Many of us avoid digging deep inside ourselves to analyse our strengths and weakness. It’s not an easy prospect, but a career audit based on self-analysis is an essential personal marketing tool.

To find a new job or to develop your career, you have to know how to effectively sell and market yourself. Sending out generic CVs using an email system may save you time, but it won’t always bring you the results you desire: a number of interviews for jobs that suit you.

So the process of planning the development of your career – and the ‘marketing campaign’ of contacting potential employers and recruitment agencies – has to begin with a SWOT analysis. Initially the key focus is on your Strengths and Weaknesses; the factors that make you the person you really are. Personality, aptitude and skills-related tests can help you to uncover them. You might like to start by answering the Jobsite Personal Profile questionnaire.

Before you begin to write your CV, ask yourself where you have come from in your career, where you are now and where would you like your career to go in the future. It’s vital to use this kind of assessment to establish realistic goals, objectives and ambitions. Essentially it will enable you to find ways to overcome or minimise your weaknesses through training or additional education, and to focus your strengths on a role that you’re going enjoy and excel at doing.

Russ Boreham, a sales recruitment consultant at T-Impact, offers a good tip too. “If you are really lucky, and all you need to do is ask, some people will even talk to you about how they got their job”, he explains before adding, “and give you suggestions regarding how to get it too”. It’s also a good idea to find someone who’s willing to be open and honest about how they perceive you, your skills and ability to do the job you want to do. Sometimes they’ll be right, but there are occasions when they will be wrong. Gaining such insight as this will still enable you to appropriately present yourself.

Of course, it’s not enough to just ask people about where they think your strengths and weaknesses lie; nor is it sufficient to just take a look at them from your own angle. So identify the Opportunities and the Threats that could either make or break your career, and match them with your strengths and weaknesses. This way you’ll find out where and how you should target your skills, and learn about how you as a person will fit into your chosen industry.

Depending on the types of jobs you wish to apply for, and the career you wish to pursue, ask yourself questions like:

• What kind of person am I?
• What interests me?
• How content are you with your existing career or job?
• What is my ideal working environment?
• Do my skills and personality match this career?
• What motivates me the most?
• Am I good at teamwork?
• How do I fair with interpersonal relationships?
• At what level are my oral, written communication and presentation skills?
• How do I rate my leadership skills?
• Am I good at solving problems and decision-making?
• How creative am I?
• What are my income requirements?

Questions like these can help you to evaluate whether you should look for a new career, or a job within your same field. Sometimes the audit might suggest that you’re better off staying where you are for the time being, perhaps because you need to develop or fine tune your skills in order to make that career leap later on. Your personal life and relationships might even have an impact on your ability to stay on a particular career path. Change isn’t always a bad thing.

Use the career audit to analyse all of the options that are open to you. While it’s important to find a job that you will love doing, there are times when we all need to consider other careers to stay ahead of the game. New experiences are rarely a bad thing; they can build you up as a person, helping you to develop new skills. These might prove useful later in your career, and change doesn’t necessarily mean that you will never be employed to do your dream job.

The next step once you have audited your skills, your experience and your personality, is to take action. This entails targeting the jobs and careers that fit your personal profile, while writing your CV or CVs and cover letters accordingly. You can then demonstrate your strengths and experiences. You’ll also feel more confident in an interview, finding your ideal job and have a greater chance of succeeding in the career you wish to follow.

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