Performance at UNC | Self-Assessment

The optional self-assessment marks the beginning of the annual performance season with the opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments, strengths, areas for improvement and overall contribution to the University for the previous year. Self-assessments in the performance process foster a culture of learning and growth, align employee performance with organizational goals, facilitate dialogue and feedback and lay a strong foundation for a productive performance conversation between employees and their managers.
What is the Self-Assessment?
The self-assessment is an optional step in the annual performance season process but an important one for contributing your own feedback towards your goals and achievements for the previous year and for considering your performance and development areas for the year to come. An employee’s completed self-assessment is saved and recorded as part of the annual appraisal document for the previous performance cycle.
See details about performance eligibility for University employees.
- Notification of that the task was assigned on March 10
- Due date notifications
- Every Friday for the period of March 10-31 (as part of the Carolina Talent weekly digest)
- 2 days before due date
- 1 day before due date
- The day of due date
- Describe your accomplishments for the review period. As you do so, think about the people who are impacted by your work and note the outcomes you achieved for your customers, clients, communities or the University at large.
- Describe your performance on this review period’s individual and institutional goals. Include challenges you faced, what you learned and what you might do differently in the future.
- Complete any unit-specific self-assessment questions assigned by your manager or department (if applicable).
- Add any additional information that you would like considered for this review period.
Please note that on the self-assessment you can upload awards and certifications and other files and documentation as relevant.
Why complete a self-assessment?
The self-assessment empowers employees to assess their own progress and reflect on achievements and development areas, deepening self-awareness and creating a starting point to think about growth goals and career aspirations. Completing a self-assessment also gives employees the opportunity to actively contribute to their performance review.
Self-reflection helps you gain a better understanding of your strengths, areas for improvement and areas where you have made a significant impact.
By actively participating in the self-assessment, you demonstrate your commitment to your personal and professional growth as well as your accountability for your own success.
Similarly, you can reflect on areas where you may need improvement or further development. This self-awareness enables you to partner with your manager on identifying opportunities to enhance your skills and contribute even more effectively in the future.
By expressing your thoughts on your own performance and development, you contribute to a collaborative dialogue, ensuring that your manager has a comprehensive understanding of your work and providing a way for you to deliver valuable feedback.
Your self-assessment also reminds your manager of key milestones, along with the accomplishments and challenges, that occurred throughout the past year. It can also focus a manager’s attention on important details about what you enjoy about your work, including your interests and career goals.
By evaluating your performance and identifying areas for growth, you can propose meaningful goals that align with your aspirations and contribute to organizational objectives.
It also helps your manager better understand your developmental needs, enabling them to support your professional growth by providing relevant resources, project work, stretch assignments, networking opportunities, coaching, mentorship and training.
Tips for Writing a Self-Assessment
When thinking about performance, it is important to consider not only what you achieved but also how you achieved it. The self-assessment includes the opportunity to reflect on how your performance and the pursuit of your individual goals aligns with the University’s institutional goals and values. Use the tips below to write an effective self-assessment.
- Assess whether these goals were met, partially met or perhaps not met, and consider the reasons behind each outcome.
- Identify the projects and initiatives you’ve been part of.
- Pinpoint your specific contributions within these projects.
- Quantify, where possible, the impact of your contributions using relevant metrics.
You can view your goals in Carolina Talent Performance > Goals.
- Focus on results. Emphasize the outcomes of your actions. For instance, instead of merely stating your involvement in a project, highlight the tangible results it achieved for your stakeholders, such as increased efficiency or customer satisfaction.
- Prioritize. Choose the accomplishments that best showcase your contributions and are most relevant to your role and to the review discussion.
- Aim for a balanced perspective. Identify your strengths and acknowledge areas where you can improve. Be honest but not overly self-critical.
- Go beyond listings. Rather than merely listing accomplishments, illustrate your achievements with specific instances that highlight your contributions and the skills you employed.
- Support your self-assessment with concrete examples and evidence. This approach not only validates your achievements but also provides a clear roadmap for your future development goals. Include challenges you faced, what you learned and what you would do differently.
- Maintain professionalism. Keep a professional tone throughout your self-assessment, avoiding any exaggeration or negative commentary about others.
- Situation: Set the scene by briefly describing the context.
- Task: Clarify your role or responsibility.
- Action: Detail the specific actions you took.
- Result: Showcase the positive outcomes and their broader impact.
Submitting the Self-Assessment
Employees complete the self-assessment through the My Appraisal task in Carolina Talent Performance. Once you submit your self-assessment, the system will save and record it as part of your annual appraisal document for the previous performance cycle.
Your manager will be able to view your completed self-assessment in Carolina Talent during the Manager Review step of the Annual Appraisal task.
To submit your self-assessment once you have entered your answers into the response boxes, click the Submit button in the bottom right corner.
If you would like to save your responses and return later to finish the self-assessment, click the Save as Draft and Exit button.
See step-by-step instructions in the Carolina Talent Performance Hub for the Employee Self-Assessment Step of the annual appraisal.
To make edits to your submitted self-assessment before March 31, log in to Carolina Talent and follow this path: Performance → Performance Documents → My Assigned Reviews.
Be aware that after March 31, if the self-assessment was not previously submitted, any answers saved as a draft will automatically be submitted, even if you did not click the Submit button.
After March 31, employees will not be able to access the self-assessment task in Carolina Talent.
See step-by-step instructions in the Carolina Talent Performance Hub for:
- Launching the Performance Appraisal Task
- Employee Self-Assessment Step of the annual appraisal
However, employees who missed the opportunity to complete the self-assessment may download and complete the template below to document their reflections on their performance for the past year. Email the completed file to your manager and request that they attach it to your annual performance appraisal in Carolina Talent.
Carolina Talent Performance
Log in to Carolina Talent Self Service to view and complete performance tasks,
and visit the Carolina Talent Performance Hub for step-by-step instructions and FAQs.
Contact Performance Management
Jessica Procel, Talent Management Program Manager
Kathleen Guerra, Senior Director of Organization & Professional Development
919-843-7752
performance_management@unc.edu