The Guide

What if I or an employee’s Career Guide doesn’t feature their existing role?

We’ve recommended only the top six sectors based on your realised strengths, so use it as a guide, as your role may still feature behind the scenes but isn’t quite so prominent with the matches to your strengths. It doesn’t mean you aren’t good at your job. You may be using more learned behaviours (things we do well but have less energy) to deliver your tasks. You may want to use it to help you think about bringing in some of the tasks within the sectors to your existing role, i.e. support the sales or marketing team to bring in ideas.

How will managers use this with their teams/direct reports?

Similarly, use it as a guide to see how your team member feels about their existing role. It doesn’t mean if their role doesn’t appear that they are in the wrong job (see question above). You may want to use it to think about their next steps, additional responsibilities, future roles or make some adjustments to an existing role. It may not be the right time to develop a team member but by having a conversation about a strengths career in the future will provide motivation today.

Why have you chosen sectors rather than job roles?

We want to provide a guide that supports reflections or a career conversation. We don’t want to send you down a single-track road but give you guidance on areas of work that you would enjoy and be good at. Within each sector there are many roles to consider, but you will be on the right track to hit the ground running as you have the right strengths!

How many sectors are there?

There are 43 carefully selected sectors in total that cover most roles. We’ve reference just about every career list and used our own demographics and analytics to guide us

What is the science behind the Career Guide?

Where do we start! Our approach has been robust, using our 15 years of strengths knowledge combined with the analytics of Strengths Profile. We know what strengths people are using in different roles and have used this along with how their strengths differentiate from our norm data. We’ve also looked at the strengths of people doing these roles who are highly engaged at work.

What if I don’t resonate with the recommended sectors in my Profile?

It is likely some will resonate as these have been shared with you based on your realised strengths – the things you perform well and enjoy doing. It is also likely you’ll have a few surprises but we think that is a good thing so you can consider new opportunities and areas for future growth.

How do I use the ‘potential career suggestions’ in the Career Guide?

We’ve recommended two sectors based on your unrealised strengths – the things you are good at and enjoy but aren’t getting the opportunity to use often. These sectors will be more of a surprise than the ones based on your realised strengths. This is due to the likelihood of having many less unrealised strengths to review against and that you aren’t using these strengths. It’s still a great reflection on what your potential or hidden career could look like in the future. Please bear in mind it is likely you will need to develop these strengths further in order to achieve success in these sectors.

How might I use the Career Guide as a Strengths Profile practitioner?

You don’t need to recommend they leave an existing role immediately or apply for something completely new, but explore the reality of where they are now and where they want to be. Begin with coaching from an understanding of the uniqueness of their full Profile as the foundation to maximising the results. Then explore:

Initial reactions and surprises

The reality of where they are now and where they want to be

Ranking and motivation of each sector

The areas that would need further development in order to be more confident

Today’s reality and what a 1, 3 and 5 year career goal could be

Building experience by bringing in sector skills into their current tasks

Which sectors could be reviewed together for a rewarding goal, e.g. an IT role in the Voluntary sector

The next steps to research the motivational job sectors

Where does it feature within the Profiles?

In both the Introductory and Expert Profiles, the career guide sits at the back, after all the strengths information. It’s important to have a deeper insight into your strengths before reviewing the careers so when you get to this, it makes more sense and resonates.

The Logistics

How much does the Career Guide feature cost?

It’s all included as part of the cost of the Introductory and Expert Profiles – so no additional cost.

Is the Career Guide feature available on both the Introductory and Expert Profiles?

Yes. The recommendations on both Profiles are based on the realised and unrealised strengths. We do review all the realised strengths in making the recommendation, so if you are using the Introductory Profile, we may consider the strengths you cannot see that feature outside of the results you are provided.

How do I access the new Career Guide feature?

Individual purchasers will see this automatically in their dashboard. If someone else purchased your Profile, you will need to ask them to enable this. You will then be given a notification to say this is available should they allow it. Once access is given, you’ll be able to download your Profile featuring the Career Guide and also download it as a separate PDF.

Do I have to include the Career Guide in my Profile?

No. The functionality exists for everyone, but the default position is turned off for practitioners so they can choose whether to include the feature. The default position is turned on for all individual purchases. Please note that if you don’t allow your users to see the Career Guide, you will also not be able to view this.

How do I enable the Career Guide feature to appear on invites sent out?

When you invite users through the invitations, you will be given an option to include the Career Guide. If you use the shareable code, you will also be asked if you want this link to include the guide.

Will the practitioner / sender of the invite be able see the Career Guide as well as the user?

Yes. Just as before, once enabled, all new users and practitioners will both be able to view the results. For existing users, see below.

• How can I enable the Career Guide feature within my existing Profile or Profiles currently in my account?
• As a practitioner:
• 1. If you have purchased your own Profile, you will automatically be able to view the Career Guide.
  2. Select people individually in your ‘Invitations’ dashboard by going to their name, clicking on ‘more options’ and ‘Unlock Career Guide’.
  3. Visit a group and click on the grey ‘CG icon’ by an individual’s name to unlock the guide or use the ‘CG Options’ button to select users or allow the whole group to view their Career Guide.

How do I know if a user has been allowed access to the Career Guide?

If a completed Profile has been granted access to view their Career Guide you will see the green CG icon.

If a completed Profile does not have access to their Career Guide you will see the grey CG icon (you can unlock by clicking on the grey icon).

If a Profile is in progress that has been granted access to their Career Guide you will see the orange icon and once the Profile is complete is will turn green.

If a Profile is in progress that does not have access to their Career Guide you will see the grey CG icon (you can unlock by clicking on the grey icon).

What if I change my mind and want to disable the Career Guide feature after viewing the results?

Once it has been enabled by you as a practitioner or the sender of the invite, you cannot disable as your client will already have seen the results.

What happens if I have withheld the Profile in the first instance?

Still set the option when inviting users to include the Career Guide or not, and then when the Profile is released in 30 days or sooner to the user, they will access their Profile with the results according to what you have set.

If I decide not to include the guide but change my mind can I do this?

Yes. Follow the instructions above to allow access after the invitation has gone or the Profile has been completed.

• What other resources can I use to help me?
• 1. Within the Best SELF Model there is a career worksheet within the Launch section.
  2. Read our career guide launch blog here.
  3. There are many resources in our Career Development Toolkit for practitioners to further support students or people changing careers.
  4. Finally, you can also download these questions with screen shots to help you with the logistics