What are the strengths of a person. — Three Methods for Discovering Human Strengths

If you sing well, then you need to constantly improve this skill. If you are a bad cook, then you need to make every effort to learn. The only thing that causes difficulty is themselves strong and weak sides human. How to identify them? How to find what is worth improving and what needs to be developed? The difficulty lies in the fact that many people prefer not to see their weaknesses. They just say they don't exist. It is not true. The article will help you understand your personality. You will learn how to identify your strengths and weaknesses, you will be able to find a way of self-development.

What are your strengths

Question about strengths ah personality is often asked in job interviews. This is one of the textbook psychological tricks, which is used by many H-ares. But applicants are aware of such a question, so the answers are most often standard. Weaknesses are written to a minimum, and sometimes not written at all. But do not forget that you are being interviewed by an experienced specialist who has studied his business. Therefore, stereotyped answers can become a minus, not a plus.

Therefore, before hiring, and just to determine the characteristics of your personality, you should find your strengths. The difficulty lies in the fact that no one will decide anything for an adult. If in childhood, parents constantly dragged us around circles and sections, trying to develop talents, now the life of adults is only work and sometimes rest. Almost everyone forgets about having a hobby, about a talent that can be constantly improved. Hence the disappointment in the overall activity. Units accidentally find their niche and become successful in it. But more often than not, people just go with the flow.

Human strengths based on talent. We all know what we do best. If you are a wonderful cook, then your talent is the kitchen. If your friends listen when you start singing, then your talent is singing. And so on. Talent can be not only something creative, some people are masterfully able to negotiate with other people. This means that their talent is negotiations. You just need to think about what you do best. This will be the talent. The next stage of self-development will be honing skills in the chosen business. No one can achieve perfection, but it is easy to significantly improve skills.

Naturally, in a resume for the position of an office manager, you do not need to write “ability to cook” in your strengths. However, from this talent comes a true strength. If I can cook well, then my strengths are discipline (it is simply necessary to fry meat for the specified amount of time and so on), responsibility, information (I am constantly looking for new recipes), imagination (inventing dishes requires creativity). Any talent can be decomposed into strengths of your character. You get along well with people, which means that the strengths will be the ability to win over, responsibility, individualization (orientation to the personality of an individual, acceptance of it). You are distinguished by a sharp mind, which means that in the strengths column you can write not only intelligence, but also learning, the desire for new knowledge. Even if you don't have any creativity, your hobby is stamp collecting, your strengths will be competition and discipline.

Then you need to transfer your personality strengths and talents to reality. If you like to write, then you can work as a journalist or copywriter. If you love children, then you can easily go to school or to Kindergarten. The main thing is that the work brings pleasure. Work without pleasure will be real hard labor, and there is no benefit from it. You need to clearly understand your talents, highlight your strengths and find a job to your liking. Here they are, the three criteria for a happy life.

Dealing with Weaknesses

Every person has both strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, a mature, accomplished and self-sufficient person should be able to admit his weaknesses. You can't say that you are perfect. First, it's not true. Secondly, with this thesis you can stop your personal development. Weaknesses are not something negative or shameful, these are the traits that should be developed, improved, and try to turn them into strengths. If you constantly engage in self-development, you will become a full-fledged personality and find life balance.

You need to identify your strengths and weaknesses. If everything is clear with the strong, then what could be the weaknesses? These are natural laziness and procrastination, the inability to get up early, problems with speaking in public, shyness and lack of strength of character. Each person knows where his weak point is. You can be completely undisciplined, constantly late everywhere. You can be unassembled, do everything at the last moment. You may be afraid of contact with strangers and so on. Some of the weaknesses are easily corrected on their own or with the help of a psychologist. Others are difficult to change, but you can adjust your life, adjust them to your weaknesses so that they do not cause inconvenience. Weaknesses and strengths of a person- it's part of the character, it is impossible to completely get rid of them.

For example, you are often late. The advice “leave early” does not always work, late people simply do not know how to control their time. Then the way out is to schedule business meetings in the office at the height of the working day. There you will definitely not be late. If you do not know how to plan a workflow, then you should consider the sequence of doing things. Leave the most difficult and important at the beginning of the working day, and those things that can be rescheduled or pushed back in time, move to the end. Even if you don't make it, it won't get any worse. You can also designate the staff of subordinates to whom certain powers are delegated. In a team, you can easily complete everything on time.

The inability to speak in public is a problem for many people, often even leaders. Working with a psychologist and constant training correct this weakness. But it can also be bypassed - just entrust communication to other people who are better at this task. If you are a “night owl” and cannot think well in the morning, then it is better to postpone all important matters to a later time. Thus, all weaknesses can be corrected so that they do not interfere with full-fledged activities.

Analysis of strengths and weaknesses in the interview

Many applicants are interested in the question, why are they asking about weaknesses in interviews? Is it worth talking about them, suddenly it will negatively affect the results? In fact, the absence of weaknesses in the questionnaire is already a negative quality that will definitely alert the recruiter. The company must be prepared for your weaknesses. You should never worry about this issue, it can alert the HR. All your strengths and weaknesses should be presented calmly, without too much panic. Then you will definitely be assessed as a full-fledged person and a mature person.

Self improvement

You need to constantly be in development. Even if you have talent, there are certain strengths and weaknesses of character, then you cannot abandon them. A good voice requires constant practice to improve the skill. But your talents belong to the area that you like, so most often people know what the strengths of a person are, during their life they try to develop them. But what about the weak?

No need to think that if the weaknesses fit into your life, then you can let things take their course. You can set up business meetings for a long time in the office, not be late for them, but you will definitely be late for the plane. He won't come to your office. It is necessary to deal with the inability to plan time, gradually getting rid of this weak side. If you leave half an hour or even an hour earlier, it is better to wait at the airport than to miss your flight. This applies not only to aircraft, but also to friendly meetings, dates, and so on. You need to constantly try to correct your shortcomings, or at least continuously work on yourself.

Every person has advantages and disadvantages. So that the weak do not become the dominant part of your personality - develop. It is not so difficult, but self-development promises success at work, in family life, leads to harmony and happiness.

In interviews with employers and when writing a resume, you have to indicate your strengths. Oddly enough, for some, this is more difficult than listing weaknesses. However, both must be specified. We will help you decide and make your own list.

A person's strengths and weaknesses are often asked in job interviews. You have to answer this question by writing your own resume.

So involuntarily you start to think about your advantages and weaknesses. With advantages, that is, strengths of character, it usually turns out well. But with the weak ... Is it really impossible without them? It is forbidden! Recruiters - experienced professionals - will appreciate your frankness, and who knows, it may be your combination of "pros" and "cons" that will help them make a choice in your favor.

On the benefits of "self-digging"

Every person has strengths and weaknesses. It would seem, why look for them at home? What can it give? According to psychologists, a lot. You need to know your strengths in order to feel confident in various life situations. And knowing your weaknesses will help, if not to overcome them, then at least to take control and engage in self-development. The latter, according to experts, helps both in a career and in personal life, and generally leads to harmony with oneself and the whole world.

Strengths

Strengths together give strong character. Let's see what qualities and traits define. This is all the more necessary to know if you do not want to be content with a modest position and low salary, but want to succeed in your career endeavors. The list is quite extensive.

So this is:

  • professionalism;
  • analytical thinking;
  • learnability;
  • a responsibility;
  • discipline;
  • diligence;
  • patience;
  • purposefulness;
  • self confidence.

Developing strengths

Professionalism is your knowledge multiplied by experience. If you didn’t spend your time at the institute in vain, love and know how to study, know your business well, you will certainly become a professional. By the way, according to experts, there is a fairly simple way of professional self-improvement. To do this, it is enough to read one book in your specialty every month.

But the analytical thinking and learning depend on the level of intelligence. By the way, intelligence, according to latest research passed down through the maternal line. So if you got good genes, your parents did a lot of work for you in childhood, and you studied hard, and didn’t play the fool, then you have every reason to add positive qualities from the list to the second and third. The following are strengths that you may not have, but which you can develop in yourself.

