Trying to figure out where you want to go in your career? Whether you’re just starting out, or looking for a complete career change, it always helps to know what your strengths are.

 

When entering the job market, or looking for a new role, many people allow themselves to focus on their perceived weaknesses, or things they don’t have. For example,

What skills they are missing.

What qualifications they don’t have.

What experience they still need.

 

This can be a very disheartening approach to the beginning of a career or the start of something new – it can feel like you’ll never match up to the job requirements.

 

Flipping this way of thinking to consider your strengths instead of weaknesses can provide you with three things:

1. The realisation that you have valuable skills, knowledge and experience.
2. The ability to choose a career suited to your own strengths.
3. A positive foundation on which to build your personal development.

 

So how do you discover your strengths?

There are many different tools and methodologies for doing this, all with their own pros and cons. We’ve put together a collection of the best resources to help you find yours.

 

VIA Survey of Character Strengths

This test by the Psychology Department of the University of Pennsylvania ranks your aptitude in 24 possible strengths such as ‘love of learning,’ ‘emotional intelligence,’ ‘leadership,’ ‘humility’ and ‘fairness.’  The test is based on psychological research and  great for getting a deeper understanding of what makes you tick. It’s free to take the test but you’ll need to register. The VIA Institute also provides a guide on using your results to inform decisions in your career here.

 

Mind Tools Skills Test

This career-focused online test is works to identify skills and strengths directly applicable to the workplace such as problem solving, decision-making, communication, time management and goal setting. It gives you a score in each area then gives you tools to build on each area.

 

16 Personalities

This test has a scarily accurate section on strengths and weaknesses and some great advice on utilising this knowledge.  16 Personalities works by placing you into one of 16 different personality types, then predicts how you are likely to behave. The aim is to give you insights to help you with personal growth and relationships. The results include topics such as how we make decisions and cope with emotions, our approach to work, planning and decision-making, how we see the world and how we process information.

 

Other ways to discover your strengths:

• Observe yourself at work for a day. What tasks excite you the most? When are you most animated and engaged? This could give you a clue as to where your strengths lie.
• Ask a close friend, colleague or mentor what they think your strengths are. Often, it’s hard to recognise our own strengths so this is a great way to get an objective point of view.
• Try a bit of everything and explore lots of different roles. You could enroll on an internship, graduate scheme, or work placement where you get to work in several different departments to see what suits you.
• Focus on your transferable skills. Transferable skills are abilities, knowledge and training that can be applied to many different aspects of your life and career. It might surprise you to discover the transferable skills you already have can be built-upon with supplementary learning, for example:

 

People skills – such as communication and teamwork.

Management skills – the ability to manage or train others, or manage projects.

Technical skills – IT knowledge, mechanical skills, construction.

Data skills – such as record keeping, maths, analysis or research skills.

 

Professor and Author, Adam Grant, argues: “If you want to excel at anything, it’s not enough to fix your weaknesses. You also need to leverage your strengths.”

 

He gives the example of two successful people who focused on what they were good at rather than their failures. Albert Einstein failed a French exam and chose instead to focus on physics. J.K. Rowling realised she was very disorganised, but chose to hone her storytelling skills instead of trying to be orderly.

 

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