Self-Assessment: Why It's Critical for Your Career

How can you benefit from a career self-assessment?

Have you ever looked in the mirror and asked yourself, “Am I really on the right path in my career?” If so, then you've taken the first step toward a career self-assessment. It’s important to step back every once in a while, evaluate how you’re doing in your job and career, and consider whether you might need to make changes to help you meet your career goals.

In this guide, we’ll explain why career self-assessments are so important and how they can benefit your career progress. We’ll also provide some tips that you can use to conduct your own career assessment and recommend career vocational tests that you can access if you need help setting your career goals.

Why self-assessment is so important

First, don’t make the mistake of confusing work performance reviews with career assessments. A performance review is a tool that your company uses to determine whether you're meeting goals and to provide feedback on things for you to improve.

A career self-assessment is something you conduct on your own and is designed to help you determine whether your skills and interests match your current career goals – or help you set those goals if you’ve yet to decide on a set career path.

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Self-assessments may sometimes be encouraged by employers, of course. However, you can perform a self-assessment at any time. Conducting a career self-assessment can help you identify your successes, failures, strengths, and weaknesses and create goals that empower you to become a better person and leader. By reflecting on where you've been, what you've accomplished, and what still needs to be done, you can realize your full potential and turn any inefficiencies into opportunities for improvement.

Career self-assessment benefits can include:

Ability to measure your performance
Motivating yourself to do better
Identifying clearly defined goals
Improving skills through new education
Recognizing your own hard work and achievements

Related reading: How To Achieve Your Work Goals in 10 Steps

How to write a self-evaluation

Being boastful is difficult for many people. If you have a hard time talking about your own achievements, this task is going to be uncomfortable. However, when you step outside of your comfort zone to reflect on things you do well – and not so well – then you will get a better indication of your future growth.

Writing a self-evaluation involves reflecting on your own performance, identifying areas of strength and weakness, and setting goals for personal and professional development. Here are some steps you can follow:

Review your job description or performance expectations: Start by reviewing the objectives and expectations set by your employer or supervisor. This will help you identify the key areas where you’re expected to perform and excel.
Assess your performance: Next, evaluate your performance over the evaluation period. Consider the goals you met, the projects you completed, and the challenges you faced. Be honest and objective in your assessment.
Identify your strengths and weaknesses: Based on your performance evaluation, identify your strengths and weaknesses. This will help you to focus on areas where you need improvement and to capitalize on your strengths.
Provide specific examples: Use specific examples to support your self-evaluation. This will help your supervisor or manager to better understand your performance and provide more targeted feedback.
Set goals for improvement: Identify specific areas where you need to improve and set achievable goals for personal and professional development. This could include taking courses, attending workshops, or seeking mentorship.
Be constructive and professional: When writing your self-evaluation, be constructive and professional. Avoid making negative comments or blaming others for your performance. Instead, focus on how you can improve your performance in the future.
Seek feedback: Finally, seek feedback from your supervisor or manager. This will help you to understand how your performance is viewed from their perspective and to provide an opportunity to discuss areas of improvement.

Remember that self-evaluation is an opportunity to reflect on your performance, identify areas for growth and development, and set goals for the future. By being honest, specific, and constructive, you can use your self-evaluation to demonstrate your commitment to personal and professional growth.

Self-assessment example

While you want to focus on strengths and skills, make sure that you’re openly reflecting on what went right and what went wrong so that you can set goals or find ways to improve. Here is an example of a self-assessment:

Self-Assessment: Marketing Manager

Goal: To increase customer engagement on social media platforms. You have set a goal to increase customer engagement on the company's social media platforms. To achieve this, you develop a social media marketing plan that includes creating engaging content, running social media ads, and collaborating with influencers. As a result of your efforts, the company's social media engagement increased by 30% over the evaluation period.
Performance: During the evaluation period, you successfully managed several marketing campaigns, including a product launch campaign and a seasonal promotion campaign. You consistently met deadlines and delivered high-quality work. However, you struggled to effectively manage your workload and often found yourself working long hours to complete tasks.
Strengths and weaknesses: Your strengths include creativity, the ability to develop effective marketing strategies and strong communication skills. However, you noted that you need to improve your time management and delegation skills.
Examples: One example of your work during the evaluation period is the successful launch of a new product line. You developed a marketing plan that included email marketing, social media ads, and influencer marketing. As a result, the company's sales increased by 25% in the first month of the product launch.
Feedback: You received feedback from your supervisor that you need to improve your workload management skills. You implemented their feedback by delegating tasks to team members and monitoring their progress.
Professional development: You plan to attend a time management workshop and seek mentorship to improve your delegation skills.
Conclusion: Overall, you are proud of your achievements during the evaluation period, including the successful launch of a new product line and the increase in social media engagement. However, you recognize the need to improve time management and delegation skills to better manage your workload. You are committed to personal and professional development and look forward to working on these areas in the future.

Key things to remember when conducting a career self-assessment

The key points of emphasis for performing a successful self-assessment include:

Reflection: Self-assessment requires reflecting on your performance, identifying areas of strength and weaknesses, and setting goals for personal and professional development.
Specificity: Use specific examples to support your self-assessment. This will help your supervisor or manager to understand your performance better and provide more targeted feedback.
Honesty: Be honest and objective in your assessment. Avoid exaggerating your accomplishments or making excuses for your shortcomings.
Constructiveness: Be constructive and professional when discussing areas where you need improvement. Focus on how you can improve your performance in the future rather than dwelling on past mistakes.

Assistance for career self-assessment

Of course, you may also find yourself in need of a broader analysis to help you identify the right career path for your needs. Fortunately, it is easy to find a career test for free online. Taking a career vocational test can help you gain insight into your career interests, skills, values, and motivations – key things that you need to understand if you want to make sure that you pursue the best career for your personality and abilities.

Below, we’ve provided links to some of the top career self-assessments available online.

To maximize your insight, you may want to take several of these tests and compare the results. That can help to provide you with a more comprehensive analysis of your career needs that you can use as you start to set your career goals. And even if you’ve already started your career, tools like this can be used to help you confirm your current career choices – or identify any needed changes.

Use regular career self-assessments to stay on the right track in your career

Remember that self-assessment is an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to personal and professional growth. By being honest, specific, and constructive, you can use your career self-assessment to identify areas for improvement, set goals for the future, and strengthen your relationship with your supervisor or manager.

ZipJob is more than just a resume-writing company. Our goal is to ensure that the lives of everyone we touch are made better through sound advice and readily available career preparation support. Contact our expert team for any help you need on your career journey.

This article was originally written by Marsha Hebert. It has been updated by Ken Chase.

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Written by

Ken Chase, Freelance Writer

During Ken's two decades as a freelance writer, he has covered everything from banking and fintech to business management and the entertainment industry. His true passion, however, has always been focused on helping others achieve their career goals with timely job search and interview advice or the occasional resume consultation. When he's not working, Ken can usually be found adventuring with family and friends or playing fetch with his demanding German Shepherd. Read more resume advice from Ken on ZipJob’s blog.

Why Should You Perform a Self-Assessment?