Have you ever wondered how to uncover and leverage your unique talents? A strengths based assessment could be the key to unlocking your full potential.
In this episode of the #Career101Podcast, host Porschia and guest Liz Herrera, a seasoned strengths-based career coach, explore how to identify and use your strengths for professional growth. They discuss the importance of self-awareness and how tools like the CliftonStrengths assessment can help reveal your top talents.
Liz shares actionable insights on how to articulate your strengths in resumes, interviews, and networking, ensuring you stand out in today’s competitive job market. The conversation also touches on why focusing on strengths can lead to greater career fulfillment and tips for aligning your strengths with your professional goals.
Liz Herrera is a strengths-based career coach with 16+ years of experience empowering students and professionals. As Director of Career Development at the University of Illinois Chicago, she also runs a private coaching business and hosts the acclaimed Liz Career Coaching Podcast. Recognized among Chicago’s Top 15 Coaches in 2022, Liz holds a Master of Arts in Higher Education and specializes in CliftonStrengths and Life Design, helping clients navigate their career paths.
What you’ll learn:
- The importance of understanding your personality and strengths for career success.
- How strengths based assessments like CliftonStrengths can uncover unique qualities and help you thrive.
- Practical ways to articulate your strengths on resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and during interviews.
- How to identify dissatisfaction in your current role and leverage your strengths for greater fulfillment.
- Why focusing on strengths instead of weaknesses can boost confidence and career clarity.
- Actionable tips for using self-awareness and collaboration to excel in any professional environment.
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Resources:
- Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Today we are talking about identifying strengths with your personality with Liz Herrera. Liz Herrera is a seasoned strength based career coach with more than 16 years of experience dedicating her career to empowering and guiding students and professionals. She currently serves as the Director of Career Development in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Beyond her institutional role, [00:01:00] Liz runs a private career coaching business and has been recognized among the top 15 coaches in Chicago in 2022 by Influence Digest. She hosts the Liz career coaching podcast featured on max top career podcast guide and was acknowledged as one of the 45 best career coach podcasts by feed spot.
She holds a master of arts in higher education and has completed training and life design and clifted strengths, leveraging her expertise to mentor. Deliver impactful presentations and empower her clients to pave their career. Hi, Liz. How are you today? I’m great. How are you? I am doing amazing. And I am excited to have you with us to discuss identifying strengths.
But first we want to know a little more about you. So tell me about seven year old Liz. That is a
Liz: fun question. [00:02:00] I had to think about that. So yeah, seven year old Liz. I can remember being very adventurous and fearless. I was the kid that wanted to learn how to roller skate. I wanted to do extreme sports, water sports.
Not that my grandparents allowed that. But I just had it in me. I wanted to do anything and everything. I was very adventurous, wanted to be running on the street, getting on the bicycle. And I think the biggest thing is just that I was fearless. I was not afraid of any consequences. And I just like an explorer, just curious.
So what did you want to be when you grew up? Yeah, I think that’s really about the exposure that I had. My father used to take us to the movies every Sunday. And so I wanted to be an actress. And I also wanted to be a teacher because I saw my teachers and I enjoyed them and I wanted to write on the board and help my peers.
So I can [00:03:00] recall wanting to be an actress and a teacher when I was, at a younger age and of course that evolved over time. But those are my initial career goals at the very young age of maybe seven or eight.
Porschia: Yeah. So
Liz: what was your first job, Liz? Yeah. My first job, I was actually in high school and there was like a teacher training kind of program and they needed tutors.
And so I was always intrigued by tutoring and helping others. And so I decided to be a tutor at my high school. It was my sophomore year. And so that’s that was my real, my first job while in high school. But I have to say when thinking about the first job that I felt like, okay, this is my first job was my junior year in high school, I worked at a healthcare clinic and it was a lot of administrative work.
And it was just exposure to, I would say that what the job market looked like, or just the job landscape, what it was like to be a professional. [00:04:00] And so those are some of the first jobs that I can think of.
Porschia: That’s some great experience, Liz. So tell us about some highlights or pivotal moments in your career before you became a coach.
