“Tell me more about yourself? “What are your strengths? “Why should we hire you?”
It’s natural to feel anxiety about a job interview and the job search process. Someone is about to scrutinize your appearance, your mannerisms, what you say and how you say it, in an hour or less. The job search can be a brutal process and it’s easy for jobseekers to get anxious, especially when they have experienced rejections in the past.
As career development professionals, we meet jobseekers who need to constantly brand and rebrand themselves to land a job. On any given day, we wear multiple hats: we are strategists, researchers, analysts, consultants, counsellors, even cheerleaders! Given the complexity and the stress of this process, how do we make the experience a more pleasant and enjoyable one for our clients?
Self-awareness: A step toward job search success
Being self-aware of our own interests, values and strengths should be the first step in preparing to find a job. Imagine how we would feel if we truly understood our learning style and the types of conditions we require to work at our potential and beyond. Imagine if each one of us knew what we are really good at and what we love to do; what inspires us, captivates us and motivates us to want to get out of bed in the morning.
With self-awareness, we have the power to choose programs, employers and organizations in which we are more likely to succeed. We are better equipped to navigate tough processes such as a job search because we know they are leading us to where we want to go. This is “self-awareness” – or perhaps this is “finding your superpower.”
A transformative tool
Understanding the employer perspective helps to shed light on why self-awareness is a power tool for jobseekers. For recruiters and HR professionals, recruitment is a risk-management process. They are tasked to learn about a job and identify a list of competencies that meet the needs of the role, or the department and organization. Moreover, these competencies must be grounded in the organization’s core vision and values. The stakes of finding the right candidate are high, so a structure must be in place to help an employer identify and assess candidates who best align with the job and the organization’s needs.
“With self-awareness, we have the power to choose programs, employers and organizations in which we are more likely to succeed.”
Understanding the stakes and determining the crucial need for these roles, jobseekers and career development professionals must contemplate and assess their superpowers. The hero (jobseeker) has remarkable tools and skills.
Leveraging strengths to combat job search pessimism
Job search has been seen as a stressful process and can be further compounded by life, responsibility and pessimism. We see only obstacles and problems and we want to solve them in a formal, logical way, as opposed to a more optimistic and positive way. We see our situation/problem through a negative lens, which can be disempowering.
I believe that there’s a ‘hero’ in each one of us. The hero within keeps us honest and true, and gives us unimaginable strength. At the same time, this self-awareness of our internal power comes with the understanding that great strengths also come with great responsibilities. (Thanks, Spiderman!)
As career development professionals, when we can see that the client may be ‘stuck’ and requires a different perspective, we have the opportunity to help them examine their current situation or problem, look within and use their superpowers.
I see the job posting as a powerful tool to help them to reflect and identify their internal strengths and values. When one looks at a job posting, they could use the following questions as a tool to guide them:
- What specific skills do I have?
- How do these skills and strengths help the organization reach its goal?
- Have I exemplified and applied these strengths in the past?
- Am I passionate about the employer’s goals, vision or mission?
This ‘power tool’ and the accompanying self-assessment can help you or your clients identify underlying strengths and values. We move them from the logical problem-solving model to a more creative, solution-oriented headspace. The client is then able to see the job search process from a very different perspective – a perspective where they are strong, in control and empowered.
