One thing that you can do to help yourself in this stage in starting a career is to fill out a SWOT analysis. This will not only help you recognise your weaknesses but also help you understand where your strengths are in order to start applying for the right kind of jobs. I began to do a little bit of research into SWOT analysis to find out a few things; how to word yourself to spin your negatives into potential positives, how much to write and how to present it, how to find out what your opportunities and threats are.
Here is a template SWOT analysis to help you understand what each section is asking of you:
It is easier to start with your strengths and weaknesses as there is a direct relationship between those and your opportunities and threats. To know what could threaten you, you must understand what your weaknesses are and how they could stop you from getting what you want. Your strengths are what lead to your opportunities, so for that reason I will begin by filling out the internal factors. SWOT analysis is often used when analysis business strategy but can also help on a personal level. “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.” http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05_1.htm When you’re going into a competitive and creative industry it’s so valuable to make the most of this as understanding those elements and being aware of your own strengths can be the difference between getting a job or not. I’ve found multiple templates with questions posed to help you understand what needs to be put in each box. Strengths for instance:
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?
By systematically going through the list you can answer each question that is appropriate in order to gradually fill the chart. I believe that the strengths should be the larger of the two, which shows optimism. When people over do the negatives they come across as incredibly pessimistic about themselves, which is a destructive trait. There’s plenty of tips on various sites which I’ve taken into account: “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.”
This is something I had to take into consideration when applying for jobs in animation/photography. Everyone who will be applying will be creatively minded so there is no point explaining that that is a strength of mine, as that will not stand out at all.
I then just went through all of these questions, picked those appropriate to myself and profession and filled them out accordingly. The language that you use when filling this in is also crucial as you have to take into account connotations of your adjectives. For example rather than writing ‘willingness to learn new skills’ you could write ‘inclination to improve skill set’ This first of all shows that you are inclined to learning new things rather than just putting up with having to do so. Improve also implies that you currently possess those skills but they could be worked on rather than new skills implying that you are a complete novice. I’ve been careful when filling each section in to pay attention to these details.
Here is my own personal SWOT analysis:
I have used the tips provided on the template site, followed the outlines and created my own Personal SWOT Analysis. By outlining my Strengths I can see how I can turn those into Opportunities for example, I have stated that strong communication skills are a strength of mine, I therefore have put that I am able to get work from networking due to confidence and strong communication. This relationship is made clear, thus helping you understand how to harness those skills. I’ve done this with my Weaknesses and Threats to for example outlining my lack of experience and confidence in sales role which could threaten my chances as working freelance due to the importance of promoting and selling your work in order to maintain business. This is something that I have highlighted through this exercise as something that I need to improve on in order to avoid it threatening my chances.
EMILY HORLER 