How To Conduct A SWOT Analysis To Improve Your Career In Nigeria
There are many ways to improve your career in Nigeria. Carrying out a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis is one way to understand yourself and improve your career in Nigeria.
To be the best you can be, it is very important that you understand yourself, the things that you are very good at doing (your strength), the things that you are also bad at doing (your weakness), the opportunities that you can take advantage of, and finally, the threat you have to achieve your goal.
Related: 6 toxic beliefs that can ruin your career in Nigeria
A SWOT analysis was devised by organizations to show the things that they do very well, her challenges as well as opportunities to maximize.
The same thing a SWOT analysis does for an organization is exactly what an individual will achieve if that person conducts a personal SWOT analysis.
If you really want to improve your career in Nigeria, conducting a personal SWOT analysis is one sure way to go.
You must be much disciplined to follow the result of the analysis so that it won’t just be wasted time, money and effort at the end.
Related: 8 career lessons to be learned from kids in Nigeria
The SWOT analysis was first used in the 1960s by business experts that include Edmund P. Learned, Roland, C. Christensen, William, D. Guth, and Kenneth Andrews.
The Way To Conduct A Personal SWOT Analysis To Improve Your Career
Marlo Zarka, a certified professional coach said that personal SWOT analysis can help people become the best they can be.
You must have in mind the things you want to gain from the analysis. If you don’t know what you want from it, then you are just wasting your precious time carrying out the analysis. Are you just interested in personal development and growth? Do you desire a new job? Or do you wish to test something new? All these are things to settle with yourself before you embark on carrying out SWOT analysis to improve your career.
You must honestly answer questions concerning the four cardinal areas covered by the analysis. SWOT analysis can help people become the best versions of themselves, said Marlo Zarka, a certified professional coach.
When conducting a personal SWOT analysis, think about what you want out of it. Do you want a new job or a new achievement in your current position? Are you looking for personal growth, or want to try something new?
You must ask yourself questions on the four cardinal points covered by the analysis, and for emphasis, honesty is very important and necessary if you want the best result out of it.
You must treat every criticism in an objective manner because it is only then that you can be sure of the result you seek.
You must never rely on the strength that you currently exhibit, rather you should list all your strengths especially the ones that your peers are lacking.
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Ask yourself the necessary questions
In conducting a credible and inclusive SWOT analysis to improve your career, you need to know the important questions to ask.
The thing about questions is that if you ask the wrong ones, you automatically get a wrong answer that is useless to your goal.
The questions to ask when trying to identify your strengths include
- What are you very good at doing?
- What are the skills that you have acquired and developed?
- What talents do you have at your disposal?
- How do you handle pressure at work?
These are the questions to ask when trying to identify your weaknesses
- What negative work habits and traits do you possess?
- Are you lagging behind in your qualification?
- What are your colleagues’ complaints about you?
When it comes to the area of opportunities, you look for the external factors and conditions that you can take advantage of.
The questions to ask when dealing with the opportunities include
- What is the condition of the economic situation in the country
- Is your industry experiencing growth
- What has been the effect of technology in your industry?
The threats involve external factors and conditions that will reduce your chances of reaching your expectation. The questions to ask include:
- Is there a significant change in the direction of your company?
- What is the level of competition for the job you are best qualified for?
- What is the greatest external threat to achieving your goal?
The most important thing about the answers to these questions is your objectivity to answering the questions.
You can consult other people that know you very well to offer their own answers if you doubt your objectivity.
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Find A Way To Control The Result Or Outcome Of Your Analysis
You can control the result or outcome of your analysis by using one of these two methods. The first method is called the matching method which involves that you put two out of the four cardinal areas of SWOT analysis to determine a course of action.
An example is matching your strengths to opportunities so as to know the areas to channel your energy and take good action.
When you also match your weaknesses to threats, you identify the areas that you need to improve on and be more defensive of your position. The second method is to convert the negatives into positives, i.e. changing your weaknesses to strengths and threats to opportunities. This means finding a way to feature a weakness as a strength.
If you are an outgoing person, it will be counterproductive to work in an isolated condition. The best thing is to see how you can change your working environment to something like the sales department.
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Act on your findings
It will be a wasted effort, money and time to carry out the SWOT analysis in order to improve your career and then not act on the result of your analysis.
The SWOT analysis is useless and of no value, if you don’t work with it to improve your career. Just think how happy and fulfilling it can be to follow through on the opportunities you have uncovered and succeeding in it.
If you are looking for a way to improve your career in Nigeria, then carrying out a personal SWOT analysis is one sure to way to do that.
