Welcome to edition 4 of my newsletter - embrace your strengths!

Thank you very much for clicking through to read the next edition of my newsletter. My aim is to help you move towards your next role, and to help you be clear about what you are looking for. In previous editions I've covered:

1. Reflecting on your past to identify what you've enjoyed and what you have not
2. Drilling down to identify your skills
3. Being true to your values

This edition focuses on understanding what your strengths are, which ones you use frequently, which you aren't able to use in your role and those you don't like using.

I think it's really important to spend time on these kind of activities before even starting on your CV or resume. It can give you some direction and confidence and help you decide what type of organisations and roles you are going to be applying for (or set up on your own).

Each month, my newsletter gives you some information about the topic covered and how you can use LinkedIn to help you develop your career.

Definition of a strength

There are so many different definitions of a strength, but the one that resonates most with me in the context of career development is from StrengthsProfile :

A strength is something we perform well at, is energising and we do often – in summary, it’s our authentic self at our best. When we put our strengths to work, we are happier, more confident, and more able to achieve our goals. We feel motivated to do great work and become engaged and productive individuals, teams, and organisations. When we don’t know what our strengths are, we waste valuable time on things that drain us.

Strengths Profile is an organisation I've done some training with. I really like their tool as a way of helping individuals understand their strengths. This is one of the first things I do when working with a new client, as it helps me understand them and they also have.

How can you assess your strengths?

Paying for an assessment tool

There are many strengths assessments that you can pay for and then get a report. The main advantage of this is that the tool will do the work for you. It will ask you a number of questions and your results will be delivered to you (or via someone who is qualified to provide feedback). I offer this as part of my career coaching services as I think it is valuable.

Use a free version of an assessment tool

Some assessment providers will offer a cut down free version with maybe a few strengths highlighted. It will take you time to find them, and you will probably have to sign up for mail lists, and then be prompted to pay for a full report if you like what you see.

Or go old school manually!

• Type "list of strengths" into a search engine, then you will get a list of words like the one shown below (find a list that suits you, there are lots!)
• Go through and tick those which you feel are a strength. You could also ask someone who knows you well to go through the same list and tick those that they think stand out for you
• Then go through and prioritise them - which end up being your top 10?

Now, for the reflective questions:

• Are you actually using these strengths in your current role?
• If not, then why not?
• How important are they?
• Do they need to be part of your work, or can they be satisfied in another way (e.g. voluntary work, team sport etc)?
• Will you use the strengths list when you start looking for roles to rule things in or out (and help form your questions to them)?

What are your key strengths?

I'd recommend really focusing on 3 strengths (after all at interview you're often asked a question like this!).

For me, mine (from my Strengths Profile report) are:

How to use your strengths in your job search

When you get to CV writing stage, use these strengths in your summary/profile statement at the top. Think about how you demonstrate this rather than just listing the words. Similarly, weave them into your achievements. Make sure you're referring back to the job description you're applying for to be sure your strengths are a requirement for that role.

Prepare for interview - so many people use the "what are your strengths" question, this exercise has given you the answer! Have examples ready of when you've demonstrated that strength. This will also help you answer the dreaded "what are your weaknesses" question. Go back to the exercise you did - which of the words come out near the bottom? Talk about that and how you have identified that as a weakness, and what you do to compensate. Just make sure you don't pick one that is critical to the role.

How you can use your strengths on your LinkedIn profile

In your headline - you could highlight your strengths here so that it's right there for people to see. You've got 220 characters to use in this field.

In your about section - you could use something similar to your profile statement from your CV as a starting point.

In your experience section - a few achievements for your roles, with some good strength based information.

In the skills section - technically for skills, but you can use it how you'd like. Just be wary as recruiters do use this for key word searches

In your engagement - you can show your strengths by what you write on other peoples posts as well as your own.

Until next time...

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you've found the article helpful.

As always, I'd love to see any comments or questions you have. If you like what you've read, please consider giving it a like (whichever of the emojis you think is most appropriate - I love to see a mix) and/or a share (though a comment on the article helps the reach better than a share does so hopefully more people would see it!)

Please feel free to FOLLOW ME on LinkedIn for job search and LinkedIn tips. I'm hovering around the 10,000 followers mark at the moment which I'm really pleased about.

If you haven't already, you can also subscribe to my newsletter which will mean you'll be notified next time there is a new edition (once a month). I'm almost at 3,500 subscribers to that which I'm also very happy about.