Liz: Before I became a career coach. So prior to entering the career development space my first job out of college was working at an alternative high school and I was a Spanish instructor, but I also did academic skills and career counseling for high school students. And so that’s really where it all started in working with the community, working with high school students, being a mentor.
That’s, that was my first exposure to to the field of education.
Porschia: Yeah, that’s great. When I think back to high school. I guess we might have had some of these programs, but I don’t remember a lot of career counseling. I just remember in my school, they had the, either you’re going to go to the, [00:05:00] to a university track or, they had some other kind of tech focused options, but I think career counseling in high school is amazing.
And it’s great that you got to do that.
Liz: I was very lucky. I like to call it a plan happenstance. I started out as an administrative assistant right out of college. And then there was someone in that role that left. And so my supervisor at the time said, Liz, this is something you’d be interested in doing.
And since I don’t feel like I received a lot of career support or counseling support as a high school student I approached it in a way that I, the way that I would have liked to receive support and really encourage students and giving them the confidence. Again, this was an alternative high school.
So a lot of these students were told that they were at risk of not graduating high school and not going to college. And I heard a lot of that in my own personal life, that for me, this was an opportunity to [00:06:00] just give students that confidence that they could go to college, that they could, pursue their goals.
And when I had just graduated from college, and I didn’t even think that was a possibility for me at that time. And so just being able to give that support was very important for me and such a great exposure early on in my career.
Porschia: Yeah, definitely sounds like it. So what motivated you to become a coach?
Liz: So I, I received my degree in higher education, that’s my graduate degree. And I entered, higher ed, I was at a community college for a few years, and I always enjoyed career development. And so I would always be helping students with their resume, doing resume workshops, putting together career fairs, even though that wasn’t actually part of my job.
And so I was just doing some research, and I honestly didn’t even know that career coaching or career services was a thing. I never used that resource as a college student. [00:07:00] And so one day I’m just going online, and I see that there was a job opportunity for a career advisor at the University of Illinois Chicago.
And so I thought, I’m going to put my feelings out there. I’m just going to try and I’m going to apply. And I did, and I got interviewed and I was offered the position. And so this was 16 years ago. It was my first position within a career service office at a university. And I absolutely fell in love with it.
And so I was working for the central office and this was Serving every student, every discipline. So I really learned the foundation of career development in that role. And ever since then, my career profession has expanded and evolved working with graduate students, spearheading a, an office. And now working with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which I’ve been doing this for five years.
And from there, that’s, opening, opening up my own private career coaching [00:08:00] business. That’s how my profession has evolved over the past 16 years. Wow.
Porschia: That is very impressive, Liz. We have talked about personality on the podcast before but before we dig into identifying your strengths, I want to know, why do you think understanding your own personality is important?
Liz: I think self awareness is extremely important. And I think that a lot of individuals that are. Pursuing a career path or entering the job search process. It’s so important to be reflective and self aware before even making decisions. So knowing yourself helps you make informed decisions, what you like, what you don’t like, where you thrive.
So there’s a lot of. introspection that is important in your career path and that leads to fulfillment to really understanding yourself. And this is why [00:09:00] I use a strengths based approach in all of my career coaching. So I would say that it is important to be self, to self aware, to be self aware in order to make informed decisions.
Porschia: Great. So many of our listeners know that I think a career coach can be a great resource for learning more about your personality. In your opinion, what are some of the best ways to identify your strengths?
Liz: Yes. So I personally like to use CliftonStrengths. It is an assessment that you are, able to take.
It’s based off of 40 years of research. It’s it was conducted through GALA. And what I love about this assessment is that when you take it, it asks you a variety of questions. And, It actually there are different types of reports that you can get, but essentially there are 34 themes. So 34 areas of strength.
And the one that I like to use is where students or clients can get up to their top five. And [00:10:00] so this just gives you information about where you thrive. And then your top five are actually. It’s so unique because your results basically one in 33 million people will have the same top five themes in the same order as you.
So order matters even the combination of your themes. So using CliftonStrengths is a great tool to identify your strengths. Now if you don’t have, access to this assessment or you don’t want to pay for it, To identify your strengths. It’s also talking to people. I think a lot of times our strengths are so innate.
