7: SWOT Analysis
- Page ID
- 128367
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SWOT AWAY CAREER INDECISIVENESS
Now that we've gone through the Exploring Self, Selecting Majors, and Research Careers ... we are approaching the Commitment stage. Sometimes taking that next step to make a commitment to a career path can be very intimidating.
Before we make a commitment, we are going to use the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis to help you see if the career you seek is a good fit. The SWOT Analysis addresses every area of your career situation. Doing a SWOT Analysis requires you to analyze all you've learned about your skills, interests, values, and personality, as well as the major and career research. The SWOT Analysis will help you swot away any career indecisiveness you may have.
We're going to use SWOT Analysis as a decision-making strategy!
WHAT IS SWOT
SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunites, and Threats. The origins of the SWOT analysis technique is credited by Albert Humphrey, who led a research project at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from many top companies. The goal was to identify why corporate planning failed. The resulting research identified many key areas. The SWOT analysis is great for developing an understanding of an organization or situation and decision-making for all sorts of situations in business, organizations, and individuals. The SWOT analysis approach provides a good framework for reviewing the strategy, position and direction of a company, product, project or career. Doing a SWOT analysis can be very simple. However, its strengths lie in the flexibility and experienced application of a swot analysis.
WHY USE SWOT?!
When applied to career-decision making, SWOT analysis can help you identify strengths and weaknesses related to a specific career/field. Analysis requires you to organize information and utilize critical thinking skills. and it can ultimately, can increase your self-awareness, making your career decision making that much easier.
SWOT IN BUSINESS
The images above demonstrate an example of a SWOT analysis applied to businesses. While the formatting may differ, a SWOT analysis will always include 4 areas: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
It is intended to specify the objectives of the business venture or project and identify the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving those objectives. Users of a SWOT analysis often ask and answer questions to generate meaningful information for each category to make the tool useful and identify their competitive advantage. In Business, SWOT analysis can be used to develop marketing strategies, identify strategies for financial success, and identify competitive advantages.
SWOT IN CAREER
Developing a SWOT Analysis can be an effective decision-making tool. SWOT analysis can help you identify both internal and external factors that are affecting your career decision process. There are many benefits that come out of this type of analysis, which can be directly applied to your career search. Employers are looking for candidates who demonstrated critical thinking skills, this is a major task of SWOT analysis. In addition, it can increase your problem-solving skills, and help you organize information in an efficient way. These are all highly sought-after soft skills of employers. Your SWOT analysis can even be used to identify and highlight your best skills, which you can present in interviews, resumes, and cover letters.
Check out the Video Below by DecisionSkills that will show you how to conduct a SWOT Analysis for your SMART goal
(Link to external YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/goxMsPCs_z0)
| Activity 7.7 - SWOT Analysis | ||||
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Now it's time for you to complete your own SWOT analysis! Select one career of interest to explore. Make a 4 quadrant table (similar to the one below). For that career, write down your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
After filling out each section, take some time to reflect on your results. Answer the following questions:
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