Self-assessment reports or reviews give employees the opportunity to describe to supervisors their professional objectives, achievements and challenges. Managers use them as background for employee performance reviews. The assessment keeps managers up to date on employees’ accomplishments, helps compare the performance expectations of workers and managers and can help pinpoint an employee's need for support or additional training to grow in the job.

Writing Tips

Describe your job objectives. “Paraphrasing job objectives gives the manager a clear picture of how well an employee understands job performance expectations,” Success Factors, a business software company website explains.

Explain your accomplishments and why they matter. Include as many as possible and also explain how they helped the company. Be factual and give specific examples of when and how your contributions made a difference, leadership development Joan Lloyd states in an article on the JobDig website.

Ask colleagues and workers outside your department and customers for feedback on your performance. They may provide helpful perspectives that hadn’t occurred to you. “This is especially valuable data if your results are measured by how you work as a team member and by how you deliver results to people outside your department,” Lloyd notes.

Acknowledge shortfalls and suggest ways that you can improve, an article on the AllBusiness website says. No one is perfect and admitting errors and ways in which you did not--but plan--to measure up shows that you take your job and performance seriously.

When possible, include your supervisor in the process. Let her know, diplomatically, but factually, how you feel about the working relationship, both pros and cons. If appropriate, suggest ways your supervisor can help you improve, such as through more direct or frequent communication or by asking for help in obtaining training or other types of support. This encourages discussion and shows that you value your supervisor's mentorship.