SWOT analysis in planning your career

In the armed forces world over, a SWOT analysis is invariably done before formulating any tactical plan. Having been witness to the foregoing for over three decades, I realized its relevance in every sphere of activity where planning for the future is involved. And career planning is no exception.

As a person out hunting a job, the most pertinent question is whether you are aware of various facets that contribute to a competitive benefit. This is attainable through proper career planning. A SWOT analysis helps you understand the efficacy of your intentions and actions, your very career plan.

What does SWOT mean? It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is the key in comprehending the effectiveness of any plan, approach or line of action. What needs to be understood is that if a person has more limitations than capabilities, it does not augur well at all.  A SWOT analysis indicates to an individual the likelihood of success or failure in the light of his or her current standing. In addition, various causative factors that place you in an advantageous position are also identified. Hence the fact that SWOT analysis ought to be an important part of any career planning process needs no emphasis.

A SWOT analysis takes into consideration various in-house and peripheral factors. While strengths and weaknesses comprise the internal mosaic, opportunities and threats are a part of external and even tangential conditions.     

In order to pragmatically accentuate your potencies and prevail over your weak points as also to be able to holistically visualize various career prospects that stand out ahead, you need to deliberate on SWOT.

·   Strengths

They are constructive and optimistic features that can be utilized in an extremely beneficial manner to place you in a position of advantage. The leads that are manipulated to benefit are, amongst others pertaining to:

Ø Individual personality traits.

Ø Academic qualifications.

Ø Work experience.

Ø Technical expertise.

Ø Communication skills.

Ø Leadership qualities.

Ø Ability to fit in a team.

Ø Acquaintance network.

While trying to list out your strengths, be as much down-to-earth and unbiased as possible. It is best to first make an inventory of attributes that depict you accurately. In them, you would be able to identify your strengths for certain. One of the most vital plus point that you may turn out to hold can be the actuality that you are fond of doing what you do!

·   Weaknesses

These are the down-beat and disapproving aspects of inherent qualities. Such weaknesses need careful deliberation and call for perk-up actions. Since they are negative, they are not constructive and unlikely to hold you in good stead. What are such qualities? Some of the common ones are:

Ø Unhelpful personal traits.

Ø Lack of work experience.

Ø Admonitory record.

Ø Absence of goals and objectives.

Ø Lack of job search ability.

Like in the instance of strengths, you need to be absolutely neutral in your approach during the analysis process. It is best to don the hat of a prospective employer and imagine what all would he regard as your negative points. Remember that gauging and weighing up weaknesses is easier said than done. But, in any case their consideration is inescapable and hence need to be identified. Having discerned them, it is an ideal beginning of a career.

·   Opportunities

What exactly is the connotation of opportunities? These are external issues on which you can exercise no influence or jurisdiction. However, you can definitely draw benefits from them. It is all contingent on your know-how domain that may:

Ø Require your array of abilities.

Ø Put forward exclusive and distinctive openings.

Ø Present greater chances of progress.

Ø Facilitate professional growth.

The opportunities may unfold themselves through your own understanding and realization. Various other encouraging and upbeat opportunities might also be a tough and beefy set of connections as also topographical issues.

·   Threats

The outside milieu has good and unpleasant segments; threats are the latter. While it may not be possible to have complete command over threats, their consequences can however, be leveled to a great extent. Some basic manifestations of threats are:

Ø Your career progress may be stunted due to restricted scope of your knowledge domain.

Ø Others in the race with you have superior job searching prowess.

Ø The qualifications of other candidates far surpass yours.

Ø Schools of instructions attended by them have better rankings.

Ø Your knowledge domain may not be very much sought after by the employer.

Like opportunities, threats are determinable if you rummage around for them. There are a number of websites that post information about drifts that are prevalent in various fields. Regular browsing will put you wise about what is the job bazaar like, including the type of openings existing.

If you want to be amongst the preeminent, a SWOT analysis is what you require. After you finish off with it, the following self-selling procedures need to be put into motion:

Ø List out what you want to achieve in your career. What do you intend attaining in the initial four or five years? How do you visualize your ideal job? Are you willing to take to other jobs, if opportunities come your way? The answers to these questions would help.

Ø The second step is to improve and augment your self-promotion activities. It essentially involves selling yourself and can be done by finding sincere responses to three basic issues. These are organizations that you would like to join, how you intend getting in touch with them and after doing so, the approach proposed to be adopted for taking your offer forward.

Ø The final step is to evolve a schedule of action and the most important one in all marketing tactics. You should make certain that appropriate calendar and cut-off dates are set to acquire all details about the company that you are interested to join.

Once you are done with the above, your search for a dream job can start. Your SWOT analysis will assist you in charting a roadmap that is so essential to be able to highlight your strengths, reduce your weaknesses, set eyes on your opportunities and overwhelm your threats. You will now be better-armed to negotiate the ups and downs associated with a job search because your career plan is on a strong footing.