I always say it’s like breathing that you need to sometimes talk to others and people that you trust, colleagues, supervisors, mentors. And just ask, what are some of the areas where I shine? What are my my greatest strengths? Where do I, where do you see that I contribute the most? And little by little, you start to really uncover what those [00:11:00] strengths actually entail.
Porschia: Thank you for sharing that with us. The CliftonStrengths, I was. earlier. I think it’s a g I’ve taken it myself and results. But I’ve hea fact that with the clifto your top five can change.
Liz: Yes it can change in terms of the themes because there’s 34 themes and we fall under those 34 themes in some type of order. So let’s see, for instance, I take it and maybe the six, my sixth theme, depending on the phase of my life and my career, that sixth theme might move up to a four.
One of the things that I always like to remind people is it doesn’t mean that you don’t have that strength anymore. Because if you are a relationship building person, if you enjoy building relationships, working with people, that is part of who you are. And that doesn’t [00:12:00] change. If you are someone who is extremely organized and you’re so good at, leading others and arranging and just being able to see a big picture, That’s not going to change, right?
So it’s just really recognizing what those themes look like maybe in the, in your given phase in your career, in your life, but your strengths don’t change it’s just the theme, the definition or certain themes might. Come up earlier than before. And that can happen if you, when you take it as a college student then when you take it as a established professional.
I’ve taken it a number of times. And while some of the themes change slightly, for me, it’s consistent, the relationship building and the execution. Those are the areas where I thrive.
Porschia: Thank you for sharing that. I think I took the CliftonStrengths probably about 10 years ago, almost 10 years ago.
And [00:13:00] I personally have had clients ask me with the personality assessments that we use. I’m certified in the Myers Briggs type indicator, and they ask Oh, can this change or, if they’ve taken it a few times, it might have, they might’ve gotten different results. And sometimes people are confused about that.
So I really liked what you said about the themes kind of being consistent, but the order might change just based on the season of life or kind of what’s top of mind for the person.
Liz: Yes, exactly. And really understanding, like for instance, I know you have Achiever, I have activator, and so for me, activator is, getting things done.
How, when can I get started, right? Like I like just to take action. And I think there’s a lot of similarities with Achiever. So if one, if I retake it and Achiever, were to surface for my top five, I can see that, right? So I think because it really coincides a lot with perhaps some of the attributes of an activator.
Porschia: Yeah. Activator might have been that [00:14:00] fourth one that I’m forgetting. I’m going to check later, Liz, and see, but there was one of the five I was forgetting. But yeah, I can see that. And that also makes me think about the themes, like you were talking about before, how there are some, probably some similarities between some of those characteristics.
Liz, you talk about learning how to articulate strengths in all aspects of a professional package. Tell us more about that.
Liz: Yes. So this is what I love about using CliftonStrengths is really understanding someone from not just, knowing yourself and where you thrive, but also being able to talk about it.
And CliftonStrengths provides language that You know, a lot of people are not aware of. And for instance, if if you’re top five, you have learner or focus, discipline, maybe you have consistency, individualization. I’m just throwing out these things here, but you need to learn how to actually [00:15:00] talk about what that means.
So on a resume, for instance, if when I’m walking someone through a resume, I want you to tell me your story. Where have some of these strengths surface? So if you’re someone that is great at learning, maybe you’re that person that is constantly getting certifications or learning something new to teach somebody else.
So how has that come through in your own career story? And so being able to articulate that on a resume, being able to articulate that on your LinkedIn profile, and most importantly, in a job interview. And a lot of times when I ask people what are your greatest strengths? And they’re like, Oh my team player, I’m a problem solver.
And I’m just great with people. And while that’s great, I want some context. Tell me how you solve problems. Walk me through that process. How has that been impactful in your roles? How have you contributed? I want to hear success stories. And I like to leverage. CliftonStrengths are having that strengths [00:16:00] conversation to help people really think about where they’ve thrived, where they shine.
And it, it starts to help them brainstorm these success stories that they never recognize that the success stories come because they’re using their strengths.
