Quintessential Careers:
Using a SWOT Analysis in Your Career Planning
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., and Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Search Quintessential Careers: |
SWOT
Analysis
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I |
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Your |
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E |
Opportunities |
Threats |
To
construct your own SWOT analysis to set a course for your career planning,
examine your current situation. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
How can you capitalize on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses?
What are the external opportunities and threats in your chosen career field?
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I N T E R N A L |
Strengths Internal
positive aspects that are under control and upon which you may capitalize
in planning ·Work
Experience ·Education,
including value-added features ·Strong
technical knowledge within your field (e.g. hardware, software, programming
languages) ·Specific
transferable skills (e.g., communication, teamwork, leadership skills ·Personal
characteristics (e.g., strong work ethic, self-discipline, ability to work
under pressure, creativity, optimism, or a high level of energy ·Good
contacts/successful networking ·Interaction
with professional organizations |
Weaknesses Internal
negative aspects that are under your control and that you may plan to improve ·Lack
of Work Experience ·Low
GPA, wrong major ·Lack
of goals, lack of self-knowledge, lack of specific job knowledge ·Weak
technical knowledge ·Weak
skills (leadership, interpersonal, communication, teamwork) ·Weak
job-hunting skills ·Negative
personal characteristics (e.g., poor work ethic, lack
of discipline, lack of motivation, indecisiveness, shyness, too emotional |
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E X T E R N A L |
Opportunities Positive
external conditions that you do not control but of which you can plan to
take advantage ·Positive
trends in your field that will create more jobs (e.g., growth, globalization,
technological advances) ·Opportunities
you could have in the field by enhancing your education ·Field
is particularly in need of your set of skills ·Opportunities
you could have through greater self-knowledge, more specific job goals ·Opportunities
for advancement in your field ·Opportunities
for professional development in your field ·Career
path you've chosen provides unique opportunities ·Geography ·Strong
network |
Threats Negative
external conditions that you do not control but the effect of which you
may be able to lessen ·Negative
trends in your field that diminish jobs (downsizing, obsolescence) ·Competition
from your cohort of college graduates ·Competitors
with superior skills, experience, knowledge ·Competitors
with better job-hunting skills than you ·Competitors
who went to schools with better reputations. ·Obstacles
in your way (e.g., lack of the advanced education/training you need to take
advantage of opportunities) ·Limited
advancement in your field, advancement is cut-throat and competitive ·Limited
professional development in your field, so it's hard to stay marketable · Companies
are not hiring people with your major/degree |
To
further refine your list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats,
you may also want to ask yourself some
critical questions adapted in part from an
article by Dave Jensen, managing director
of Search Masters International.
Explore
your own self-perception of your strengths, but also put yourself
inside a prospective employer's head as you consider your strong points.
Avoid false modesty, but also be brutally honest and realistic with yourself.
Start out by simply making a list of words that describe you; chances are
many of these characteristics comprise your strengths.
One
of your greatest strengths can be loving the work you do. Learning to "follow
your bliss" should be a critical component of managing your career. Some
people know from an early age what kind of work will make them happy. For
others, nailing down the self-knowledge that leads to career fulfillment
comes from a process of exploring interests, skills, personality, learning
style, and values. Take
a look at some career assessment and exploration tools, such as those described
in Career
Assessment Tools and Tests.
Take one or more of the tests and react to the results. Do the results
match your general plans and expectations? In
assessing your weaknesses, think about what prospective employers
might consider to be the areas you could improve upon. Facing your frailties
now can give you a huge head start in career planning. As
humans, we find it relatively difficult to identify the areas where we
are weak. But this assessment helps to identify areas where we may need
to improve. If you identify a skill that you know is in your chosen field,
but you are weak in that skill area, you need to take steps to improve
that skill. Past performance appraisals and even your grades and teacher
comments from school provide valuable feedback. For
a good collection of sites on the Internet that enable you to research
the trends that will tell you more about external opportunities
and threats in your chosen field, go to
Career Exploration Resources.
It's also helpful to visit online databases (often available through library Web sites), such as ABI/INFORM,
Business News Bank, and Lexis/Nexis and conduct a search of "hiring trends
in ______" or "employment trends in ______," filling in the blank with
your career field. Don't
forget print resources, such as newspapers, periodicals, and trade publications.
Check out job postings on the Internet to
get a feel for the relative number
of openings in your field. If you are a college student, check out your
school's Career
Services office for information on file on opportunities and threats in
your field. From
this analysis, you will have a road map that shows you how to capitalize
on your strengths and minimize or eliminate your weaknesses. You should
then use this map to take advantage of opportunities and avoid or lessen
threats. After
you've analyzed your strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities,
you should use that information to plan how to market yourself. The
marketing planning process entails a three-step process: 1.determining
objectives. 2.developing marketing strategies. 3.strategizing an action program. Objectives—define
your career objectives. What is your ideal job upon graduation (or the
job you would like to transition to from your current job)? What are some
other positions you could accept? What is your five-year career goal? Marketing
Strategies—a
broad marketing strategy or “game plan” for attaining your objectives.
What are the companies and organizations you're going to target to obtain
your objectives—your ideal job? How will you communicate with these firms? The
strategies you identify should utilize all of the resources available to
you, such as your personal network and a partnership with a mentor. Action
Programs—according
to marketing principles, marketing strategies should be turned into specific
action programs that answer a number of questions, including: What will
be done? When will it be done? Who is responsible for doing it? Your key
task here is setting specific timetables and deadlines for getting the
career and company information you identified in the marketing strategy
step. For
further guidance, see the sample SWOT Analysis.
Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search
terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate
publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, author,
and blogger who provides content for Quintessential Careers,
edits QuintZine,
an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and blogs about storytelling
in the job search at A Storied
Career. Katharine, who earned her PhD in organizational behavior
from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, OH, is author of Dynamic
Cover Letters for New Graduates and A Foot in the Door: Networking
Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (both published by Ten Speed Press),
as well as Top Notch Executive Resumes (Career Press); and with
Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your
Way to a Higher GPA (Ten Speed), and The Complete Idiot's Guide
to Study Skills (Alpha). Visit her
personal Website
or reach her by e-mail at
kathy(at)quintcareers.com.
Dr. Randall S. Hansen is founder of Quintessential Careers,
one of the oldest and most comprehensive career development sites on the Web, as well CEO of
EmpoweringSites.com. He is also founder of
MyCollegeSuccessStory.com and
EnhanceMyVocabulary.com. He is publisher of
Quintessential Careers Press,
including the Quintessential Careers electronic newsletter,
QuintZine. Dr. Hansen is also a
published author, with several books, chapters in books, and hundreds of articles. He's often
quoted in the media and conducts empowering workshops around the country. Finally, Dr. Hansen is
also an educator, having taught at the college level for more than 15 years. Visit his
personal Website or
reach him by email at randall(at)quintcareers.com.
Quintessential Careers, a subsidiary of
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Home Page:
http://www.quintcareers.com/
Email: randall@quintcareers.com
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