“When you’re interviewing for a job, you’re marketing yourself,” – William Vanderbloemen. 

The concept of marketing oneself is not new in the realm of job searching. The ‘marketing’ process often begins with your cover letter, resume and personal branding on social media platforms such as Instagram and LinkedIn. Those are the first steps to brand yourself as a favourable and sought-after employee.

What follows after is the most crucial yet dreaded process for some: Interviews.

What constitutes ‘good’ interview skills?

Hallmarks of a good interview: 

• Good understanding of self
• Good knowledge of interviewer

…

(This 7-part article series was written by David, our trainer at Kingmaker & StrengthsTransform.)

If you perceive the application of strengths as a demanding commitment because it requires the transformation of not just yourself but also how a company functions, then you have truly grasped the power of strengths! This inertia towards CliftonStrengths is entirely legitimate and valid!

But this shouldn’t come as a surprise. CliftonStrengths claims to be a tool used for robust and long-lasting transformation, which is essentially why implementing it might be tough

(This 7-part article series was written by David, our trainer at Kingmaker & StrengthsTransform.)

“I don’t need CliftonStrengths because the validation of each other’s strengths is already ingrained in our culture”. 

Many companies have an “appreciative” culture where colleagues point out and commend each other’s strengths and contributions, yet without the need to use a tool like CliftonStrengths. To this point, I’ll like to highlight two benefits of using CliftonStrengths for peer and work validation. 

(This 7-part article series was written by David, our trainer at Kingmaker & StrengthsTransform.)

Another major concern is that CliftonStrengths is not accurate. Some would go so far to say that it is not backed with legitimate research. I understand the skepticism, as there are many profiling tools that overpromise (real and trustworthy results) yet underdeliver (based on pseudo-psychology). In such cases, such tools are almost merely as good as horoscope or tarot reading. 

However, applying such skepticism to CliftonStrengths is not well-founded. I’ll address the three main concerns.

(This 7-part article series was written by David, our trainer at Kingmaker & StrengthsTransform.)

Another notable consideration is the significant learning curve associated with CliftonStrengths. To me however, this is warranted. If your goal is to quickly learn and use the results from a profiling assessment, perhaps CliftonStrengths is not the ideal choice. Just like learning a new language altogether, you need time to learn deeply and continuous exposure and use, in order to truly appreciate and effectively apply it.

(This 7-part article series was written by David, our trainer at Kingmaker & StrengthsTransform.)

Why pay SGD90 for a CliftonStrengths Full34 profile when I can do other free profiling assessments elsewhere? 

Before we seek to answer this, we need to take a step back and ask a fundamental economics question: 

“Is there such a thing as a product that is too expensive?”

(This 7-part article series was written by David, our trainer at Kingmaker & StrengthsTransform.)

Among all the reasons laid out, I consider this to be the most compelling. It is undeniable that other profiling tools possess their unique strengths and advantages (e.g., ease of understanding, price-points, usability….) and I do not want to claim that CliftonStrengths comes out on top, without first addressing the 5 other reasons. 

(This 7-part article series was written by David, our trainer at Kingmaker & StrengthsTransform.)

“There are other profiling tools available in the market that can help determine what our strengths and weaknesses are. Why must it be CliftonStrengths?”

Join me as I seek to uncover 6 possible and complex reasons why the CliftonStrengths tool does not immediately come to everybody’s mind.

Have burning questions about your CliftonStrengths profiling? Click to read more.