An employee’s own evaluation about the quality and progress of their work is said to be critical for their growth.

This is termed as self-assessment; and it mainly involves becoming an active participant in one’s own appraisal as a worker.

Self-assessment is defined as the ability to examine yourself to find out how much progress you have made. It is a skill that helps individuals monitor their own work or abilities, find out what their weaknesses and strengths are, and self-diagnose relevant solutions.

According to Dr Opiyo Andala, the Dean of School of Education at Mount Kenya University, assessing yourself as an employee serves to increase commitment to goal setting or rather achievement, competency development and career planning. Therefore, it is an important part one should strive for in their careers.

By self-assessing, one is guided through diagnostic tests and is provided with strategies for leveraging their strengths and weaknesses, Opiyo says.

Besides, he also says it gives one the ability to learn more about themselves through addressing different skills and aspects of their personality. Also, it helps in identifying and discovering one’s personality type.

"The purpose of self-assessment is to help the individual know the extent of his abilities and to improve upon them without the need of a performance appraiser,” he says.

In some organisations, Faustin Mutabazi, the chief executive officer at Educational Consultancy Bureau, an organisation that supports education and curriculum activities, says when it comes to self-assessment, it is part of the formal employee appraisal- where the employee is permitted to provide their own version of development over a certain period of time.

He goes on to note that having the employee complete a self-assessment, it allows the manager to view performance or understand their employee’s strengths and weaknesses from the employee’s perspective, as well as training needs and desires.

In addition, Mutabazi says self-assessments are not only important for growth as a worker but also as an individual saying that employees can gain insight that helps them improve generally in life.

On the other hand, Professor Alphonse Uworwabayeho, a mathematics lecturer believes that since self-assessment is the ability to examine yourself to find out how much progress you have made, this skill is hence essential for an individual to monitor their own work or abilities.

Opiyo says since self-assessment is practiced in most organisations, it’s necessary to learn to do it properly.

 "Self-assessment makes you sure and confident about your capabilities. It eliminates or reduces work related fear and uncertainty. Through this, one is as well able to make corrections quickly and improve on their abilities. In other words, it enhances capacity building,” he says.

Also, Uworwabayeho says that it helps people in selecting occupations or educational programs that are best suited for them. For instance; if you find out that you are an unfriendly or antisocial person, this will help you go for careers that best suit your personality.

"After discovering what you are good at, it can guide you in choosing the right tutor or training that best fit your career needs,” he says.

Aside from this, experts say self-assessment also helps an individual to write resumes and cover letters that are specific with their abilities and special qualities, which make a cover letter, stand out among the others.