performance, express their strengths, and point to areas for improvement. Done thoughtfully, self-evaluations can turn stale performance reviews into meaningful conversations that urge action rather than merely checking a box. And when employees take ownership of their achievements and challenges, it creates a culture of accountability and engagement.

This article offers employers a practical guide to maximizing the value of self-evaluations in performance reviews. We’ll lay out actionable tips for guiding employees through this process and share examples that apply to various roles and skills.

What is a Self-Evaluation?

A self-evaluation, often called a self-assessment or self-evaluation process, is a structured opportunity for employees to reflect on their job performance, contributions, and areas for improvement. It prompts them to take an active role in their development by going over their accomplishments, identifying challenges, and aligning their efforts with organizational objectives.

Self-evaluations play a serious part in performance management because they allow employees to express their perspectives on their achievements, skill gaps, and overall contributions. This way, they give managers a more thorough understanding of their teams' dynamics. Beyond accountability, this process promotes open communication and mutual understanding between employees and employers.

Self-assessment can also create a culture that values personal growth and professional alignment. Employees can better see how their work contributes to broader company goals, while managers gain real insights into opportunities to train or make the most out of their talent, or stumble upon areas that require additional support.

What is Performance Management? →

Why a self-evaluation process works for all sides of a company

There are two main actors playing the self-evaluation game: One is the employer, and the other the employee. They both have a lot to win from it.

For a good self-evaluation process, both parties should put forward something both groups can work on. In the case of the employee, for example, they'll need a good question or good review process so they can speak their hearts out (and back those words with metrics, of course). In the case of the employer, they'll be seeking a totally honest, well-written assessment. This section tries to cover both ends: How can both employees and employers make the most out of a self-assessing evaluation?

Tips for Writing—Or Requesting—an Effective Self-Evaluation

The key to writing an impactful self-evaluation is to strike a balance between celebrating successes and acknowledging areas where growth is needed. If you're the HR rep putting the tests together, tell your employees to start by being honest and specific about both their achievements and challenges. They should avoid vague statements and instead focus on concrete examples. For instance, instead of saying, “I helped improve team efficiency,” they should detail how their initiative brought down project turnaround times by 15%.

Using data and examples strengthens self-evaluation. Numbers, percentages, or specific outcomes add credibility to their claims and help their manager understand the tangible impact of work. For example, an employee in a sales role might mention exceeding quarterly targets by 20%.

It’s just as important to align the evaluation with the company’s goals and the expectations outlined in the job description. Employees should show how their work contributes to broader objectives, such as growing customer satisfaction, increasing revenue, or improving team collaboration.

Finally, companies should encourage employees to adopt a growth mindset throughout their self-evaluation. They should show that they are willing to learn and improve, even when discussing challenges.

Why employees stand to win so much from a self-evaluation processes

It's impossible to blame employees for hating performance reviews, but even the most skeptical professional will agree that a pinch of self-awareness is extremely indispensable for professional development. And by (self) evaluating technical skills, communication skills, and their milestones, employees can, and this is intuitive, identify areas for improvement before everyone else.

For example, an employee who allegedly has superior project management skills might self-assess and realize that their (directly related) time management skills have not been as good as they could be. And they'll be able to work and point out this deficit even before their manager gets there.

There's also a matter of opening up a conversation. Admitting one's shortcomings is a good ice-breaker when speaking with a manager who wants to help out, but doesn't know how to say this without hurting the employee's feelings. So, during a performance review, a positive attitude towards a shortcoming will likely lead to constructive, positive feedback by the management team. And while management comes up with creative solutions and innovative solutions to whatever has been affecting performance, the employee has the chance to show strong interpersonal skills. Employees have a lot to win from a self-evaluation period.

4 Self-Evaluation Examples for Employees

These are self-evaluation examples that employees could answer to show they're committed to the company. If you're an HR rep, read through these examples to understand what you should expect from a good answer. Also, read on to check how you can trigger these answers in a performance review process.

1. General Examples

For employees in any role, focus on providing a balanced view of performance, strengths, and areas for improvement. A strong general example might read:

“Over the past year, I repeatedly met deadlines while maintaining high-quality standards in my work. Still, I recognize the need to improve my capacity of delegating some assignments, and I am actively seeking opportunities to develop in this area.”

💡 Ideally, these answers should offer concrete examples. What were those tasks with which the employee could consistently meet deadlines? In which instance he was not good enough at delegation skills? HR teams conducting performance reviews should trigger the employee to give these explicit examples.

2. Leadership Examples

Managers and team leaders should emphasize their ability to make decisions, develop team members, and drive results. A leadership-focused self-evaluation might look like this:

“This year, I successfully led my team through a challenging project and came through with a 25% increase in client satisfaction ratings. While I take pride in these achievements, I am working on improving my conflict resolution skills to better guide our team during high-pressure situations.”

