Career Strength - How to Leverage Your Strengths - Hallie Crawford

Career Strength - How to Leverage Your Strengths - Hallie Crawford Wouldnt it be wonderful to have a career that fits us, where we always use our strengths? Gallup Organization affirms that if you are lucky enough to be able to do so, you will be six times as likely to feel engaged in your job. But sometimes we don’t know what our real strengths are or how to use them correctly in the workplace to our advantage. Here are three tips that can help you to properly channel your strengths in your career. Know your strengths. This is important whether you already have a job, for greater fulfillment, or if you are searching for a job, as a way to explain your strengths to employers. A strength is a combination of talent, knowledge, and skills. For example, learner, achiever, and responsibility are all examples of strengths. One easy way to identify your strengths is to use the SIGN model from the book Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham. The model is this: Success (having a natural talent for something, feeling effective when you use this strength), Instinct (you look forward to using this strength), Growth (when you use this strength you feel focused and want to learn more), and Needs (using your strength makes you feel fulfilled and authentic). Action tip: Identify your top five strengths using the SIGN model. Write them down and  describe them as best as you can. Ask a trusted friend or family member for feedback. They may see another strength you haven’t identified. Play to your strengths. The book Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham talks about four ways to do this. 1. Identify how a specific strength helps you in your current role, 2. Identify missed opportunities to use a strength, 3. Learn new skills or techniques to better your strength, 4. Build your current role around your strengths. This will help you focus on your strengths instead of being frustrated due to trying to eliminate your weaknesses. Action tip: After you have identified your top strengths, ask yourself how often you use  them. Write down what actions you can take this month to use your strengths  more fully. Ask yourself what you can do weekly to keep your strengths in mind. This could be something as simple as writing them on a sticky note and keeping it on your desk. Find a mentor. Search for someone who uses their strengths successfully in the workplace. Perhaps someone in your social circle, in your job industry, or someone you can reach out to network with. According to the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath, 1 in 33 million people share the same top five strengths in the same order, so dont expect to find a perfect match. However, preferably this person will have at least one strength in common with you. Talk to them about how they channel their strength to get some ideas for your situation. Action tip: Make a list of three people you would like to speak to as mentors. Have them read your notes about your top five strengths, and discuss with them how you are currently  using your strengths and how you could use them more effectively. HallieCrawford.com was founded by certified career coach, speaker and author Hallie Crawford. Since 2002, the company’s team of certified career coaches have helped thousands of job seekers worldwide identify their ideal career path, navigate their career transition and achieve their career goals. Schedule a free consult with https://halliecrawford.com today to learn more about our services. Schedule a free consult with HallieCrawford.com today Please Share This

The Soft Skills All Employers Seek

The Soft Skills All Employers Seek The Soft Skills All Employers Seek Have you at any point considered what selection representatives are furtively employing for? You've seen the mile-long set of working responsibilities requesting everything possible. Which aptitudes and credits are truly going to land you the job? Thomas L. Friedman's piece for The New York Times, How to Get a Job at Google, references a meeting between Adam Bryant of the Times and Laszlo Bock, the senior VP of individuals tasks for Google. Bock lets the cat out of the bag on what Google searches for while recruiting new representatives, and it isn't simply coding and great grades: 1. Agile learning. Bock says one of the most significant aptitudes to recruit for is the capacity to bode well out of irregular bits of information on the fly, which Google tests for through social talking. It very well may be hard to show this on your résumé, however absolutely not feasible. Recount to a STAR story: Think about a period you had to settle on a choice dependent on bunches of information o r evolving data. Presently, break your story into four sections: Situation, Task, Actions and Results. You can wow selection representatives by utilizing a particular story during your discussion and by remembering a shortened rendition for your LinkedIn profile. 2. Emergent leadership. When confronted with an issue as a component of a group, how would you respond? Have you at any point been in a group where nobody offers answers for the issue or steps up to attempt to fix it? Concurring to Bock, Google searches for pioneers who approach with arrangements when things turn out badly. Holding an incredible position or conventional influential positions aren't sufficient. New administration is when a team part approaches to intervene during an emergency and effectively ventures once more into their group job once more. An extraordinary method to demonstrate your initiative characteristics is to get suggestions on LinkedIn from friends and administrators that address your capacity to st ep forward. 3. Intellectual humility. Do you take responsibility for work and thoughts, yet realize when to withdraw to better thoughts? Scholarly modesty implies you don't let your conscience disrupt everything. Bock portrays scholarly lowliness as the capacity to battle for thoughts resolvedly, however when new data is presented, being able to grasp the new heading that develops. Quietude is additionally the capacity to take the necessary steps to complete a vocation. There is nothing excessively far beneath you truth be told, taking out the junk can be incredible exercise. 4. Being inquisitive and cherishing to learn trump expertise. Bock noticed that workers who have the craving to learn and a curious nature here and there reach similar resolutions that a specialist would. Much additionally interesting is that the nonexpert can think of a totally new thought or arrangement since they don't have the mastery or verifiable viewpoint. This can prompt creative arrangements and new h eadings. Contingent upon the business you mean to work in, advancement may not be the most esteemed component of the corporate culture. Learn and acknowledge which enterprises are resolved about aptitude, and know when to exhibit your affection for learning.Truth Be ToldWill putting cooperative person, creative and solid authority on your résumé get you the interview? Probably not. List of qualifications are inspected for specialized abilities, and it isn't until the meeting procedure that delicate aptitudes can be assessed adequately. So can any anyone explain why recruiting directors screen résumés for specialized skills when managers esteem delicate abilities most? Is there a breakdown in correspondence? Is it since innovation can't screen for the delicate abilities? Or on the other hand is it in light of the fact that too not many businesses can evaluate, measure or name the presentation related with these delicate abilities? We should trust that is the place the following i ncredible headway in enlisting occurs.

