SWOT ANALYSIS - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats
The SWOT Analysis is a systematic approach that helps you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and distinguish between the kinds of activities that are worthwhile for you to build a career around and the ones that are not worthwhile for you to pursue.
Write each activity that you identified in the accomplishment identification step and that you think you will need to perform the career goal you pursue in the respective quadrant of the evaluation scheme, presented below.
List of possible activities that might be considered: improving skills or learning new things, entrepreneurial or self-employed (franchising, telecommuting, online money making, data entrance, solving problems or consulting, teaching, training, research, communication (in writing or in person), leadership, management, travel, media contact, entertaining, financial, sports, etc.). To see a list of hundreds of self-employment possibilities, click here.
Instructions:
Write all the activities that you neither like nor do well in the quadrant “Weaknesses – Activities to be avoided”. To find your weak points, ask the following questions:
What are the negative aspects of my present position and myself?
Are there any important gaps in my experience, skills, competency levels?
Are there people who do not support my career aims and achievements?
Am I held in low esteem – if so by whom and why?
Are my domestic circumstances challenging my progression?
What are the weak points of my character?
Has anything held me back from achieving my career goals?
“Threads - Frustration” activities are all those where you have strengths but that you dislike. All these activities are sooner or later a source of fruitless distraction and they will result sooner or later to frustration and lead you down a dead end road. Threads can be identified by asking for instance the following questions:
What aspects of the present or foreseeable future could operate to my disadvantage?
Are any of my skills, knowledge or abilities becoming obsolete?
Is my health or family life a concern?
Am I experiencing rivalry or hostility from others at work?
Is there any forthcoming legislation or regulations that could affect my role?
Could I experience loss of image, reputation?
Is there any change in the marketplace for the services I offer?
Write in the quadrant “Opportunities but Learning Needs” all activities that you like but where you identified a lack of skill or experience. These are the activities or tasks around which you may wish to seek further training and practice. Find opportunities asking the following questions:
What aspects of the present or foreseeable future could I use to my advantage?
Are suitable vacancies available?
Are others experiencing difficulties that require a new perspective and might present me with an opportunity to progress?
Are any new roles being set up that might present me with new opportunities?
Who do I know who could help me?
What financial support might be available?
Finally, list all the activities that you both enjoy and do well in the quadrant “My Strengths”. These are activities you might consider primarily as a focus for your career choices. You might ask the following questions in order to find your real strengths:
What qualifications have I got?
What specialist knowledge have I got?
What competencies do I have?
What kind of work have I done and for how long?
What have I achieved at work? Out of work?
What are my strengths?
What motivates me?
Who are my influential contacts?
How good are my support mechanisms – among family, friends, work colleagues?
In a next step you should consider also aspects like desired activities, working conditions you want to operate under, the location in which you want to work, and the tangible and intangible benefits that you want to receive from your job. List all your preferences and rank order the desired activities from the most important to least important one. This ranking will assist you in your future decision-making activities.
Work-related preference analysis:
Desired Activities | Desired Working Conditions | Preferred Location | Tangible and Intangible Benefits |
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Examples of desired working conditions are: Office versus outdoor, laboratory environment, one site versus multiple settings, independent versus employed or work in group, structured versus open-ended, classroom, focused activity versus multi-tasking, multiple client contacts versus closed-office activity.
Concerning the location, you might consider examples like: rural, city, or small town; your home city or other close locations, your state or country wide, US versus international; industry, private sector, government, university, college, medical, legal, entertainment, or business setting;
Thinking about benefits, the following examples should be considered: good income, job stability, professional status, opportunity to make a social contribution, opportunity to work for change in law, policy, or governmental operations, environmental contribution, opportunity to help others, travel, cross-cultural contact, socializing.
In order to define your Career goals Think short- and long-term. Make a list of all possible goals and then prioritize.
Below is a list of sample career goals:
Find a job in the UK
Get pay raises every year
Write a publication for a newspaper or journal in my field
Get a job with more supervisory responsibilities
Get a job with less or more out-door activities
Complete one job application per day in average
Establish a network
Improve my German skills
Source: Schiebelbein, Joan. Putting Your Graduate Degree to Work. University of Alberta Press, 2001 (modified).