A responsibility

It seems that this quality is also innate, but in women mainly for some reason. It is not for nothing that there is even such a term as hypertrophied responsibility, and it means precisely the female ability to be responsible for everything: for children, husband, parents, friends, animals, work, country, and so on. So we have nothing to develop here, except to learn a little the opposite.

Discipline

This is sometimes not easy. Set an alarm for 6.30 and get up at the first signal, and not endlessly delay the moment of rise. Arrive to work on time, not 10 minutes late. In the same way, do not be late for business meetings or gatherings with friends. To become disciplined, you need to come up with motivation. For example, it is easy for me to get up early in the morning, because I know that a cup of coffee with something tasty and interesting reading is waiting for me. The anticipation of all this helps not to lie too long in bed.

And in order not to be late for work, try to make sure what a thrill it is to come to the office ... first! Peace and quiet, you can calmly gather your thoughts, make plans for the whole day and get to work. In the morning hours, by the way, the brains work more productively.

industriousness

Few people have this quality innate. All mankind is lazy to some extent. And only hunger, cold and fear forced him to get up from the warm skin of a mammoth and do something useful. So do we: we get down to business not because we are tired of resting, but because there is such an inexorable word “necessary”.

It is necessary to wash the windows for the winter, iron the washed linen, select unnecessary books and take them to the nearest library ... But what a feeling of satisfaction comes when you realize that you managed to overcome yourself and fulfill your plan. So gradually you get a taste and become ... a workaholic in good sense this word.

Patience

This is when you realize that you won’t be able to get everything at once and right now. And you learn to wait, gradually, step by step, approaching the goal. Career By the way, this is what happens. Almost no one immediately after high school does not get into top managers. Well, maybe some computer genius level.

Purposefulness and self-confidence

These strengths you get as a bonus to the above. Professionalism. The more you know and know how, the more confident you feel in your business. And it helps to go your own way, persistently achieving your goals.

Let's complete the list

We also call strengths of character:

  • honesty;
  • reliability;
  • justice;
  • honesty;
  • responsiveness;
  • courage.

People who have all of the above qualities are able to control themselves, their desires and actions, and therefore, manage their lives, subordinate circumstances to themselves. Well, such individuals always inspire respect and trust.

A well-written resume will serve a person good service when applying for a job. This document should be written in such a way that it intrigues a potential employer. In addition to education and work experience, personal qualities in a resume are very important. Examples and life experience show that it is this information that managers and personnel officers are seriously interested in.

Before indicating personal qualities in a resume, you must carefully study the samples and examples in order to fill in the required section in accordance with all the rules:

  • The information must be truthful and reliable, since the deception will be revealed sooner or later anyway, so there is no need to "philosophize slyly."
  • Personal qualities should be stated clearly and briefly, but you should not use only common hackneyed phrases that will not give a potential employer full information about your strengths and weaknesses.
  • This section must be written correctly, without colloquial vocabulary and errors.
  • As a rule, it is required to indicate the most important personal qualities (5 options), so you should not be too zealous in indicating everything in a row. It is necessary to analyze everything and enter only those character traits that will really be useful for a vacant position or profession. For example, a salesperson will need the ability to resolve conflict situations, but it is not necessary for an economist.

Groups and Templates

Personal qualities for a resume can be divided into several groups that have their own specific templates.

First work

If a labor activity is just starting and the resume is being compiled for the first time, then the section on personal qualities can be filled out as follows:

  • Desire to work effectively in a team.
  • Creative approach to business and creativity.
  • Activity.
  • Good memory.
  • Ease of learning.
  • Desire to improve and learn.

For specific vacancy you need to determine your priority options for personal qualities - depending on the proposed position and profession.

It is not always necessary to indicate your weaknesses in a resume. But if, nevertheless, it is required to indicate the weaknesses of the character in the summary, their examples may not be so fatal. Therefore, you should not be afraid to describe them.

Everyone has their shortcomings, but it is important for the employer to see how adequately you evaluate yourself. Therefore, try to choose such traits of your character that in everyday life can be considered a disadvantage, and for the performance of the proposed work, these qualities will be a virtue, for example:

  • Fear of air travel.
  • Hyperactivity.
  • Slowness.
  • Restlessness.
  • Love for formalism.
  • Excessive emotionality, irascibility.
  • Increased anxiety.
  • Reliability.
  • Inability to be flexible.
  • Too direct.