Tell Me About a Time You Did Something Wrong

Inform Me Regarding a Time You Did Something Wrong Educate Me Concerning a Time You Did Something Wrong Frequently we go into a meeting arranged to offer ourselves to the questioner. That is unquestionably something that you will need to do, however you additionally need to get ready for the most exceedingly terrible. It tends to be a stunning astonishment when you stroll into a meeting hoping to discuss how incredible you are, and somebody gets some information about a period you accomplished something incorrectly. There is an explanation you are being posed this inquiry, so it's significant that you require some investment to acquaint yourself with the primary concerns to underline, and some regular missteps to keep away from, particularly for the50 Top Job Interview Questions and Answers. Primary concerns to underscore Concentrate on how you dealt with the circumstance. Rather than giving a huge amount of data on what you fouled up, give simply enough understanding to really expound on how you emphatically dealt with the circumstance. Remain Positive! Communicate advancement and development. Because you accomplished something incorrectly in the past doesn't imply that you have not developed and gained from your missteps. Regular mix-ups Abstain from being negative! In spite of the fact that this is a negative inquiry, you need to concentrate on the positive. Try not to profess to be great. Saying that you have never accomplished something incorrectly is simply silly and a definite method to take out yourself. Abstain from hauling an associate into the circumstance. Attempt to concentrate on something that YOU fouled up, and how YOU took care of it. Test answer Two or three years back, my administrator came into my office and asked me for what valid reason she had not gotten my latest report. I clarified that I had sent the report over, and had positively no clue about why she had not gotten it. She at that point asked me to resend it as quickly as time permits. The following day, she asked me for what reason I had still not sent the report over. Once more, I said that I did. At long last, in the wake of doing some burrowing, I had understood that I was sending the report by means of my own email address, rather than my work email address. This was making my report go legitimately to my supervisor's spam box. When I discovered, I educated my chief regarding the issue and detest the report on my work email. From that point forward, I have been very cautious about what email account I use. Look at Find My Professionfor the entirety of the most recent vocation guidance. In the event that you need assistance getting a new line of work, look no farther than our expert vocation discoverer!

