Realia

Somehow, I found Thing 21, which asks us to talk about our strengths and interests, the hardest one to do so far. (I’m not sure what that says about me.)

One interest that I’ve discovered because of my current job is training. I couldn’t have anticipated that delivering training sessions on cataloging topics would end up being my favorite part of my job, but it has. (Since I am someone who hated public speaking while growing up, this really is a surprise!) Even though I greatly enjoy training, I realize that I am not a natural born presenter, and so I work hard to develop the skills to make me better at pursuing this interest of mine. I try to improve my delivery techniques and the way I present information on my slides when I talk. I subscribe to several public speaking and training blogs, so I can encounter new ideas relevant to this interest. And I do think that taking the time to work at these skills is turning my interest into a strength of mine. I have received a lot of positive feedback on my training sessions and presentations, which only encourages me to continue to work on my skills in this area. So I definitely see the connection between your interests and your strengths.

I also think it’s important to know your own interests and strengths in order to think about your future career path. I’m not looking to take a new job anytime soon, but I still keep an eye out when I see announcements for jobs that look interesting to me. If a job sounds like something I might like to do someday, but somewhat different from what I do now, I take a look at the qualifications for the job and take note of which skills I have already and which skills I would need to develop in order to have a job like this. Then I think about ways in which I can gain these skills.