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In the process of finding a job in Germany? Or perhaps switching roles? More and more people desire a “good job”, one that contributes to something that is important to them – and maybe even bigger than them. If what you do for a living increasingly merges with what drives you personally, having such a job can have a huge impact on your quality of life.

Here’s how to understand your strengths BEFORE finding a job!

In this article, Career & Life Coach Gina Friedrich shares how – besides clarity on your individual values and internal drivers – your set of natural strengths is a key factor that helps you achieve your goals and also help you in your quest for successfully finding a job in Germany, or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

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What are your strengths?

Imagine you have a talent, a naturally given pattern in the way you think, behave or feel. Sometimes, it is even so natural and easy to us that we do not recognize it as anything special.

Did you ever hear or say “Oh, this is nothing special, a monkey could have done that work” after an amazing piece of work got highlighted by another person? If you become aware of this being a talent and deliberately using it in your day-to-day life, it becomes your strength.

Example: A CEO of a company came to me after a meeting we both attended and said “Wow, you were really strong in there, burning for what you presented and getting others easily engaged. Why don’t you think about joining our agency’s business development team? He was right – I was on fire, but due to the passion I had for this particular project. And that alone does not mean that I would be happy in a pure “sales” job.

So, not everything we are good at necessarily is a key strength. Natural strength is a source of energy every time you leverage it in your daily life. A Gallup analysis shows that if you know and use your top strengths at work every day,

it will lead to high satisfaction,
increased productivity by 8%,
and that you are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life.

What are your weaknesses?

You could call a weakness anything that gets in the way of your success. So be aware of yourself, account for them, and use your strengths to address them. Though quite often, a perceived weakness could simply be a blind spot of actual strength, not yet being applied in the right way.

Example B: If a colleague has the “thirst for knowledge” in his top 5 strengths, he has a need to collect information as well as ideas and archive results. With this, he might have a tendency to “give” people so much information or so many resources that it can overload and overwhelm them. To not have others lose interest, he would need to consider sorting out what is most meaningful before he shares his discoveries with others.

How do you leverage your strengths?

Did you ever experience a situation, e.g. in an annual review where your manager told you that you have good presentation skills but you need to work on your weak analytical competencies?

What he should have done is sent you straight to advanced presentation skills training to build on core strengths. This is where your potential lies, where becoming “excellent” is a high possibility. On the other hand, concentrating on the not dominant analytical strength will never bring you above mediocrity.

Experiment: Get a pen and a piece of paper. Take the pen in the hand you usually don’t use for handwriting. Then start writing “I use my strengths daily” as often as you can in 30 seconds. Do you sense the insecurity, the feeling of frustration not being unable to do that well enough? Try the other hand – feeling the difference? This is a small example of what happens if we focus on weaker skills rather then strengths.

3 steps to maximize your potential

1 – Recognize your top 5 talents and understand their meaning.

2 – Appreciate them as something that makes you unique!

Not happy at first view? In case of a perceived lack of key strengths to be great at your current job – there are more roads leading to Rome, change the perspective;

How did your natural strengths support these processes of having achieved a goal in the past? Think of a specific success story and reflect on that question.
How could this be done now with even more consciousness for improved results? Every strength is of high quality, it is just important how you play them.

3 – Apply and develop your top strengths and identify ways and situations to make them a part of your work and private life – every day.

Share them with your manager to work out what you could do more – and less of. Try to identify possible blind spots and keep an eye on them. Attend advanced training, read books, or find like-minded people to learn how to master your core strengths so they help you achieve your goals more effectively and faster – and all this while enjoying what you do.

Imagine, after a long day at work you would no longer need to say “phew, what a day, so glad it’s over!”

Leverage your natural strength to level up your life.

I would be happy if you’d try out these steps above to start the journey of maximizing your infinite potential and a work-life that boosts your energy rather than taking it away.

Any feedback, questions, or support needed to unleash your strengths? I am happy to support you throughout this process, just send me an email at [email protected] for a free initial consultation face to face in Düsseldorf or online (online is the only option though while the COVID-19 pandemic is still underway).

Once you’ve established what your strengths are and are ready to jump into the German job market, here are a few additional posts that may help you get on your way: