Using your strengths in you job search

Chris Wodke
http://www.summittrainingpublications.com/

Angela Harris Director of Milwaukee Job Camp spoke at the February 19^th meeting of the Crossroads Career Network meeting on the topic of “Leveraging Your Strengths”. The talk was based on the book “Strengths Finder 2.0” by Tom Rath. Here is a summary of her remarks.

Rath in his book says we each have five strengths.  Our combination of skills makes each of us unique.  In fact in there are 33 million different combinations of the five strengths.

Harris says we should understand our strengths, how they make us unique and how these strengths can be used in our job search. When you understand your strengths, how to use them, and how you used them in the past, you can use this information to market yourself.

Definition

• Talents are enduring and unique.
• Talents + skills + knowledge = Strengths.
• This represents are greatest area for growth.
• Strengths are the strongest connection in our brain.
• Time goes by quickly when you are working in a strengths area.
• You can do something flawlessly when using strength.
• Using strength is effortless, is an innate skill.
• You feel you want to do the strength based task again and again.

Marcus Buckingham has written several books in using strengths. He says as you grow you become more of who you already are and you grow most in your areas of greatest strengths. Using your strengths is very important for personal success.

Importance

• Strengths allow you to do your best at work and in your personal life. Only 20 % of employees in a Gallup poll answered they do what they do best at work each day.
• What would it mean for organizations if most members did what they do best every day?
• Take the assessment and find out your top five strengths.

Job SearchLook at government sites such as the Department of Labor that have job descriptions.  Look in different industries to see where your strengths might be used.  Here are some other ideas:

• Look at job postings. Look for key words that match your strengths.
• Put your strengths or words similar to your strengths into Google and see what comes up.
• Look at job descriptions and look for duties that match things you are good at. You can get some ideas from positive feedback you have gotten at past performance reviews.
• Check sites like salary.com for positions that fit your strengths.

Resume

You have to understand your strengths. Read through the descriptions in strength finder 2.0. Here are some steps you can take to help you figure out how you use your strengths:

• Read out the top five.
• Find phrases that resonate.
• Get our a thesaurus
• Select key words and phases
• Use these key words and phrase in your resume.
• Look for patterns of how you have used your skills.
• Connect the skills with the results you have
  

Interview

When you understand your strengths and how you use them, you can begin to create CAR stories for interviews.  CAR stories are a challenge you had, an action you took and the result you got.  Talk about how your strength made the positive result happen.

• Using strengths feels good and creates excitement. This will translate into positive body language during the interview.
• Write down your CAR stories on index cards. Review them right before the interview

Using your strengths in all aspects of your job search can help you to understand the unique set of skills you bring to an employer.  Understanding your strengths can help you be more effective on the job and in your personal life.  If you don’t know your strengths get a copy of Tom Rath’s book.  Begin to explore this area.  Think about how you have used your strengths in the past and how you might develop and leverage them in the future.

Copyright 2012 Summit Training Publications

Do you hate to write training programs? Too much work to do and no time to put together your training program? Asked to deliver training or a presentation and have no idea where to start?

Let Summit Training Publications take care of your program design needs with our off the shelf training in a box or one of our presentation modules.

Our off the shelf training solutions provide:

• PowerPoint Presentation
• Instructor Guide & handouts
• Student Guide
• Quiz
• Feedback Form

Subject areas include; Communication Skills, Employee Development, Human Resources, Quality, Product Safety, Safety and Supervisor Training.

Titles: Product Safety and Liability, Aftermarket Product Safety,Hazard Analysis, Product Safety Meetings, Warnings, Instructions and Manuals, Product Liability European Union, Obtaining the CE Mark, Risk Assessment, European Union, Product Safety Management Product Safety Audit, Workplace Violence, Substance Abuse, Sexual Harassment, Manager as Coach, Hiring, Firing, Performance Appraisals, Diversity, Americans With Disabilities, Business Etiquette, Security Abroad, International Business Manners, Customer Service, Customer Communication, Terrific Teams, The Manager as Trainer, Coping With Difficult People, Managing Your Boss- Problem Bosses, Malcolm Baldridge Award, Presentations/Public Speaking, Discrimination, Listening Skills, Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Total Quality Management, Motivation, High Achievers, Time Management, ISO 9000 Introduction, ISO 9000 Implementation, Quality Audit, Introduction to the Internet, Stress Management, Telecommuting, Flexible Work Schedules, Creativity and Innovation, Benchmarking, Effective Business Writing, Customer Letters, Motivating Self and Others, Project Management, Managing Multiple Projects, Brainstorming, PERT Diagrams, Train the Trainer, Train the Trainer-Delivery, Train the Trainer-Writing Presentations, Train the Trainer-On the Job Training, Train the Trainer-Using Visual Aids, Project Management, Peer to Peer Feedback, Surviving Unemployment, Interview Preparation