What Are You Great At? 4 Ways to Uncover Your Hidden Talents

Tired of reading and watching story after story about job loss, illness, and economic woes?

Focus your attention and energy on something more positive – like aligning your career with what you’re naturally great at.

If you’re looking for work, underemployed, working in a job that doesn’t compliment your natural abilities, or simply unsatisfied with your current role, now is the perfect time to reinvent your career.

Why now? While unemployment is still high, staffing and employment agencies like PrideStaff already see upticks in requests for temporary associates and direct-hire candidates. As we mentioned in this earlier post, it’s a great time to go back to work. And if you want to find a job that brings out the best in you, you should start the process now.

How can you discover what you’re naturally great at?

Here are 4 steps to uncover your innate abilities and turn those strengths into a great job:

1. Set realistic expectations.

Acknowledge that the process of understanding yourself better to improve your career will take time. Instead of expecting your dream job to materialize overnight, create a clear plan and realistic timeline for achieving your goal.

2. Start with some introspection.

Do you honestly know what you bring to the table? Conduct an inventory of the skills you’ve acquired, both in school and on the job. Include job-specific skills, soft skills, and note which of those might transfer well from one line of work to another. Update your resume to highlight these marketable qualities.

3. Find out what you don’t know.

Do you have hidden talents and strengths that your current job doesn’t tap into? Absolutely. Here are a few ways to uncover areas in which you naturally excel:

Play detective. Make a list of courses, jobs, and roles that you enjoyed. Consider why you were successful in each and look for patterns.
Take a few personality and aptitude tests. If you go online, you’ll find a multitude of free quizzes and assessments to help you understand your preferences, work style, professional strengths, and more.
Ask your boss, coworkers, friends, and family members for their unbiased opinion. You may not view your own aptitudes and performance the way others do.

4. Use what you learn to your advantage.

Take everything you discovered from this process and create a prioritized list of your natural abilities and areas in which you excel. Then, study the list and see if you can come up with potential roles and career paths that might leverage what you’re great at.

Put Your Talents to Work with PrideStaff

If you need help determining how to put your talents to work in a great job, talk to your local PrideStaff recruiter. They’ll spend time getting to know you as an individual – your experience, skills, aptitudes, work preferences, and goals – and identify opportunities that bring out the best in you.

Contact the PrideStaff office in your area to find out more about great local job opportunities.