Personal SWOT analysis: definition and steps to carry it out successfully

Do you think you know yourself? Dare to face a personal SWOT analysis with which you will delve into your weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities! You can direct it towards the professional or personal field to detect the points to improve or reinforce. If you want to know how to develop this tool and when to apply it to get the most out of it, stay with us in this post.

What is a personal SWOT analysis?

If you have been working in the business environment for some time, surely you have heard of the SWOT analysis, a method used to know and locate the company and establish a starting point with which to develop new business projection strategies. With the SWOT, the weaknesses of the company are analyzed, the most direct competition that threatens our market share, the strengths that it already has; and new growth opportunities are detected.

Well, when we sit down to do a personal SWOT, we think of the same parameters, only taken to the particular field. That is, we think about our abilities, shortcomings, opportunities for growth and the agents that may hinder our career. In general, the personal SWOT is carried out when we want to obtain an external vision of ourselves as professionals.

When can you resort to a SWOT self-analysis?

Professional life is not always as stable and upward as we would like, therefore, there are times when we have to stop to rethink our future and present to know what we really want, what our goals are and how to achieve them.

For the most decisive moments , carrying out a SWOT analysis can be of great help. Next, we tell you when to resort to this simple and useful self-awareness tool.

Whether you are a recruiter or a candidate , the SWOT is very useful for carrying out selection processes. The interviewer can detect the strongest points of the applicants that most interest the company and compare them among themselves. On the contrary, if you go to a job interview, the SWOT analysis will help you think about your best qualities to bring them out and successfully answer the most difficult questions.

If you are in a moment of uncertainty , the SWOT will help you define objectives and prioritize. You can consider long-term goals, such as knowing what profession you want to dedicate yourself to, or in the medium term. Also, if you are an entrepreneur, it will help you assess the possibility of business success and its implementation with a clear and defined direction.

Improving your professional career is easier when you visualize your present and future conditions. With the self-analysis, you will detect if your skills, aptitudes and attitude are being correctly valued by the company and you will be able to think about putting proposals on the table that will allow you to level up, such as taking on new challenges or reinventing yourself professionally.

And if what you want is to dedicate yourself to being a freelance , for this you need to create a strong personal image to add value to your services and stand out from other competitors. In this sense, the SWOT analysis will help you to know what aspects can differentiate you.

Steps to design a personal SWOT analysis

If you find yourself in a moment of professional uncertainty and want to explore new horizons, stopping to do a SWOT self-analysis can be very useful to reorient your career taking into account all the real information you need to do so. With this method, you will avoid vague answers, rambling too much, or prefacing non-existent scenarios.

Let’s see what are the steps to follow to do a personal SWOT analysis:

1. Identify your strengths: Make a list of your skills, knowledge, and personal qualities that make you stand out. Consider your accomplishments, previous experiences, and positive aspects of your personality.

• Recognize your weaknesses: reflect on the areas in which you feel that you have limitations or aspects that you could improve. Think about your areas of development, skills you need to acquire, or aspects of your personality that may hinder your growth.
• Analyze the opportunities : Examine the opportunities that are presenting themselves in your environment. This can include aspects such as the labor market, current trends, training possibilities and professional growth, among others. Identify how you could take advantage of these opportunities to your advantage.
• Consider the threats – Assess external factors that may pose a challenge or threat to your personal goals. This can include job competition, changes in the marketplace, lack of resources, social barriers, or any other obstacles you may have to face.
• Cross the information : analyze how your strengths can help you take advantage of the identified opportunities. Similarly, examine how your weaknesses may affect your ability to deal with threats. Look for ways to enhance your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.
• Set goals and strategies – Based on the SWOT analysis, define realistic and clear goals that you want to achieve. Create specific strategies to capitalize on your strengths, overcome your weaknesses, seize opportunities, and mitigate threats. Establish a detailed action plan that allows you to move towards your goals.