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Making the Most of Your Talents and OpportunitiesYou are most likely to succeed in life if you use your talents to their fullest extent. Similarly, you'll suffer fewer problems if you know what your weaknesses are, and if you manage these weaknesses so that they don't matter in the work you do.
So how you go about identifying these strengths and weaknesses, and analyzing the opportunities and threats that flow from them? SWOT Analysis is a useful technique that helps you do this.
What makes SWOT especially powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you uncover opportunities that you would not otherwise have spotted. And by understanding your weaknesses, you can manage and eliminate threats that might otherwise hurt your ability to move forward.
If you look at yourself using the SWOT framework, you can start to separate yourself from your peers, and further develop the specialized talents and abilities you need to advance your career and help you achieve your personal goals Add to My Personal Learning Plan.
How to Use the Tool
To perform a personal SWOT analysis, first print out our free worksheet, and write down answers to the following questions.
Strengths
What advantages do you have that others don't have (for example, skills, certifications, education, or connections)?
What do you do better than anyone else?
What personal resources can you access?
What do other people (and your boss, in particular) see as your strengths?
Which of your achievements are you most proud of?
What values do you believe in that others fail to exhibit?
Are you part of a network that no one else is involved in? If so, what connections do you have with influential people?
Consider this from your own perspective, and from the point of view of the people around you. And don't be modest or shy – be as objective as you can. Knowing and using your strengths can make you happier and more fulfilled at work. See our StrengthsFinder Add to My Personal Learning Plan article for more help on this.
And if you still have any difficulty identifying your strengths, write down a list of your personal characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths! You can also learn more in our article on Your Reflected Best Self™ Add to My Personal Learning Plan.
Tip:
Think about your strengths in relation to the people around you. For example, if you're a great mathematician and the people around you are also great at math, then this is not likely to be a strength in your current role – it may be a necessity.
Weaknesses
What tasks do you usually avoid because you don't feel confident doing them?
What will the people around you see as your weaknesses?
Are you completely confident in your education and skills training? If not, where are you weakest?
What are your negative work habits (for example, are you often late, are you disorganized, do you have a short temper, or are you poor at handling stress)?
Do you have personality traits that hold you back in your field? For instance, if you have to conduct meetings on a regular basis, a fear of public speaking would be a major weakness.
Again, consider this from a personal/internal perspective and an external perspective. Do other people see weaknesses that you don't see? Do co-workers consistently outperform you in key areas? Be realistic – it's best to face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.
Opportunities
What new technology can help you? Or can you get help from others or from people via the Internet?
Is your industry growing? If so, how can you take advantage of the current market?
Do you have a network of strategic contacts to help you, or offer good advice?
What trends (management or otherwise) do you see in your company, and how can you take advantage of them?
Are any of your competitors failing to do something important? If so, can you take advantage of their mistakes?
Is there a need in your company or industry that no one is filling?
Do your customers or vendors complain about something in your company? If so, could you create an opportunity by offering a solution?
You might find useful opportunities in the following:
Networking events, educational classes, or conferences.
A colleague going on an extended leave. Could you take on some of this person's projects to gain experience?
A new role or project that forces you to learn new skills, like public speaking or international relations.
A company expansion or acquisition. Do you have specific skills (like a second language) that could help with the process?
Also, importantly, look at your strengths, and ask yourself whether these open up any opportunities – and look at your weaknesses, and ask yourself whether you could open up opportunities by eliminating those weaknesses.
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Threats
What obstacles do you currently face at work?
Are any of your colleagues competing with you for projects or roles?
Is your job (or the demand for the things you do) changing?
Does changing technology threaten your position?
Could any of your weaknesses lead to threats?
Performing this analysis will often provide key information – it can point out what needs to be done and put problems into perspective.
A Personal SWOT Example
What would a personal SWOT assessment look like? Review this SWOT analysis for Carol, an advertising manager.
Strengths
I'm very creative. I often impress clients with a new perspective on their brands.
I communicate well with my clients and team.
I have the ability to ask key questions to find just the right marketing angle.
I'm completely committed to the success of a client's brand.
Weaknesses
I have a strong, compulsive need to do things quickly and remove them from my "to do" list, and sometimes the quality of my work suffers as a result.
This same need to get things done also causes me stress when I have too many tasks.
I get nervous when presenting ideas to clients, and this fear of public speaking often takes the passion out of my presentations.
Opportunities
One of our major competitors has developed a reputation for treating their smaller clients poorly.
I'm attending a major marketing conference next month. This will allow for strategic networking, and also offer some great training seminars.
Our art director will go on maternity leave soon. Covering her duties while she's away would be a great career development opportunity for me.
Threats
Simon, one of my colleagues, is a much stronger speaker than I am, and he's competing with me for the art director position.
Due to recent staff shortages, I'm often overworked, and this negatively impacts my creativity.
The current economic climate has resulted in slow growth for the marketing industry. Many firms have laid off staff members, and our company is considering further cutbacks.
As a result of performing this analysis, Carol takes the bold step of approaching her colleague Simon about the art director's maternity leave. Carol proposes that both she and Simon cover the job's duties, working together and each using his or her strengths. To her surprise, Simon likes the idea. He knows he presents very well, but he admits that he's usually impressed by Carol's creative ideas, which he feels are far better than most of his.
