Do you remember taking the CliftonStrengths assessment as a BUS 100 or BUS 515 student? (If you’re a current BUS 100 student, you’ll be talking about this assessment in class this week!)
It may have been a minute since you last looked at your Top 5 report. Take a moment to dig it out of your files or redownload it from the Gallup website and refresh your memory on your Top 5 talent themes. While the report you used in class likely emphasized utilizing your CliftonStrengths as a student, you can also leverage them in your career development, including searching for an internship or a job, crafting your application materials, navigating career fairs, and practicing for interviews!
Learn how your CliftonStrengths report can help you get ready for career fair season.
Apply Your CliftonStrengths
📄 Create or update your resume.
When writing bullet statements, look for opportunities to infuse your strengths into how you achieved your accomplishments and tasks. Take a look at these examples:
- Designed an improved stock inventory layout to make frequently used items readily accessible for customers (Arranger)
- Clearly presented team’s analysis and recommendations in front of judging panel at a regional case competition of 30+ teams, securing 2nd place (Communication)
- Conceptualized digital marketing campaign to grow ticket sales, resulting in a 10% increase over the previous year (Ideation)
- Managed employees by recognizing their unique contributions and encouraging cohesion among the team (Individualization)
You don’t have to name your strength outright—but think about how it’s helped you be successful in your role!
♟️ Strategize internships and jobs to pursue.
There are a couple ways you can apply your strengths to your job or internship search. The first is by reading through position descriptions and looking for how you might capitalize on your strengths to help you succeed. Do you lead with Influencing themes in your Top 5 report and see keywords related to persuading, performance metrics, or leadership in the role description? You might thrive where your ability to take charge and sway others is valued and sought after. Or, perhaps you have a few Executing themes in your Top 5 report. You might shine in roles that allow you to juggle multiple priorities, follow-through on commitments, and identify the best possible way to complete the task at hand.
Another way to use your strengths in your search is to use them in the actual search process. If you lead with Relationship Building themes, you might find scrolling through jobs on Handshake tedious, preferring to talk with people and learn directly from them about their career path and company. Great! Come to our events and chat with recruiters and professionals, leaning on your Relationship Building talents to help you navigate those events! However, maybe you have several Strategic Thinking themes in your Top 5 and researching roles in Handshake, making a spreadsheet of application deadlines and who you’ve heard back from is just your thing—also great! Lean into those natural tendencies to help you find opportunities right for you! (By the way, if this is your thing, you should definitely check out Teal’s Job Application Tracker.)
💭 Brainstorm questions to ask recruiters.
When you’re considering what to ask or talk about with employers at a career event, think of questions that will help you assess if the role or company will be a good match with your strengths! Questions like the following could help you get a sense for how your strengths might be appreciated and how engaging you might find the role:
- What do you find most meaningful about your role/company? (Belief, Connectedness or Significance)
- How do you encourage employee growth and development? (Learner or Maximizer)
- What are the team dynamics like? (Harmony, Includer, or Relator)
🫱🏾🫲🏼 Prepare responses to interview questions.
Reflecting on your STAR Stories for interviews is another natural opportunity for you to incorporate CliftonStrengths! Just like your resume bullet statements, think about situations when you’ve used your strengths to help you be successful and talk about how they empowered you in your response to interview questions. Maybe you had to figure out how to resolve a problem at work and you sought out ideas from colleagues (Input), thought carefully about your options (Deliberative), and then initiated a process to resolve the issue (Activator). Your strengths help you do incredible things—spotlight them during your interviews.
Lean on your CliftonStrengths to help you confidently navigate career fairs and events this semester. For more support on leveraging your specific strengths, pop into the Career Management Center—we’d be happy to chat with you!
Accessing the CliftonStrengths Assessment
If you haven’t already completed this assessment, but are curious and interested in taking it, you can purchase an access code through Gallup. If the cost presents a financial challenge for you, please speak with a Career Counselor during drop-in hours at the CMC. Our goal is to ensure all students can benefit from this assessment, regardless of financial circumstances.
