Review your year before you write a word
Whether your organisation calls it an appraisal, a performance review or an annual review, it's one of the few meetings in the year set aside for your work and your future. Your manager will have their own view, but you get to shape the conversation, and the self-assessment is where that starts. Treat it as three things at once: a record of what you achieved, a chance to agree what comes next, and the paper trail behind any case for progression or a pay rise.
Memory is unfair to the months furthest away. Last month's crisis looms large while a quiet success from the spring vanishes. So before the form is due, set some time aside and gather the raw material.
If you don't already, keep a running note from now on: a line whenever something goes well or someone thanks you. Next year's review will be far easier.
- Last year's objectives, and what happened to each one, including those that changed or were dropped along the way.
- Your calendar and sent emails, scanned month by month, to remind you of projects, deadlines and problems you solved.
- Results you can point to: work delivered, processes improved, time or money saved, complaints resolved, people trained.
- Thank-you messages and comments from colleagues, clients and other teams.
- What you took on beyond your role: covering for someone, helping a new starter settle in, fixing something nobody owned.
- What didn't go well, and what you learnt from it.
- Training you did, and training you wanted but didn't get.
How to write your self-assessment
Most forms ask some version of the same questions: what went well, what could have gone better, what you'd like to develop and what support you need. Whatever the headings, the same approach works.
If your organisation uses a rating scale, rate yourself honestly and let the evidence justify it. A modest rating with strong evidence invites your manager to raise it; an inflated one invites them to argue it down.
- Be specific. Name the project, the problem, the result. 'Improved onboarding' says little; 'rewrote the onboarding checklist, so new starters now have their equipment on their first day' says a lot.
- Describe what you did, not only what the team did. Use 'I' for your part and give others credit for theirs.
- Link your achievements to the objectives you were set and to what your team or organisation cares about.
- Be honest about what didn't go to plan, and say what you learnt or changed as a result.
- Keep the tone level: neither apologetic nor boastful, just factual.
- Write in plain sentences. Your manager may copy parts of it into their own write-up, so make it easy to quote.
Self-appraisal examples: achievements and strengths
These ten phrases are starting points, not scripts. Swap in your own details where you see square brackets, cut anything that doesn't sound like you, and keep only what's true.
- This year I delivered [project] on time despite [obstacle], and it's now used by [team or customers].
- I met my objective on [area] and went further by [what you added].
- My main contribution this year was [area], where I [action], and the result was [outcome].
- When the team was short-staffed, I took on [responsibility] while keeping my own work on track.
- I noticed [problem] and proposed [solution], which has cut [delays, errors or complaints].
- I'm proud of how I handled [difficult situation], because I [action] and [outcome].
- Colleagues often come to me for [skill or knowledge], so I've [written a guide, run a session, trained someone] to share it more widely.
- I built a good working relationship with [team, client or supplier], which made [process] noticeably smoother.
- I helped [new starter or colleague] through their first months, and they now handle [task] on their own.
- Clients have singled out [quality] in their comments, for example [short summary of what they said].
Self-appraisal examples: areas to develop
This is the section most people dread, and often the one managers read most closely. Honest, specific and forward-looking beats vague modesty every time. Naming a weakness together with what you're doing about it shows judgement, not failure.
- [Objective] didn't go as planned because [reason]. Looking back, I'd [what you'd do differently], and I've already started doing that on [current work].
- I'd like to get better at [skill], because it would help me with [part of the role].
- I sometimes take on too much myself instead of delegating. This year I've started [concrete change], and I'd like to keep working on it.
- Presenting to senior colleagues is still outside my comfort zone. I'd welcome the chance to do it more often, with some support at first.
- I underestimated how long [task] would take. I now [plan differently, build in checks, flag risks earlier].
- I'd like more regular check-ins with you on [area], so we can adjust sooner if something drifts.
- My knowledge of [tool or area] hasn't kept pace with the role. A course in [subject] would close that gap.
- I've found [situation] difficult. What would help is [support, clearer priorities, a change of process].
- I'd like to be involved in [decision or project] earlier, rather than picking it up at the end.
