By Ikenna M. Okafor,
(SmeDoctor)
SWOT Analysis is commonly and mostly used in Business Plan or when doing feasibility student in business. Individuals and especially professionals don’t see it as something to be done since they are not a business entity. What does a business entity really do? They give value. On this premise therefore, if you give value in any manner, either as a professional or an employee, then you are also a business entity. Therefore, it is important you do a SWOT Analysis of yourself. A SWOT Analysis properly and objectively done would help you position yourself better.
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats facing a business entity. The first two being Strengths and Weaknesses are internal dynamics of a professional or a person, while the last two Opportunities and Threats are external dynamics. For instance, as a Human Resource Professional, the strength I have is that I am naturally vocal a person, self-motivated, diligent and a goal getter. My weaknesses is that I am pessimistic at some point and also expect everyone around me to think quickly and do things without even being taught.
The Opportunities I have is that with the growing need for manpower my skills and professional is one of the highly sourced in Nigeria as at today. With the recent popularity being gained by the human resources profession, it keeps people like me at an advantage to almost be indispensable and be highly sourced for. The threats being faced is that the world is moving fast towards technology so that the need for human resources professional may drop. Also, another limitation is that it is difficult for me to go to any country outside Nigeria and begin to practice human resources.
We should not get distracted, this article is not about me but about doing a SWOT analysis for yourself. No matter your industry, your profession, your personality or your location doing a SWOT analysis for yourself is important to professionally position you in your chosen endeavor. You need to understand the dynamics that are advantageous to you so you can capitalize and improve on them and the dynamics that are at your disadvantage to help you mitigate them.
When conducting your SWOT analysis, examine things like your qualification, skills, character, knowledge, your network and experiences. These are things that make up the Strengths and Weaknesses. Then also examine your colleagues (competitors), government or regulatory bodies rules and regulations, corporate bodies preferences, changing work environment (to see if your skills set fit into them), and the even the influence of natural occurrences like pandemic, epidemic, natural disaster etc.
If you are an applicant, if you are able to analyze these factors properly them you would know how to position yourself in the labour market to attract recruiters and employers to you. If you are a professional or an employee, a SWOT analysis would help you grow even quickly in your chosen career path. This does not matter if you are in the Private or Public Sector. With understanding SWOT Analysis as it concerns your personality, you would focus on aspect of your life that beams your lights and work on risk factors that deems your light.
While on your job, look out for those task that gives you recognitions and attracts appreciation to either you or your team members. Part of what happens is that SWOT Analysis enables a group/individual to handle everyday problems and look at traditional strategies from a new perspective. It can be used as framework for organizing and using data and information gained from situation analysis of internal and external environment. That is from yourself to your organization and then the general territory.
I wouldn’t talk much of SWOT analysis for Business Owners as this has been over flocked in a lot of literatures. However, for the sake of emphasis, Business owners should look at internal dynamics like their knowledge of their business, the knowledge of the industry, their personality, accessibility to finance, skills and character, personal brand name amongst others. While they should also look out for external dynamic like the general market an industry, favourable or unfavourable policies, changing customer taste etc.
For one, to professional and strategically position themselves, they must conduct a SWOT Analysis of themselves objectively and must be true to tell themselves of places that they need to improve on.
Human Resource Manager @ Ammasco International Limited
Management Consultant @ Integrate Institute of Professional Management
WhatsApp: +234(0)7032940777
LinkedIn Profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/historicu
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