By working as a team, they have a chance to make their smaller clients feel even better about the service they're getting. This takes advantage of their competitor's weakness in this area.
Infographic
Click on the thumbnail image below to see how to do a personal SWOT, represented in an infographic:
Personal SWOT Infographic
Key Points
A SWOT matrix is a framework for analyzing your strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats that you face. This helps you focus on your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you.
If you're using SWOT Analysis to think about your own life and career, then click here to look at our Life Plan Workbook. This helps you think through the things that are important to you, and set the compelling personal goals that motivate you towards success.
What is SWOT analysis? SWOT analysis is a situational analysis carried out for different purposes, usually but not necessarily by businesses. This analysis is used to assess four different factors related to any situation:
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
All these factors can be about a situation, an organization or an individual’s career; there are very few limits regarding where SWOT can be applied. Here, we will be discussing what is SWOT analysis, and its importance for organizations.
What Is SWOT Analysis for Organizations?
For an organization, this analysis is a framework that helps them analyze all internal and external factors that might impact their current plans. These plans can be regarding a new product, project or a strategy that the company is going to undertake currently. In a very precise and simple manner, a SWOT helps a company understand what the dynamics of everything related to the situation being contemplated are. Over the years, this analysis has been adopted by a number of different firms and there is a large number of successful SWOT analysis examples that can be used as guides.
In this analytical model, strengths and weaknesses are considered as the internal factors, completely controllable by the organization itself. Opportunities and threats, on the other hand, are regarded as external factors that might or might not be controllable by the organization. The model states that after thoroughly analyzing every element lying in these categories, an organization should work towards managing and developing further the strengths and opportunities while weaknesses and threats should be eradicated.
A company’s resources and their quality of performance are usually factors that become their strengths or weaknesses. Opportunities and threats are market factors and trends that can either benefit or harm the company’s current plans. This analysis is usually carried out before a company is in the process of developing a new product, project or strategy to determine whether there resources are matched against the competitive market to make the situation a success.
Don't get caught plagiarizing
Based on the results, organizations can determine whether a new project is worth pursuing or not, and if yes, what additional resources or actions would be required to make it successful. An organization’s physical, financial and human resources, its processes, past experiences, reputation, competitors, the market movements for the product/service company is offering, the movement of their complimentary and substitute products and other micro- and macro-economic factors are all included in this analysis.
The key to the success of this analysis is carrying out an honest and unbiased analysis. There is no need to be modest about your qualities while on the other hand hiding your weaknesses is also not going to make this analysis work. A SWOT analysis only succeeds in helping the organization at best when everything is assessed in a brutally honest way. This analysis is completely subjective in nature and two people could come up with completely different set of factors. Therefore, the analysis is usually conducted by a management team in a brainstorming session. It is often supported by several other factors tests like PEST analysis and Porter’s Five Forces analysis to ensure that the factors realized are authentic and real, and not just perceived
What is S.W.O.T. analysis, and how can it help my career?
Ian Christie, Monster Contributing Writer
What is S.W.O.T. analysis, and how can it help my career?
Analyze Your Career with a Personal SWOT
Want a fresh way to size up the state of your career? How about taking a page from the business-school playbook and running a SWOT analysis? SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, is a simple yet powerful model MBA students use to analyze the strategic positions of companies, products or business situations. But you don't need to be an MBA to apply the SWOT technique to your own career planning.
How to Create a SWOT Analysis
The model is a basic two-by-two table, with strengths and weaknesses laid out in the top two boxes and opportunities and threats in the bottom two. You've probably considered your strengths and weaknesses already, but the SWOT model takes it a step further by making you think about the external factors that bear heavily on the health and direction of your career. These factors -- mainly physical location, industry, company and profession -- signal potential opportunities and threats. Looking at the quadrants together can be a creative way to think about where you are in your career and the directions you could take.
To get an idea of what you could incorporate into your own SWOT chart, look at some examples in each category:
Strengths
Strengths are your internal, positive attributes and selling points. You have some control over these. Examples include:
Positive personal traits.
Relevant skills, competencies, knowledge and work experience.
A solid education.
A strong network.
Commitment, enthusiasm and passion for your field.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses are your internal negative attributes. You have some control over these as well. Examples include:
Negative personal characteristics and poor work habits.
A lack of work experience or relevant experience.
A lack of education.
No network or a small one.
A lack of career direction or focus.
Weak professional or career-management skills.
Opportunities
Opportunities are uncontrollable external events that you can potentially leverage. Examples include:
Favorable industry trends.
A booming economy.
A specific job opening.
An upcoming company project.
Emerging demand for a new skill or expertise.
Use of a new technology.
Referral to a high-powered contact.
Threats
Threats are uncontrollable external factors that may work against you and require you to take protective action. Examples include:
Industry restructuring and consolidation.
Changing market requirements and their impact on your employer.
Changing professional standards that you don't meet.
Reduced demand for one of your skills.
Evolving technologies you're unprepared for.
The emergence of a competitor, either to your company or to you personally.
A company decision maker who does not like or support you.
An external factor can sometimes be both a threat and an opportunity. For example, the emergence of a programming language that replaces one you know is a threat if you do nothing about it and an opportunity if you commit to becoming one of the early experts.