- This was a harder year for me because [brief reason, only if you're comfortable sharing it]. I'd like us to agree realistic objectives for the year ahead.
Example phrases for objectives, training, progression and pay
The appraisal is the natural moment to talk about what comes next, and raising it there feels far less awkward than booking a separate meeting. The trick is to prepare, to be specific, and to link every request to the work.
On pay, a little homework helps. Find out beforehand how pay reviews work where you are: some organisations decide rises at the appraisal, others in a separate process, and some follow fixed pay scales. Base your case on what you've done and the scope of your role, not on personal circumstances. And if the answer is no, ask what would change it and when you can come back to it.
- For next year, I'd like to take ownership of [area], and I suggest we measure it by [outcome].
- I'd like one of my objectives to be [development goal], so it's part of my job rather than something extra.
- I'd like to do [course or qualification]. It would help with [part of the role], and I'd share what I learn with the team.
- Could we agree a development plan that would put me in a position to apply for [role or grade]?
- What would you need to see from me to consider me ready for [next step]?
- I'd like to spend some time shadowing [person or team], to learn how [area] works.
- Over the year my role has grown to include [responsibilities]. I'd like to talk about whether my job description, grade and pay still reflect that.
- I've looked at what similar roles pay, and I'd like to discuss where I sit. Can we talk about a pay rise, or what it would take to get there?
- If a pay rise isn't possible right now, could we agree what would make it possible, and when we'll look at it again?
- What support can you give me to reach these objectives, and how often shall we check in on them?
Back it up with facts and colleagues' words
Your self-assessment is your view. What makes it persuasive is evidence that doesn't come only from you. Your manager may not have seen everything you did this year, especially work with other teams, clients or partners.
Comments from colleagues carry weight precisely because you didn't write them. They also stay useful long after the meeting: for an internal application, a promotion case, or your next job.
- Point to concrete outputs: reports, dashboards, before-and-after comparisons, the document everyone now uses.
- Quote thank-you messages from colleagues, clients or other teams. If they were sent privately, check the sender doesn't mind.
- Ask a few colleagues who saw your work closely for a short written comment on what it was like to work with you this year. Some organisations gather this formally; if yours doesn't, you can ask yourself.
- Choose people who can speak to what you want to discuss next: if you're asking to lead projects, someone who watched you lead one.
In the meeting, and afterwards
In the meeting itself, let your preparation do the work. Walk through your main points rather than reading the form aloud, listen to your manager's view before responding to it, and if you disagree with something, ask for the example behind it. Staying calm and curious gets you further than defending every line.
Before you leave, make sure you've agreed three things: your objectives for the coming year, any training or support, and what happens next on progression or pay, with a date wherever possible.
- Send a short email afterwards summarising what you agreed, and ask your manager to correct anything you've misunderstood.
- Read the written appraisal before you sign it off. If something's inaccurate, say so politely and ask for your comments to be added; many forms leave space for them.
- Put the training requests and review dates in your calendar, and follow them up if they go quiet.
- If you feel the process was unfair, check your organisation's appraisal or grievance policy, or talk to HR.
- Start your running note for next year straight away.
Keep your colleagues' words with Take Your Skills
Appraisal comments tend to live in an HR system you won't have access to once you leave. The praise a colleague gave you for a difficult project stays behind with it. Take Your Skills gives you somewhere to keep that kind of recognition, in your own name.
You create a profile and share its link with the people you work with: your manager, colleagues, clients, other teams. Each of them writes a recommendation about what you're like to work with. If they're short of words, an AI assistant asks them a few questions and they answer in their own words.
The recommendations sit together on your profile. You choose which ones are public, and you can make any of them private at any time. You can share the profile by link or download it as a PDF, whether for your appraisal, an internal move or your next job. From your public recommendations, Take Your Skills also writes a professional portrait of you, a useful mirror when you're trying to describe your own strengths.
- It's free, for you and for everyone who recommends you.
- People who write for you sign in with a code sent to their email address, so there's no password to remember.
- Add a personal email address and your recommendations stay with you, whichever job you're in.