Identify your strengths, capitalise on those interests!

Thing 21- Identifying your strengths; capitalising on your interests

Thing 21 is about getting yourself in a position to be better at applying for jobs and performing in interviews by using your work and your personal skills to develop a strengths database. At work I have a competencies file where I log and reflect on things I have learnt or done, this is a really handy thing to have, it lives on my desk and so is always accessible. I regularly update my CV as I am in the process of job hunting, desperate to reach the dream goal of being a subject specialist. While this is specifically work-related I think it's also important to use examples from life to show you are a well-rounded person and can transfer skills. So for questions along the lines of how have you developed it doesn't have to be about a work task, in one successful interview I used an example of completing an art project at school, practicing until you get better and asking for help from an experienced person are good things to do, regardless of what they were applied to.

Strengths

• team player - I like working with people, a lot more can be accomplished by a team
• experience - I have 5 years working in a customer-focused team
• education - I am qualified to MSc level
• computer skills - experience of using MS Office, journal databases and internet
• enthusiasm - I am working in the field which I am interested in
• report writing skills - how do you get through a degree and a masters without picking this up?
• organisation skills - I live on my own, I have to be organised or the bills wouldn't get paid and I would have no place to live
• plus a whole lot more...

Interests

• reading - I cannot read enough, fantasy is my current interest between Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews my life is complete
• films - I love films, this is something which I have used to build friendships at work, getting to meet new people in the process, and such a simple thing to achieve
• dogs - I love dogs, definitely a dog person here

My strengths easily apply to job applications, my interests not so much. I am a person who would much rather get on with the people I work with so my interest in films and dogs usually form the basis of many conversations, while not a necessary job skill they keep me entertained on my lunch break! The last time I got that awesome feeling of finishing something great was a book I read. In the spirit of this Thing the last time I got that feeling of completion at work was when I finished updating the Welcome Desk manual and designed a training checklist to go with it.

I don't really dislike my job, my job is fine, not what I want to spend the rest of my life doing as I want to be a subject specialist and I'm not there yet but certainly not a bad job. The only thing I dislike about it is the hours I work, as I work afternoons and evenings it makes it difficult to have a life through the week as my friends tend to work traditional office hours.