Knowing Your Strengths and Passions

Finding your strengths and developing them.

When you are looking for a job, one of the most common pieces of advice is to play up your strengths and find the job that fits you best. It's great advice - really.

The thing is, how do you know what your strengths are? You see, we are often our own worst critics and it can be hard to recognize those strengths in ourselves. Without knowing what they are, how can you use them to narrow down your job search?

If you are struggling to find your own strengths, here are ways to help:

Ask your friends and family - Select a couple of people whose opinions you value and ask them to name three of your strengths. They might be confused at first, but try not to prompt them with the ideas you think are your strengths. Give them some time to think it over and listen to what they say with an open mind. It's very likely that they will mention something you hadn't thought of.

Share your passion - Next, tell them what your passion is, then ask them to tell you an imaginary story about your life, including your passion and your strengths. For example, my passion is writing. My strengths are empathy, creativity and willingness to think outside of the box. Maybe my story would be writing self-help books with unusual advice.

Try the fantasy on - Just for a couple of minutes, try the imaginary story on. Pretend that it's real life and see how it feels. Afterwards, talk about what things you really like about it and what things you don't. For example, I like the idea of writing a series of books but I prefer to write fiction.

Rinse and repeat - Keep changing the story and trying it on until it feels right. It might take a whole bunch of times to hone it to perfection. Just remember to keep an open mind and don't shoot ideas down without a valid reason.

When it feels right, you'll know it. Then, you will be able to clearly see what your strengths are and how you can apply them to the things that you are passionate about.


Have you ever tried this? What were your results? Please share your comments below.



By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for LogisticsJobsiteBlog and Nexxt, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.