SWOT ANALYSIS

In the 1960’s and 70’s, Albert Humphrey is said to have developed this strategic planning tool using data from the top companies in America at the time. A SWOT Analysis looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are relevant to an organization in a new venture.

The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis can be applied in various areas needing performance evaluation. A SWOT Analysis Can be Used for Workshop sessions, Brainstorming, meetings, Problem solving, Product evaluation, Strategic planning, Competitor evaluation, Personal development, planning. Similarly, this method can be used to assess your status in school, college to help you find the right academic career to pursue. Here are a few ideas when it comes to constructing your SWOT.

To conduct a personal SWOT analysis effectively, know by heart how it is done, why is it done and the manner in which the findings are interpreted. The process requires answering to a set of questions that are relevant to your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Be realistic about strengths and weaknesses. When performing a SWOT analysis on yourself, be neither modest nor overly optimistic. Consider answers from the company’s point of view and from the point of view of your teachers, friends and others who come to the campus to conduct drives. Distinguish between where you are today and where you could be in the future. Note that the SWOT is subjective. No two people will come up with the same SWOT.

Knowing yourself better

The best way to answer and get an efficient result is to answer the questions as honestly as you know yourself. It is significant that, as you reply to the questions, you also find out what other people think as your strengths and weaknesses. Keep your ‘KNOW YOURSELF’ worksheet with you for this session.

Internal Factors

1.      Strengths - Internal positive aspects that are under control and upon which you may capitalize in planning for a new career.  Answer the question: which are my most exceptional skills? These would include:

·         Work Experience

·         Education, including value-added features

·         Strong technical knowledge within your field (e.g. hardware, software, programming languages)

·         Specific transferable skills (e.g., communication, teamwork, leadership skills)

·         Personal characteristics (friendly nature/ adaptability/ positive outlook…)

2.      Weaknesses- Internal not so positive (needn’t be negative) aspects that are under control, can be worked on to improve but at the present moment these may hinder your job prospects or a new career. Address your difficulties when compared to others. These would include:

·         Academic performance- less percentage, etc

·         Lack of web skills- no e-mail account/ facebook id/ blog posts…

·         Inability to take  the initiative/ reserved nature/ over sensitivity

·         Personal characteristics (short temper/ restlessness/ cannot do group work or work with preferred few…)

External Factors

3.      Opportunities – External aspects that are not always in our control but can be tapped to build a career or secure a job. Address the issue of your interest in higher studies and get data of the colleges or universities that offer you these courses. List your chances.

·         The colleges/ universities that offer programs of your interest

·         The companies which offer you job for your qualifications

·         Reservations/ special quota/ fee concession…

·         Campus drives/ special training programs at college…

4.      Threats – External aspects that are not in our control and can hinder our prospects to secure a job/ seat in university. What factors stand in your way to get a degree/ PG seat/ Job? These could include:

·         Competition

·         Reservations/ lack of financial support

·         Family restrictions

·         Social conditions- bandhs/ no conveyance…

To do an honest check of your SWOT ask yourselves the following questions:

           

1.      What are my positive points that my family and friends appreciate?

2.      What is my academic record?

3.      Am I involved in co-curricular/ extra- curricular activities?

4.      My awards/ certificates- merit/ NSS/ NCC, etc.

5.      What kind of a person am I?

6.      Am I a leader or a team player? (student leader? Class rep….)

7.      Do I attend all classes including special programs?

8.      Do I understand what experts say on MANA TV?

9.      Do I understand when people speak in different accents?

10.  Do I wish to participate in live programs and convey my opinion properly in phone- ins?

11.  Do I discuss my difficulties with my friends?

12.  Do I handle my problems or avoid them and escape?

13.  Do I share my issues openly or expect others to know it without my mentioning it?

14.  Do I get cranky if my friends fail to understand me?

15.  What stops me from participating in classroom activities?

16.  What is this fear about that stops me from speaking in English?

17.  Am I interested in learning new things?

18.  Am I healthy? Physically fit with good stamina and energy?

19.   Does my college cater to my needs? Do we have teachers/ infrastructure/ computers/ Internet/ opportunity to learn what you need?

