Top 5 Professional Strengths to Make You Stand Out

The key to making your resume have that touch of uniqueness compared to others applying for the same role is by putting strengths that make you stand out from the rest. This is because the right strengths and job skills can help you win against other individuals with better qualifications and problem-solving skills, especially in today's more competitive job market.

Continue reading this handy guide to learn more about the top 5 professional strengths to make you stand out compared to the rest of your competitors, the importance of highlighting your personal strengths and weaknesses, and some strengths that you should avoid during the interview process.

Top 5 professional strengths

Listed below are a few examples of the best professional strengths that you can mention when an interviewer asks you for important skills.

1. Computer proficiency
   Most businesses are held digitally nowadays - thus, knowledge of how computers work and natural talents in modern computer software like Word, Excel, and even Google Suite can make you more appealing for your future employer.
2. Creativity
   Being creative goes way beyond just creating visuals or writing social media posts. Creativity in the workplace also includes having creative solutions and using critical thinking skills or even finding new solutions that others may have not thought of before since they usually offer valuable insights which can help produce high quality work.
   Being creative is an important professional strength to consider, especially if you count the fact that most roles nowadays are looking for creative individuals to join their teams. Creative people tend to have good interpersonal skills and have stellar communication skills as well, essentially making them a jack-of-all-trades.
3. Punctuality
   Being punctual and having good time management skills is also a good professional strength that you should mention when an interviewer asks you about your strengths and weaknesses. Studies have shown that at least up to 25% of U.S. workers clock in late and being punctual in a professional setting is a positive attitude that most hiring managers look for in an employee. This job skill can also help employers create better stress management programs, effectively killing two birds with one stone.
4. Versatility
   Knowing how to properly adjust to anything that is thrown your way is a good professional strength to add as well. Becoming versatile means that you're flexible, and you can easily adapt to new situations and work ethic clashes that may arise within the workforce. Versatile employees are also mainly team oriented with great social skills and are capable of delegating tasks and taking part in leadership roles in case of emergencies as well.
5. Detail-oriented
   Having a detail-oriented mindset allows you to both be meticulous with everything that you do in your workplace as well as ensuring that you notice everything that might be missing or a process that needs to be updated within the organization and provide deeper insights on how to fix it. Detail-oriented individuals also tend to have active listening skills even with non verbal communication, ensuring that they can get everything done within job duties and beyond.

Why is highlighting your strengths and weaknesses important?

Highlighting your strengths and weaknesses on both your resume and the interview process is important because it will provide hiring managers with valuable insights that allows them to know you on a more personal level, as well as your ability to accept feedback.

Remember, both your resume and the interview are their first impressions of you - thus, impressing them by knowing the areas that you're good at and areas to look for growth opportunities in and sends hiring managers a positive sign that you're self-motivated in both your personal development while keeping an eye on your professional life.

Additionally, knowledge of your personal strengths and weaknesses also lets hiring managers know that you know yourself well. This means that you have self-awareness for personal growth, and you're continuously working to improve yourself and your current situation.

How can you identify your strengths and weaknesses?

Though there's no one answer to identify your professional strengths and weaknesses, the main thing that you should consider before writing one is to introspect and reflect. Ask yourself first - what are the key skills that you think you do the best, and how do you positively contribute to the working environment? Think of this step as the self-motivation that you'll need to before progressing to self-improvement, which leads to the the next step, as you'll need plenty of emotional awareness and emotional intelligence to do so.

Once you've answered that, the next thing to do is to make sure that you are those things. Hiring managers are trained to monitor prospective hires based on a variety of things like body language, speech patterns, and the like - thus, they will immediately know if you're lying during your interview. Honesty is the best policy - and that is especially true if you're aiming for that one specific job description.

What are the "strengths" that you should avoid in interviews?

Although it's good to internalize and know what you're good at, there are still things that should be avoided. Thus, listed below are concrete examples of professional strengths that you should avoid during interviews to impress the interviewer - and eventually secure your role within the company.

1. Answering in too short or too long statements
   Answering the question in short sentences will make hiring managers think that you're not fully prepared for the interview yet, but answering with a long, continuous sentence with too many details can give them an idea that you're rambling to impress them.
   Thus, an important rule of thumb to remember is to answer it directly and explain things that need to be explained without diverting too much. Ideally, keep your answers at a length of one to two sentences long, like how to overcome challenges in your own unique way.
2. "Competitive"
   Although being competitive is inherently a good thing, answering it as your strength during the job interview can deter hiring managers from continuing with your application. This is because competitive people tend to be "too much" and create stressful situations for the company culture - i.e., too detail-oriented, can be too overly focused on a specific part of the job and create a more hostile working environment, refuse constructive feedback, and create friction with other employees, and clash with other team members, which can deter the team's continuous learning and is why most hiring managers do not continue their application.
3. Confidence in your price
   Remember that at the end of the day, most companies only have a set fund dedicated to paying a new hire at their company. Thus, being too confident in your asking price can deter you from getting hired by your prospective employer. We suggest being flexible with your asking price - negotiate, but don't haggle.

At the end of the day, professional strengths are a culmination of new skills, core strengths, past job skills, technical skills, and positive qualities that you earn from your years of hard work and is a culmination of your career journey and on your previous jobs. It's not a full reflection of your capabilities as an employer, but rather the value that you can bring to the company as a whole as a result of lifelong learning. Lastly, remember to keep Salary.com's Personal Salary Report so you can be sure that you can know what you're worth in the long run and ensure maximum job satisfaction.