💡 For HR reps: This is a very good answer because the employee provides figures. This means they have very present what the business expects from them.

3. Accountability Examples

Taking accountability means that an employee can list successes and mistakes and show how they've learned from them. A strong example might involve the following:

“I'm proud that, thanks to my team's work, I improved the department's efficiency by 15%. At the same time, I know that I missed an important deadline earlier this year because I didn't manage my time carefully. I've since set up a schedule system and improved communication with stakeholders to prevent similar problems in the future.”

4. Skills-Specific Examples

Employees should realize that highlighting specific skills like communication, problem-solving, or time management can make their self-evaluation stand out. For example:

• Communication: “I helped coordinate cross-departmental meetings, making sure that all stakeholders were informed and on the same page.”
• Problem-solving: “I fixed a recurring bottleneck in the workflow and reduced project delays by 10%.”
• Time management: “Using a system that prioritizes tasks helped me handle 20% more work without sacrificing the quality of my work.”

Employee Development Plan: 5 Templates + 5 Examples →

Self-Evaluation Examples for Specific Roles

Self-evaluations are most effective when they address specific responsibilities of a role. The examples below show how managers, individual contributors, and new employees can draft reports that highlight their contributions and growth areas.

Manager Self-Evaluation

Managers should emphasize leadership, team management, and strategic impact. For example:

“Over the past review period, I successfully implemented a new workflow that improved team productivity by 20%. By making sure everyone worked together and gave helpful advice, I made sure everyone could reach their own goals. I am proud of these achievements, but I know that I need to improve my delegation skills to better distribute workload and mentor emerging leaders on the team. To fix this, I signed up for a class about leadership and started giving more tasks to senior team members.”

Employee Self-Evaluation

Individual contributors can focus on accomplishments and skill development. An example might look like this:

“I met project deadlines while keeping quality standards, which helped to increase client satisfaction by 15%. I also learned new tools that saved the team five hours a week—we could measure this thanks to a company dashboard where we can check metrics. I’ve noticed that I could be more proactive in seeking feedback on my work, and plan to schedule regular check-ins with my manager to make sure we’re on the same page about expectations and goals.”

New Employee Self-Evaluation

New employees can reflect on their onboarding experience and early achievements:

“In the first three months, I've focused on learning about the company and getting to know the team. I am proud of how quickly I adapted to the role, but I know that I need to improve my technical knowledge to make a bigger impact. I’ve set a goal to complete relevant training courses within the next quarter.”

For Employees: How to Use These Examples in a Performance Review

These examples can help employees make good assessments of themselves. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help employees make the most out of their reviews:

1. Check the Examples Off this Article

If you're an employee who's been requested to self-evaluate, start by reviewing the self-evaluation examples. Familiarize yourself with the various types of narratives and identify which ones line up with your role, your responsibility, or your desired results.

2. Focus on Results or Milestones you can Measure

Now that you have picked an example to build from, you can collect concrete, measurable results for your self-assessment. Use data such as productivity improvements, time saved, or increases in sales.

3. Quantify Impact When Possible

Now that you've collected milestones, check how you can quantify your results. For example, instead of stating, “I improved team efficiency,” you can instead specify, “I increased team efficiency by 15% and cut project completion time by 10 hours per week during May.”

4. Write it Up and Mention How You'll be a Better Professional

You can now write a self-evaluating paragraph with what your wins and areas for improvement were. Remember to finish it with a note on how you'll be better during the next period. Whatever you've learned so far—mention it. Self-appraisal comments are way more acceptable when you're aligning them with something the whole organization wants: Better results.

For HR Teams: How to Use These Examples in a Performance Review

If you want to include self-assessments in your performance reviews, and you're an HR rep preparing those evaluations, you should ask the right questions that would lead to the examples we've been mentioning. Because, with a good question, you can trigger the employees to answer thoughtfully.

The right questions, as we pointed out in our performance review templates article, can help the employees give very specific examples about their wins, their areas for improvement, and why those were wins or not. You'll need them to back up why they did well. A good way to ask the appropriate questions and conduct an effective self-evaluation process is with employee reviews software that lets you configure the questions.

Read our Performance Review Templates with Self-Evaluation Templates →

Let Employees Self-Evaluate with HR Software

A self-evaluation section is an opportunity for employees to show off their contributions, reflect on their growth, and check on what they can improve—before anyone else points it out for them. That's why both parties—employers and employees—have a lot to win from self-assessed reviews.

This guide works for both human resources representatives and employees who've been requested to critically evaluate their own performance. If, either way, you implement the examples and tips provided in this guide, you will come out with a clear overview of what's going on and where you can improve.

If you're an HR rep who's organizing performance reviews, consider using an HR software tool for employee performance reviews, like the one offered by the all-in-one solution TalentHR.

Sign up for free to TalentHR today and try all the features with the Premium plan 14-day trial, including customizable performance reviews. No credit card needed.