20.  To get my college degree, what factors stand in the way?

Interpreting the data gathered

After all the questions are answered, sit down and review the results. Assess your answers and relate it to your academic status/ job status using the results to choose the best academic career suitable for the person that you are. The following are some tips that can help you analyze and make your decision:

* Pick a course that capitalizes on your strengths
* An academic career can be an opportunity to make your weaknesses irrelevant by focusing on your strengths. This doesn’t mean however that you need not face your weaknesses while pursuing your academic ambition but you can use it as a chance to strengthen your weaknesses. Attending workshops, seminars, group discussions, and other extracurricular activities will help you improve on your areas of weakness.
* Take advantage of all possible opportunities that will help your personal and academic traits excel.
* Threats are inevitable to each ones’ ambitions and career perspectives. Identifying these threats however will provide a more focused solution as early as possible. When you are able to anticipate these threats using the information gathered, you will be able to prepare or avoid possible hurdles to your academic objective.

Strengths What do you do well? What unique resources can you draw on? What do others see as your strengths?	Weaknesses What could you improve? Where do you have fewer resources than others? What are others likely to see as weaknesses?
Opportunities What opportunities are open to you? What trends could you take advantage of? How can you turn your strengths into opportunities?	Threats What threats could harm you? What is your competition doing? What threats do your weaknesses expose you to?

SELF-ESTEEM: A CHECK ON YOUR VISION OF SELF

1. When my feelings are hurt, I express this

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

2. Others value my opinions

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

3. I feel intellectually capable

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

4. I feel worthy of the gifts that have been offered

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

5. I am satisfied with my personal development upto now

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

6. I consider comparing myself with other people (to see who rates higher) to be a waste of time

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

7. I enjoy meeting and talking with new people

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

8. I feel comfortable at social gatherings

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

9. I am happy to be me and would not want to be anyone else

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

10. I like my present life situation

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

11. I am happy with the way I live my life

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

12. I like my present place of residence

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

13. I enjoy my work

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

14. People admire me

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

15. I am considerate of others

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

16. I enjoy getting up in the morning

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

17. I am self-reliant

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

18. I make a positive contribution to the lives of others

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

19. I enjoy attending to my own needs in eating, exercise and general care of myself

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

20. I try to make sure I lead balanced life- enough rest, work, play

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

21. I enjoy my time alone

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

22. I like myself

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

23. I respect myself

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

24. I value myself

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

25. I see myself as a good-looking person

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

26. I see myself as attractive to the opposite sex

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

27. I think myself as a loving person

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

28. I think of myself as a sharing person

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

29. I think of myself as a confident person

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

30. I see myself as a successful person

Never Sometimes Frequently Always

Your score:        Never-

                             Sometimes-

                             Frequently-

                             Always-

Note: This test tells you what you think you are on the day you answer this at this moment, in this class. You might think different on another day. DO NOT consider the ratings as FINAL and judge yourself. The test only throws light on the areas where you need to stand up for self and improve your confidence. How do you do that? Don’t miss the session on Positive attitude.

KNOW YOURSELF: Your Personal Profile

Student worksheet

Be honest, take a real loving look at tour self and your life till date and write down what you feel without inhibitions. Remember there is nothing RIGHT or WRONG about what you write as you are a unique person with unique capabilities.

This profile sheet is useful in preparing CV and appearing for interviews. If you feel stuck then ask your teacher to give examples.

Answer the following questions and try to write one or two complete sentences. After the sheet is filled, you have content enough for a two to five minute self-introduction. Practice it every day and try to improvise by adding more details.

1.        Hello, I’m __________________________________ (name)

2.        I’m from  _____________________________ (place)

3.        I come from a _____________________________________

      (family background)

4.        My parents ________________________________________

5.        My father _________________________________________

6.        My mother ________________________________________

7.        My siblings _______________________________________

8.        I studied in _______________________________________

(schooling, Inter, college)

 1.        I am pursuing ______________________________________

2.        I wish to ___________________________________________

(higher education/ get a job/ get through Groups/ become a teacher…..) this year.

