1. Be proud

The main goal of the self-assessment is to highlight your accomplishments and to showcase aspects of your identity as a service designer to potential clients, employers and customers. Be proud of yourself and point out specific experiences and projects that highlight your best work. When describing these, make sure to emphasise the impact and value each of these achievements had.

2. Reference your accomplishments 

When it comes time to stand up for your work in your self-assessment, having actual data to show what you've done is highly beneficial. Providing concrete dates, references and links to your work and experiences, as well as feedback received from clients, employers and participants of your training sessions to back up any assertion strengthens the validity of your self-assessment.

3. Be honest and critical

Self-assessments aren't just about pointing out triumphs. You should also critically grapple with the times you came up short. Being honest means pointing out some areas that could be improved.

4. Continuously strive for growth

Humans are constantly adapting, learning and changing. Whether you've had a great year or fallen short of your own expectations, it's important to remain hungry to improve and educate yourself. Adopt a growth-mindset and show your willingness to improve and take on new things.

5. Be professional

It’s crucial that you take the necessary time and effort to complete your assessment.  Make sure to extensively spell- and grammar-check your work before submitting it. In the event that you are not a native English speaker, we encourage you to seek proofreading support. These are all signs of how seriously you take the process and its importance to you.