Do You Want a Job or An Opportunity?

Over the course of your professional life, you probably had a job or two that you kept simply because you needed to pay the bills. Over the long term, those positions may not have created the career opportunities you would have liked. Instead of using your strengths, you spent your time in a stasis.

The approach you took to earn those positions defined whether you wanted career opportunities or just another job. Knowing the difference between an opportunity and a job holds one major key to success or failure in your professional life.

Engage Your Employer

It's your job to discern which employers fit your personality. Companies that light a fire within you, spark your passions and pique your interest are the ones that provide the best career opportunities. Engage your employer by using your strengths to further your career. That means taking an active role in knowing how the business operates, recognizing how your position affects the company as a whole and helping the firm achieve its goals.

You don't want to work at a boring job. If your position does not excite you, it probably does not engage your strengths as much as you might like. Get out of the mundane rut as quick as possible so you can find career opportunities before you reach a point of burnout.

Skills Do Not Necessarily Equal Strengths

Your skill set does not necessarily play to your strengths. You may have have a wonderful ability to tinker with machines, but you enjoy being around people and you relate to your colleagues on several levels. You loved working with computers in high school, but as you went through college, you recognized your easy-going attitude led to an ability to foster business relationships.

Therefore, look for career opportunities that foster strengths and skills. Perhaps an IT management position works for you, which indicates a medium- or large-sized company has a better likelihood of providing a team for you to oversee. A small startup might have just one person in IT, and that could dampen your social skills quickly.

Strength-Based Strategies That Work

A simple formula lets you see how to play to your strongest attributes: Your strengths offered equal the strengths needed by the employer. Hiring for a position fills a hole, and that job should plug a weakness. A company that needs someone to lead a 10-person sales team must find someone who can motivate, foster and synergize multiple people to increase a company's revenue. If those are your strengths, that job is right for you.

Recognize Strengths

Learn to recognize your strong points with a simple exercise. Fill in the blank, "I feel strong when... ." As an example, "I feel strong when I help others reach their financial goals." Think about how a position motivates you to accomplish goals and then realize how you feel afterwards. These mental games help you see your strengths so you can make better decisions about your professional future.

Figure out what makes you strong sooner rather than later because it saves anguish and heartache as you make the most of your career opportunities. You don't want to flounder in dead-end jobs for 50 years. Engage with your feelings to see what path you should follow.

Photo courtesy of Sam Howzit at Flickr.com