All these weaknesses can be looked at from a different angle, and then they can turn into advantages for the employer. For example, restlessness for an active manager or sales representative is more of a plus than a minus. Or reliability, which will give the manager a reason to think that you can always be trusted with overtime work.

Weaknesses and professional qualities

Each applicant must correctly orient his weaknesses to the profession in which he wants to work. For example, a design engineer or future accountant might write the following:

Although such a list is not at all suitable for a person who, in the process of work, must constantly communicate with people. For example, a prospective sales manager might provide the following negative qualities for summary:

  • Excessive sociability.
  • Workaholism.
  • straightness.
  • Distrust.
  • The need for external motivation.
  • Impulsiveness.
  • Restlessness.
  • self-confidence.
  • Hyperactivity.

Applicant for leadership position it is necessary to prepare more carefully before filling in the column that will indicate its weaknesses. He can write about the following traits of his character:

Little tricks

To prevent an employer from immediately sending your resume to the trash after reading about your shortcomings, do not be too frank. Neutral qualities that can in no way affect future work are quite suitable. The following will suit almost any job: personal qualities(limitations):

  • Fear of airplanes.
  • Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes).
  • Vespertiliophobia (fear of bats).
  • Arachnophobia (fear of spiders).
  • Sweet love.
  • Lack of experience.
  • Love for shopping.
  • Excess weight.

This information is quite transparent and will not pose any “danger” to the applicant in the employment process.

You can also write:

  • I am overly fond of analyzing past mistakes.
  • prone to reflection.
  • Too trusting.
  • I can't always accurately express my thoughts.

These are negative qualities for a resume, but they rarely affect the workflow.

You can specify the following:

  • When I have to lie, I noticeably worry.
  • I can't swear.
  • I take everything to heart.
  • I don't like gossip.
  • Too carried away by nature, so I forget to take breaks.

Some nuances

There are some items that should not be included in a resume. For example, you should not write:

  • I love office romances.
  • I am often distracted.
  • Not punctual.
  • I don't like making my own decisions.
  • I'm afraid of responsibility.
  • I don't like getting up early.
  • Sometimes laziness prevails.

For example, after reading about laziness, the employer will decide that you are not eager to work.

Strengths in resume

To get a decent job, you must provide an excellent reference and profile. Indicating your positive aspects in your resume, you need to adequately evaluate yourself in professionally and enter in the required columns only the best qualities, which, no doubt, will be appreciated by the employer. A sample list of strengths is as follows:

You should also indicate your business characteristics, which must be described in one sentence, for example: "Seven years as a chief accountant." It is important at the same time to ensure that personal and business qualities do not conflict with each other.

Some examples of job descriptions

Accountant

Mandatory qualities: responsibility, learning, attentiveness.

Will be well appreciated: scrupulousness, conflict-free, stress resistance.

Sales Manager

Required qualities: result orientation, activity, communication skills.

well appreciated: competent speech, out-of-the-box thinking, stress resistance.

Secretary

Mandatory qualities: diligence, accuracy, stress resistance, competent speech.

Will be well appreciated: neatness, grooming, pleasant appearance.

Universal positive qualities

  • No bad habits.
  • Stress tolerance.
  • Initiative.
  • Honesty.
  • Fast learner.

Be sure to include the personal qualities that your future employer wants to see. To do this, put yourself in his place and think about who you would like to take on your team.

Checking the veracity of what is written

Most job seekers tend to embellish their resumes, so employers invite applicants for an interview and ask additional questions which help to better reveal a person.

For example, they want to know your opinion about a particular conflict, and based on the answers they receive, they conclude how true the answers in the resume regarding squabbles and scandals are.

One should remember a number simple rules things to keep in mind when interviewing:

Focusing on the following tips from professional personnel officers, you can quite easily please your future bosses:

  1. The summary should be composed in a restrained manner, and humor is inappropriate here. However, creative and creative positions may suggest this.
  2. Copied, template resumes will not bring success, since personnel officers see such tricks right away.
  3. Five professional characteristics will be enough. Among them, stress resistance is always highly valued.
  4. You should indicate only the necessary qualities for the desired position.
  5. Questions should only be answered to the point. Chatting the personnel officer will not work, but the impression of the applicant will be spoiled.

In order to attract the attention of the employer, it is very important to think over all the points of the resume that relate to the personal qualities of the applicant. Correct filling this document will become the guarantor of your employment.

Attention, only TODAY!

A good resume structure necessarily includes a list of professional skills and strengths. Every job site or template has a similar section to fill out.

Why write strengths on a resume

This is to show the employer that you are the right fit. All in all.

If you correctly show your character strengths in your resume, your chances of getting an interview will increase.

What aspects of character to indicate

Firstly, proceed from the requirements of the vacancy.

Appreciated in different positions different qualities. Accounting requires patience and perseverance, management - activity and leadership skills, work as a driver - sobriety. And so on.

Secondly, be honest with yourself.

If you are calm and reasonable, do not write about leadership qualities. If you creative person and it is difficult for you to work under tight deadlines, do not write about discipline and punctuality.

Most common resume mistake

I write resumes for people of different job levels and before work I ask them to send their current resume. In almost everyone, I see a list of office superman.

  • A responsibility.
  • Mandatory.
  • Stress tolerance.
  • Discipline.
  • Work for results.
  • Learnability.
  • Purposefulness.
  • Sociability.
  • And so on.

I constantly read and edit this nonsensical set of phrases. A good, "selling" resume should not be superfluous. Everything must be reasonable.

Fixing the error

In order not to be like everyone else, learn to stand out from the crowd. There are two great ways to list strengths on a resume.

First option- remove all these qualities from the resume. It's very simple.

Second option. Choose one (maximum two!) of your character traits and write about each of them in a sentence. Detailed and specific.

An example of indicating strengths in a resume:

  • Sociable (worked in sales, as well as in journalism, interviewed artists).
  • I prefer to work for the result - I know how to start and finish things, I make decisions quickly, I am straightforward and active in communication.

Think about what is your strongest quality and what will be especially needed for future work. Find this character trait and describe it deliciously and in detail. This will work much better than a banal list of meaningless words.

The employer is important both personal and business qualities of the employee. What abilities are more important? How to deal with negative traits? Each profession has its own characteristics. We will talk about how to make the right choice and how to evaluate a future employee in our article.

Business and personal qualities

The business qualities of an employee are his ability to perform certain labor obligations. The most important of them are the level of education and work experience. When choosing an employee, be guided by the benefits that he can bring to your company.

Personal qualities characterize the employee as a person. They become important when applicants for one position have business qualities on the same level. Personal qualities characterize the employee's attitude to work. Focus on independence: he does not have to do your job, but he must cope with his own to the fullest.

Business qualities Personal qualities
The level of education Accuracy
Specialty, qualification Activity
Work experience, positions held ambition
Labor productivity Conflict-free
Analytic skills Fast reaction
Rapid adaptation to new information systems Politeness
Fast learner Attentiveness
Attention to detail Discipline
Flexibility of thinking Initiative
Willingness to work overtime diligence
Literacy Sociability
Mathematical thinking Maximalism
Customer interaction skills persistence
Skills business communication Resourcefulness
Planning Skills Charm
Report preparation skills organization
Oratorical skills Responsible approach to work
Organizational skills Decency
Enterprise Devotion
Professional Integrity integrity
scrupulousness Punctuality
Ability to handle multiple projects at the same time Determination
Ability to make quick decisions self control
Ability to work with large amounts of information Self-criticism
strategic thinking Independence
Striving for self-improvement Modesty
Creative thinking Stress tolerance
Ability to negotiate/ business correspondence Tact
Ability to negotiate Patience
Ability to express thoughts exactingness
The ability to find mutual language industriousness
Ability to teach Self confidence
Teamwork skills Equilibrium
The ability to win people over purposefulness
The ability to convince Honesty
Good external data Energy
Good diction Enthusiasm
Good physical form ethics

The choice of qualities

If more than 5 characteristics are entered in the resume, this is a signal that the applicant is not able to make a competent choice. Moreover, the standard “responsibility” and “punctuality” have become commonplace, so if possible, ask what these mean. general concepts. A striking example: The phrase "high performance" may mean "the ability to work with a large amount of information", while you were counting on "willingness to work overtime."