Porschia: Wow. I think that what you said really, Can cause someone to stop and reflect. When you said really thinking about where you’ve thrived and shined I think that’s just a great way for people to stop and get some of those insights, about themselves and their strengths. Because I think a lot of times. We have our own conceptions about what we do, and we know more about our own motivations. But to get that external feedback or look at external events to validate or acknowledge some of what we think about ourselves can provide some insights too.
I [00:17:00] completely agree. What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen professionals and executives make when identifying their strengths?
Liz: I would say undervaluing their strengths, not recognizing Their worth or also not cultivating their strengths or focusing on deficits. There’s so many different things that [00:18:00] come up when I have conversations, when I’m walking someone through their strengths and the first thing is what are my weaknesses?
And while it’s important to recognize. The things where we need to grow, that’s definitely important, but also I think really having that mindset shift of focusing on where we do thrive, where our strengths lie and how we can further cultivate them is the way that I like to see it is that if I’ll give you an example.
So like for me, I it’s, I’m not, like for me, strategic thinking is just, I know that’s like a not the end of my 34 themes, but I do enjoy working with people and relationship building. And so the way that I leverage those strengths of relationship building is to collaborate with people that are strategic or collaborate with people that are.
Ideas that they love ideating because those are maybe not my areas of strength. So knowing how to [00:19:00] leverage your strength to build the skills that you need, the areas that maybe you find that you need to improve on, but working in a collaborative type of way or in a team environment. So recognizing your strengths, but also recognizing the strengths of others and how you can collaborate and leverage that in a team setting.
Porschia: Yeah, I like what you said about all of that and collaboration is really paramount, especially when you have big ideas or big projects, things that you wanna get done. But I also wanted to zero in on what you said, because I see this with the clients a lot as well, is you might present a report.
So in your case, the their strengths and they go right to what is my weakness? Where’s the problem? And so sometimes I think it takes some mindset work to focus on the positive or the strengths first before we look at the negative or the areas where we could, [00:20:00] improve.
Liz: That’s right. Yes, it just, it never fails, or even when I’m doing a mock interview, people will say why didn’t you ask me about my weaknesses? I personally don’t like to ask that when I’m interviewing people, but it’s the first thing that people want to talk about. And for me, I’m like, no, let’s highlight on your strengths, like where you are amazing.
That’s again, it’s a boost of confidence and really owning what you bring to the table.
Porschia: Yeah. Agreed, agreed. And yeah I do not think that if you’re in an interview you shouldn’t bring up the weaknesses. I think you should let the person ask that too. So I think that’s a great point to mention Liz.
So what are some tips or recommendations you would give to someone who wants to focus on using their strengths in their career?
Liz: Yeah. So first understanding strengths and Knowing what that actually looks like, because we’re all unique. So just because I [00:21:00] have empathy and learner and you have the same, let’s say, for instance, it doesn’t mean that they show up the same for both of us.
So really understanding, okay, this is just a general definition, but what does that look like for you? And I’ll just give you an example. So I’ve worked with people who they’re like, Oh, I’m really stuck in my career. Or I’m just not feeling motivated. And when I have these deeper conversations, it is because they’re not actually using their strengths.
So if you are someone who are, who is someone that is strong and executing, or you’re a strategic thinker, but you’re in a role that’s not actually using those strengths, that’s where you start to find that people become dissatisfied, they’re unfulfilled. And really being able to recognize where you thrive, what you enjoy doing that can help you find opportunities or lean into opportunities that you are going to find fulfillment.
And so I think that is really important when thinking about your strengths or when you’re being, feeling [00:22:00] frustrated in a position, in a job, in a role, what is really happening? What’s the root of that? And a lot of times it’s just that you’re not leveraging your strengths.
Porschia: So let’s say someone has that epiphany that you just mentioned, right?
They realize I’m unhappy because I’m not using my strengths. What’s a good first step for them?
Liz: Yeah. So if they’ve come to that, realization, I need to be focused more on Work, like maybe working with people or I want to be more in a leadership role because I’m a developer, right? So like one of the things as developer, maybe now they’re in the point of their career where they want to lead.
So obviously when you’re, before you, you jump into the job search, do you want to stay in that organization? Are there opportunities for growth within the organization? Maybe it’s time for that take to take the leap for that leadership role. And if that is not the case and you’re thinking, okay, I’m at a crossroad, I’m for that next career move.
