Career

Many of the activities listed are from Gallup's StrengthsQuest web site.  The referenced resources are available to the general public unless otherwise noted.  The page number and name of the resources will be given for each activity so that you can go directly to the particular activity to see the details. This page contains copyright content from Gallup, Inc. Used with permission. Gallup®, StrengthsQuest®, Clifton StrengthsFinder® and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names and descriptions are trademarks of Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

60 in 60!
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This document contains 60 different ideas for Strengths-based activities you could use with students. The majority of these activities work best in group situations versus 1:1 situation such as advising or career counseling/ coaching. The activities can take as little as 60 seconds or up to 60 minutes to complete.

Academic Action Items
Page 55A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

In this activity, students continue to move from reflection and evaluation to application and apply theme-specific strategies to achieve academic success. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Academic Action Items II
Page 56A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This activity asks student to look at all the academic action items rather than focusing on the specific sections. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Career Action Items
Page 68A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This exercise helps students apply theme-specific strategies to career planning.

Career Exploration Guide
Resource on South Mountain Community College's web site

This Guide can be used to use your Strengths to explore careers.

Career Interview
Page 71A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

Ask your students to identify a job or career that they have an interest in, then evaluate their career goals in light of their talents and strengths, as well as other personal qualities and external considerations. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Creating Your Personal Brand
Pages 30-32 in the Strengths Discovery Learning Journal for Students located in the public StrengthsQuest folder on WTAMU's G-Drive.

This activity helps students use strengths to create their personal brand statement which they can use in resumes, cover letter, interviewing, and their elevator pitch.

Degrees of Talent/ Owning My Strengths
Page 22A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This activity asks students to recognize the personal difficulties associated with affirming their own themes of talent.

Get Engaged (On & Off Campus) Guide

This Guide can be used along with the 'Strengths: Get Engaged' Video or on its own to learn more about ways to use your Top 5 to find engagement opportunities that are a good fit for you!

Holland Code Analysis
Page 67A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

Ask your students to take the Self-Directed Search, Strong Interest Inventory, or another assessment that utilizes the Holland Code type indicators. Use these results to connect to their strengths.

I Do it With Ease
Page 54A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

In this activity, students begin to move from reflection and evaluation to application and apply theme-specific strategies to achieve academic success.

This activity will help students begin to actively develop their talent.

Interviewing From a Strengths Perspective
Page 73A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

In this activity students, prepare to take job interviews from a strengths-based perspective. Remember, we are never so strong as we are when we have our strengths and successes clearly in mind. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Job Analysis
Page 70A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This exercise asks students to relate talent themes to specific occupations. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Job Searching Guide
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This Guide can be used to find ways to use Strengths in your resume, cover letter, interviewing, job search, and elevator pitch.

Join the Club
Page 60A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This activity assists students in evaluating academic and cocurricular opportunities in light of their talents and strengths. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Major Exploration Guide
Chapters 10 and 11 from the online StrengthsQuest book. Session 12 from Journey Towards Excellence StrengthsQuest for the First-year Experience material found on the public StrengthsQuest folder on WTAMU's G-Drive.

This Guide can be used along with the 'Strengths: Major Exploration' video or on its own to learn more about how to use your Strengths during the major exploration process.

Making the Most of Your Engagement Guide

This Guide can be used along with the 'Strengths: Making the Most of Your Engagement' video or on its own to find ways to use your Strengths to lead stronger and get the most out of your engagement on and off campus.

NACADA Strengths Based Advising

Open web site that has several resources for advisers to use. 

One Key Question
Page 64A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

Describe the concept of person-environment fit/calling as it pertains to career planning and strengths. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Reawakening your Professional Passion by using Strengths in the Workplace: Reflection and Action Plan

This series of reflection questions allow you to reflect upon your current job and how you use your strengths currently and how you can find ways to use your strengths even more every day.

Secret of My Success
Page 21A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This activity asks students to identify examples of how their themes of talent have contributed to past success.

Signature Themes Grid: Career Version

This grid helps students think about how to explain strengths in their own words and how they can convey what their strengths are to an employer through their resume and cover letter. This same exercise would be helpful to use with preparing for an interview, simply change the last column to say "how could you explain this strength to an employer in an interview?"

STARS (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Strength)
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We’ve all heard of the STAR method of interviewing before - it is a great tool to use during an interview. However, there is one thing missing. STAR doesn’t leave room to talk about your Strengths and Talents - your ability to provide natural and near-perfect performance. Use the STARS method to answer behavioral based questions. STARS stands for: Situation, Task, Action, Result, Strength. It’s a new twist on a classic method.

Strengths Based Cover Letter (example)

This Cover Letter demonstrates how someone can incorporate their strengths by providing examples, rather then using StrengthsFinder langague, to market themselves effectively to an employer.

Strengths Based Resume

This Resume demonstrates how someone can incorporate their strengths by providing examples, rather then using StrengthsFinder langague, to market themselves effectively to an employer.

This exercise asks students to apply theme-specific strategies as a part of the career-exploration process. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Talent Development
Page 37A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

In this activity, students are asked to consciously create a strategy to develop one of their Signature Themes. It is imperative that the instructor provide students with timely feedback concerning their efforts to develop their talents.

Talent, Theme, and Strength
Page 7A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This activity helps students understand and develop a common language in which they can discuss natural talents and the development and application of strength.

Talent-Based Studying
Page 57A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

In this activity, students continue to move from reflection and evaluation to application and appreciate the role their talents and strengths play in making them their own best educator and learner.

Themes in Professions
Page 69A from the StrengthsQuest™ Activity Workbook

This exercise asks students to relate talent themes to specific occupations. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

Top 5 Tips for Your Top 5: Career Fair
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Students identify what leadership domain their strengths fall into and then 5 tips are provided for how to use their strengths to be successful during the career fair.

Using your Strengths in the Job Search, Interview, and New Position
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This guide gives tips for how to apply each strength in a job search, an interview, and a new position

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