Such general concepts as "motivation to work", "professionalism", "self-control", the applicant can reveal in other expressions, more specifically and more meaningfully. Pay attention to incompatible qualities. To verify the honesty of the applicant, you can ask to illustrate with examples the characteristics indicated by him.

Negative qualities of an employee

Sometimes they are also included in the resume by the job seeker. In particular, such as:

  • Hyperactivity.
  • Excessive emotionality.
  • Greed.
  • Vindictiveness.
  • Impudence.
  • Inability to lie.
  • Inability to work in a team.
  • Restlessness.
  • Touchiness.
  • Lack of work experience/education.
  • Lack of sense of humor.
  • Bad habits.
  • Passion for gossip.
  • straightness.
  • self-confidence.
  • Modesty.
  • Weak communication.
  • The desire to create conflict.

An applicant who has written negative qualities in a resume can be honest, or maybe reckless. Such an act does not justify itself, but if you want to know possible problems with this applicant, ask him to list his negative qualities. Be ready to give the person an opportunity to rehabilitate himself and present negative qualities in a favorable light. For example, restlessness indicates easy adaptation and quick switching from one task to another, and straightforwardness indicates the benefits that he can bring when making a deal.

Be ready to give the person an opportunity to rehabilitate himself and present negative qualities in a favorable light.

Qualities for different professions

Certain professional qualities are needed in almost all activities. You can make it easier for applicants to work and at the same time narrow their circle by entering information about desired characteristics in a job advertisement. For an employee in the field of promotion or entertainment, the main qualities are communication skills, the ability to work in a team, and win people over. The list of winning qualities will also include: charm, self-confidence, energy. In trade list best qualities will look like this: flexibility of thinking, customer interaction skills, ability to negotiate, work in a team, as well as quick response, politeness, perseverance, activity.

A leader in any field should be characterized by such professional qualities as organizational skills, the ability to find a common language and work in a team, resourcefulness, conflict-free, charm and the ability to teach. Equally important are the ability to make quick decisions, self-confidence, attentiveness and balance.

The strengths of an employee working with a large amount of data (accountant or system administrator): attention to detail, accuracy, quick learner, attentiveness, organization and, of course, the ability to work with a large amount of information.

The characteristics of a secretary include a variety of positive qualities: customer interaction skills, business communication, literacy, the ability to negotiate and business correspondence, the ability to do several things at the same time. Also pay attention to good external data, attentiveness, tact and balance, diligence. In any profession, responsibility, attentiveness and stress resistance are useful. But the applicant, inscribing such qualities in the resume, does not always take them seriously.

In any profession, responsibility, attentiveness and stress resistance are useful. But the applicant, inscribing such qualities in the resume, does not always take them seriously.

Evaluation of the professional qualities of an employee

To avoid wasting time and money testing new employees, sometimes companies evaluate them before hiring. For this, even special centers staff assessments. A list of grading methods for those who prefer to do it themselves:

  • Letters of recommendation.
  • Tests. This includes conventional aptitude and aptitude tests, as well as personality and background tests.
  • Examination of the knowledge and skills of the employee.
  • Role play or case studies.

The role-playing game will help you find out in practice whether the applicant is right for you. Act out a day-to-day situation for his position and see how he copes. For example, evaluate his customer interaction skills. Let the buyer be your competent employee or yourself, and the applicant will show what he is capable of. You can set a goal for him to achieve during the game, or simply observe the style of work. This method will tell a lot more about the applicant than the column "Personal qualities" in the resume.

When determining the evaluation criteria, you can be based on business qualities: punctuality, potential quantity and quality of work performed, experience and education, skills, etc. For greater efficiency, focus on the qualities necessary for the position for which the candidate being evaluated is applying. To be confident in an employee, consider his personal qualities. You can independently conduct an assessment in the form of a rating of candidates, placing + and - according to certain criteria, distributing them by level or awarding points. Avoid scoring errors such as bias or stereotyping, or overweighting one criterion.