Obviously there’s a [00:23:00] lot of self reflection and really thinking about what it is that you want to do. And that’s where the exploration begins. What types of roles? What are your interests? What are your values? What are some of the areas that you might want to pursue? Organizations that align maybe with your own personal goals and values.
CliftonStrengths is not to inform you on a career path. It’s more to give you that confidence and also to understand where you would thrive regardless of the industry or role. That you’re going to pursue. But if you are feeling that your strengths are not being leveraged in your current role, then really figuring out, okay, what type of function or type of role will I be able to utilize these strengths, lean into these strengths, maybe cultivate them even more and then starting to, do some research or working with a career coach.
A lot of times people are like I don’t even know where to get started. And so working with a career coach or a mentor having these conversations [00:24:00] would be a first step.
Porschia: Great. Another topic that we’ve discussed on the show in episode 54 was career development and specifically designing your own career development plan.
What are your thoughts about using your strengths with career development?
Liz: Yeah, again, so really, I love the idea of designing your career. I think that we all build these skills and experiences, and I like the idea of owning your career path and not comparing your timeline or your goals to anyone else’s, and really understanding, again, where you thrive, where you shine when you know yourself.
That really opens doors to the opportunities or things that you want to do. But it also equips you and empowers you to say no to things that do not fit you, that do not [00:25:00] align with you. And a lot of times we live in this society where it’s okay, I need to go into this career because of status or whatever the case may be.
And so really owning your story and saying, I, Value the ability to work with others or to lead others. I want to develop others. And maybe it looks like, it’s in the field of education, or maybe it’s in the corporate world, or maybe it’s in healthcare. And so you have to really think about what.
Who do you want to serve? That’s very important. Who do you want to serve? What population do you want to work with? What industry are you interested in? But regardless of that it’s owning you and your uniqueness, your unique experiences, and just recognizing that you have gifts. That you can contribute in any given career role, but that you have control over a lot of the career decisions and really leaning into those.[00:26:00]
So tell us more about your business. My career coaching business. Yeah, so again, I am a strengths based career coach So if you are on my website Lizcareercoaching. net You’ll find that all my packages are all strengths based. So I am NOT a resume writer for instance I like to go about resume writing Through a strengths based lens.
So a lot of times let’s say for instance if you’re talking to someone for a resume review people give you, feedback and Okay, tell me your story and then i’ll go ahead and rewrite your resume I don’t take that approach. That’s not my philosophy for me. I use clifton strengths again to give people that tool and guide so that they’re able to articulate their strengths.
And then the next part is, okay, let’s talk about your career story, your career narrative. And then we go into okay, now it’s time to tailor it to the specific roles that you’re looking for. So it’s a process. The same thing [00:27:00] with, finding career clarity, starting with the strengths and then doing other assessments, of course, and trying to guide people in their unique journey.
And also with interviewing, I like to use strength. So anything that I do that’s career development, there’s a strength component to all of the coaching that, that I do. Great.
Porschia: So we’ll be providing a link to your website and other social channels in our show notes so people can find you online. But what is the best way for someone to get in touch with you?
Liz: Yes. So I am on all social media platforms pretty much. So I do enjoy connecting with people on LinkedIn. I’m also on Instagram. So yeah, those would probably be the best ways to connect with me and find me.
Porschia: So now, Liz, I want to ask you our final question that we ask every guest. How do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their career?
Liz: I always say ongoing [00:28:00] learning, and it’s just, you, I feel like you never arrive. It’s constant growth, learning, stepping out of your comfort zone, being curious, challenging yourself and taking risk. I think in our career, there’s a lot of risk taking, and that could be exciting, could be scary. But I feel that the people that I have worked with, or including myself you find fulfillment and success in that ongoing.
Professional development, growth, challenging yourself and building your skills. And. Just to circle back to strengths is how do you continue to grow those strengths that you already own and have and cultivate and just that just will optimize your performance and increase, continue to increase that career fulfillment.
Porschia: Liz, you have shared a lot of insights with us today, and I’m sure our listeners can use it to be more confident in their careers. We [00:29:00] appreciate you being with us. Thank you very much for having me.
