The Mid-Career Crossroads — What You Should Consider
Leaving a stable job is scary. This covers the practical questions you need to ask before you make the leap.
Read Article
Career Guidance
Understanding Your Strengths Before Making a Move
A practical approach to identifying what you’re actually good at — beyond your job title. Helps clarify what matters in your next role.
Why Strengths Matter More Than Your Resume
You’ve got a job title. Maybe it’s “Senior Manager” or “Project Coordinator” or something else entirely. But here’s the thing — your job title doesn’t actually tell you what you’re good at. Not really.
When you’re thinking about making a career move, most people focus on the title they want next or the industry they think they should join. What they don’t do is get clear on what they’re actually good at doing. And that’s exactly where things go wrong.
This guide walks you through identifying your real strengths — the things you do well, the tasks that energize you, and the skills people keep coming back to you for. Once you know this, everything else gets easier.
Three Types of Strengths You Need to Identify
Most people think strength means “what you’re skilled at.” That’s part of it, but there’s more going on. You’ve got technical strengths, relational strengths, and what I call “energy strengths” — the things that actually get you out of bed.
Technical Strengths
These are your hard skills. If you’re a data analyst, you can build dashboards and write SQL queries. If you’re a designer, you can work in Figma and understand layout principles. These are measurable, specific, and easy to prove.
Relational Strengths
How you work with people matters. Maybe you’re good at coaching others, building consensus, or delivering difficult feedback with care. Perhaps you’re the person who remembers details about people’s lives and builds genuine connections. These are harder to name but often more valuable.
Energy Strengths
What activities don’t drain you? Some people light up during presentations, others thrive in quiet analytical work. You might love problem-solving in the moment or prefer planning things out. These strengths tell you what kind of work environment actually suits you.
How to Actually Discover Your Strengths
Knowing the three types is one thing. Actually figuring out which ones apply to you is another. Here’s a straightforward approach that works.
1
Ask Your People
Email or message 5-7 people who know your work — colleagues, managers, friends. Ask them: “What do you think I’m genuinely good at?” Don’t ask what they admire about you or what they think you should be doing. Just what they think you’re actually good at doing. You’ll get patterns.
2
Track Your Energy
For two weeks, notice which work tasks actually energize you. Not the ones you’re good at, but the ones you could do for hours without it feeling like work. What’s the pattern? If you’re energized by helping people solve problems but drained by status updates, that’s crucial information.
3
Review Your Wins
Look back at moments you’re proud of — projects completed, problems solved, relationships built. What specific strengths showed up in those moments? You’ll notice yourself using certain capabilities again and again.
Educational Information
This article provides general career guidance for educational purposes. Everyone’s career situation is unique, and circumstances vary widely depending on industry, experience level, and personal goals. For specific advice about your career transition, consider working with a qualified career coach or mentor who understands your particular context.
Using Your Strengths to Guide Your Next Move
Once you’ve identified your genuine strengths, here’s what changes: You stop trying to fit into roles that look good on paper and start looking for roles where your actual strengths matter.
Let’s say you discover that your relational strengths are exceptional — you’re genuinely good at helping people grow and managing difficult conversations. Your technical skills might be average. A traditional career move would be to get better at the technical stuff. But what if instead, you found a role where those relational strengths are the main event? Suddenly you’re not fighting your nature. You’re working with it.
The roles that fit your strengths don’t always have the fanciest titles or the highest salaries. But they’re the ones where you’ll actually excel and feel fulfilled doing the work.
Start Here, Not With the Job Title
Career moves are stressful enough without spending months in a role that doesn’t suit you. Getting clear on your strengths upfront saves time and regret. It’s not complicated. It’s just intentional.
This week, pick one of the three approaches above — ask your people, track your energy, or review your wins. Spend 30 minutes on it. Write down what you notice. That’s your starting point. From there, you can make career decisions from a place of clarity instead of guessing.
