How do you properly advertise your strengths to a potential employer? Which strengths should you choose highlight? Potential employers want to hear about their interviewees’ strengths in action.
Identifying Your Strengths
What are the strengths that you should emphasize? Reflect on previous jobs or schooling experience—what traits were valued by your coworkers and peers? Did they recognize your great organizational skills? Were you known to be a great communicator? Think about what traits make you good at what you do. Choose around 3 and stick to emphasizing those. You do not want to muddy the waters by trying to highlight too many traits at once.
Highlighting Your Strengths in your Resume
The days of listing your strengths on your resume are LONG GONE. Employers want to see how those skills are applied to the work that you do. Note the characteristics that you have identified and write the job descriptions on your resume to highlight how you used those qualities. Check out this article on how to write your resume.
Highlighting Your Strengths in an Interview
Use what you wrote in your resume as a jumping point to present those skills in your interview. Speak on your experience and how it can be translated into what this new job demands of you. In an interview, it is more appropriate to explicitly state your strengths than it is on your resume. Example: “I would say that one of my strengths is organization, so the planning aspect of this position would be something I could do well in.” It is okay to brag on yourself a bit, as long as you have experience and examples to back yourself up.
Note your what you are good at and lean into it—they are what make you successful! Do not be shy when it comes to showing your potential future employers what you can bring to the table.