3.        I enjoy/ like _________________________________________

( list 5 things you like doing-)

4.        I don’t like _________________________________________

(list 5 things you dislike doing-)

5.        I wish to learn _____________________________________

(list 2 or 3 skills you would like to learn.)

6.        I’m now reading ___________________________________

      (the book that you are reading now, title of the book, writers name, publisher)

7.        I am ____________________________________________

(Morning person/ evening person/ night person- when are you very active and at what part of day do you study effectively?)

8.        In primary school I wanted to be___________________, in middle school my ambition was to become_______________ and in High school I wanted to become __________________

9.        I wish to own   ______________________________________

(list 5 things you wish for …)

10.   In 2 years I see myself _______________________________

11.   In 5 years I see myself _______________________________

12.   My ambition now is :  ________________________________

13.   My family and friends say I am ________________________

And ___________________________________________

(list qualities- 5 positive and 5 negative i.e, where you feel you need to improve)

14.   I am ____________________________________________

(other qualities- poet/ painter/ dancer/ sprinter/ college champion/ NSS volunteer/ NCC cadet/ ….)

15.   I worked as ________________________________________

(any part time jobs you did/ tuitions/ volunteer works/ summer jobs….)

16.   My favorites ________________

(Game, sports person, politician, tourist spot, food, song, musician, film, director, actor, TV channel, serial, Radio program, book, writer…)

17.   I am scared of _______________________________ ( list your fears)

18.   I feel good about my __________________________ (list your strengths)

Post writing activity: Practice self introduction using this profile in the mirror. You need to look into your eyes while talking.

SOFT SKILLS

EVERY STUDENT MUST HAVE THESE

SOFT SKILLS

PRACTICE ALL FOR YOUR BETTE LIFE

1.  KNOW YOURSELF

2.  SWOT ANALYSIS

3.  GOAL SETTING

4.  POSITIVE ATTITUDE

5.  BODY LANGUAGE

6.  TIME MANAGEMENT

7.  INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

8.  PRESENTATION SKILLS

9.  J A M

10.  TEAM DYNAMICS

11. GROUP DISCUSSION

12. RESUME WRITING – TEMPLATE

13. TELEPHONE/ E-MAIL / SMS ETIQUETTE

14. INTERVIEW SKILLS

15.  PREPARATION FOR EXAMINATIONS

Why Soft Skills?

An old Cherokee was teaching his grandson about life.

He said to the boy: -“A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego”.

“The other – he continued – is good, he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

“The same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person, too.” – said the old man.

The grandson then asked his grandfather: “And, which wolf will win grandpa?”

“The one you feed, my son!” – simply replied the old Cherokee. (Adapted from :soft-skill.blogspot.com/2008/02/definition-of-soft-skills.html)

Well, I think that this is just what soft skill is about. It is about feeding and training the ‘good wolf’, showing kindness and being gentle towards the others, being patient and listening to them, giving pleasure to them while they communicate with you, smiling with everyone around you and radiating respect, understanding and pleasure.

In today’s world, we need soft skills more than our technical skills and academic qualifications , to make our lives peaceful, successful and productive , both in the private and public spheres.

Why Soft Skills?

“You can’t manage your life until you manage your emotions.” Lynn Clark (2002).

We strongly desire to live happily and successfully. So we go for higher education and seek employment in good companies.

We cannot get trained in all the skills in our academic education, so finishing schools have come up in America, Europe and India to bridge the gap between education and industry.

We need two kinds of skills to lead a happy and successful life: hard skills and soft skills. Soft skills are more difficult to acquire than hard skills. Most of the students are very good at hard skills but they are not very good at soft skills.

We acquire hard skills (technical) through our education. Soft skills determine how happy and successful we are in our life. So soft skills are also called life skills though they are a little different.

Soft skills are classified and divided in various ways. We can divide them into three major categories:

1.     Communication skills: verbal and non-verbal.

2.     Emotional skills: personal and inter-personal

3.     Thinking skills: critical and creative.

Soft skills are necessary for all kinds of people in all kinds of professions.

We are going to learn about them and start practicing them from this class itself!

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