Strengths-Based Career Exploration

“These are my strengths…what job should I do?“

It’s a question I hear all the time. And I hear my colleagues answer, “Knowing your strengths doesn’t tell you what job you should do, it tells you how you’ll do any job.” 

I disagree. 

I think knowing your strengths CAN help you figure out what job to do. 

It’s just not the whole story. 

And knowing your strengths is more useful for Career Exploration than many people realize.

Here’s the process I take people through who want to answer this question. 

Understanding Your Strengths

First, you have to know what your strengths ARE. Do you truly understand and accept what comes naturally to you and how you are innately wired? Do you see these strengths at work in your life? Do you recognize that these qualities are driving you? And do you see that when you are leveraging those strengths that you are happier, more productive, and feel more “flow?” I use the CliftonStrengths online assessment but there are other ways to know. It’s just a great shortcut to the insight.

Understanding What You Bring

Then you have to understand what good it does to have that strength. What do you bring to the world because of your unique strengths? Maybe it’s “Communication” and it’s easy for you to put your thoughts into words. Maybe it’s “Strategic” and you easily recognize patterns and see options and can easily identify the best path to reach a goal. Maybe it’s “Restorative” and you easily identify problems others don’t see and love finding ways to solve them. Maybe it’s “Harmony” and you have a gift for finding ways people can collaborate and you are gifted at helping people find common ground. 

Understanding What You Need

Once you know what you bring, you need to understand what you need, because of your strengths. People high in Strategic Thinking need time to think before needing to answer or deliver a plan and often need the freedom to change plans based on the information they gather. People high in Influencing need the ability to meet new people and make some kind of impact on them. And people high in Executing need a clear understanding of what their responsibilities are, need to know what is expected, and need the ability and the authority to complete it. People who are high in Relationship-Building strengths need strong relationships at work. And they need relationships to be valued. One of the biggest reasons I see people leave jobs is that their needs are not being met. 

Here’s an example of the “Bring/Need” statements available once you’ve taken your CliftonStrengths assessment.

Here’s an example of the “Bring/Need” statements available once you’ve taken your CliftonStrengths assessment. 

Combining Your Strengths With Your Interests

Even with a clear sense of what you bring and need, you still have to consider the context of where your strengths will be used and ideally you’ll thrive most in an industry you are interested in. 

So while your strengths might indicate that you love to research and gather information, a research-oriented job in Banking looks quite different from a research-oriented job in Medicine. So reflecting on your areas of interest is a critical part of the strengths-based career exploration process. 

Understanding what you bring and need with your strengths and investigating how you can leverage your strengths within an industry is where the magic starts to happen and your best options become more clear:

Not every job within an industry will be the best use of your strengths. But understanding your Strengths and how they intersect with your Industries of Interest will be an important step in finding jobs you like and will be good at. 

If you’d like to get some coaching on how your Strengths can be leveraged within your Industries of Interest, reach out for a free Discovery call here

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