4 Networking Tips That You Can Learn From a Dog

4 Networking Tips That You Can Learn From a Dog When I tell my clients that the most effective way to land a job is through networking, their response is often a sigh of frustration or a look of dread. Even the most extroverted, outgoing people often don’t enjoy networking events. And one of the main reasons for this is that many of them aren’t taking the right approach to networking. They feel as if they are carrying a big sign over their heads that says “How can you help me?” They are uncomfortable feeling like they don’t have anything to offer, because they are new to this city or industry and don’t yet have connections of their own. They are the kind of people who like to help others and don’t want to walk into an event or meet someone for a coffee feeling like nothing more than a leech, sucking that person dry of information and connections. This got me thinking and asking myself who I know that not only enjoys networking but is also very successful at it. And I was a bit surprised when I discovered that the one who stood out the most is someone who is incapable of having an actual conversation. Chloe is my 2 year-old Golden Doodle. The reason I know that she is one of the best networkers out there is because in the time that I’ve had her: she has single-handedly introduced me to hundreds of people (and animals) I have more than tripled the number of friends that I have since she came into my life most of my neighbors remember her name before they remember mine or my husband’s most people can’t help but be won over by this big lovable pooch If Chloe could speak, here’s what she would tell us about networking: 1. Introduce yourself to everyone Introduce yourself to everyone who crosses your path (or even those on an entirely different path on the other side of the road). Chloe literally introduces herself to everyone she sees. She doesn’t discriminate and doesn’t stop to analyze whether she will gain anything from this introduction. She sees someone and she instinctively thinks, “I must say hello.” Then she either drags me over, tugging at her leash, or she sits and waits for them to catch up with us. And she greets everyone with such exuberance as if they are the most important person in the world. How would you feel if a human being made you feel this way? Probably pretty darn good, and very willing to spend some time with them. After all, they are excited to get to know you and already seem to think you’re amazing, so why not accept a bit of ego boosting and make a new friend? If you are only focusing your networking efforts on people who have important titles or work within your industry, then you are missing out on a wealth of opportunities and discovery. Some of the best connections I’ve made were with people who had jobs in entirely different industries. You don’t know what else is out there until you take a chance and explore the unfamiliar. 2. Don’t be afraid of rejection Sometimes Chloe’s friendly introduction is not reciprocated by others, and she receives a bark, snarl or aggressive nip. She might be momentarily saddened by the rejection but then moves on and doesn’t hesitate to introduce herself to the next potential friend to come along. And, amazingly, the next time she sees that dog who was unfriendly to her, she will try yet again to win them over and approach them with just as much, if not more, enthusiasm as before. In our old neighborhood, there was a yard with two very unfriendly guard dogs who would snarl and bark aggressively at anyone they saw. Each time we walked by, Chloe would inch closer towards their fence, wag her tail and greet them while I would pray the fence held up and they wouldn’t tear us both to shreds. Within just a few weeks, she had developed such a bond with one of the dogs that instead of viciously scaring us off, he would come up to the fence and softly whimper for her to come over. I don’t know how she does it, but this pup leads with her heart, has no fear of rejection, and never gives up on the desire to make a connection with anyone. What kind of a networker would you be if you weren’t afraid of rejection? 3. Be genuinely curious One of my neighbors told me how Chloe often stands in the backyard staring at her through the fence, sometimes for a very long period of time and she wanted to know if it would be okay to give her a treat the next time she saw her. I said that a treat would be fine, but in all honesty, it’s not really a treat she’s thinking about when she is peering at you through the fence. She would be just as excited to have you come over to say hello, give her a paw shake or pat on the back, and talk to her. To Chloe, everyone and everything is fascinating. She loves when we have parties, because she gets to interact with so many people. She is so genuinely curious about everyone. There doesn’t need to be a motive to approach them. She simply enjoys their company. If you take this approach to networking, you will find many more doors open to you. Conversely, if you approach someone at a networking event and are wearing your “How can you help me?” sign not only will the conversation feel uncomfortable to you but you will also be much less likely to receive the support you’re seeking. People like to help people who are genuinely interested in them. You are friends with your closest friends because they make your life better. It makes you feel good to be around them, they are interested in you, they listen to you, they laugh when you tell a joke, they offer support when you’re in need, they share hobbies or interests or they provide good conversation. Human needs are just the same when it comes to networking. 4. Keep in touch with your connections Chloe knows where all of her pals live in the neighborhood. And on our walks, when she sees their houses, she stops at their driveways, sits, and stares at their house waiting for them to come out. She doesn’t understand why I’m embarrassed, yanking on her leash, coaxing her to move along so that this person who I barely know doesn’t think I’m some crazy stalker standing in their driveway. All she knows is that she likes this dog (or person) that lives there, and she wants to see them again. Why are human beings more hesitant, scared, or embarrassed to make it clear to someone that they find them interesting, value their connection, appreciate their company, and want to spend more time with them? You aren’t doing smart networking if you are simply meeting once with each new connection. You’re just as quickly forgotten by them and not even building an actual “network.” Follow up with a thank you email. Send a note when you run across an article you think they would like or another connection who you think they would enjoy meeting. Reach out again to grab lunch or invite them to join you for happy hour or another networking event. That’s all? It all seems too obvious, right? And it is. After all, it’s advice from a dog.What it really boils down to is that we all need to stop overthinking networking. A networking event is really just one big party with the opportunity to meet some really interesting people and make some new friends. A coffee date with a new connection is just the chance to have an interesting conversation and establish a deeper connection with someone. If you are looking for a job, you should be ready to share the exact role you are looking for and your 30 second pitch on your unique value and experience. But, this should come up naturally in the conversation. Get curious about them first. Learn about what’s important to them, where they’re from, their hobbies, their pursuits, the school they went to, their kids, their dogs, etc. If they can help you in your job search, that’s just an added bonus to a new friendship, but it should never be your sole purpose for talking to them. Happy networking and many tail wags to you!