Personal Strengths Assessment
How do I know what my strengths are?
Having an independent assessment of your strengths, core talents, personality and style is vital for building self-awareness, giving direction for career paths, leadership potential and general happiness and fulfilment.
The Forward assessments combine the usual personality/ability profiles but go deeper and beyond to reveal the understated aspects of yourself. These cover:
- Personality: personality type, behaviours, expressions – The WHO
- Motivation: passions, interests, values, what energises you – the Why
- Abilities: what you have to work with (your strengths and skills, abilities which help you carry out your mission – competencies) as well as how you behave. Natural rather than learned skills – the WHAT
Taken online, the assessments are followed up by an analysis report and a follow up extended feedback session with our certified coaches.
Additional assessments include the Forward C-me Communications profile and the Forward Full Day assessment which is undertaken by our in house Chartered Psychologist using bespoke tools to help individuals address specific needs including confidence, difficult conversations and leadership.
Call us now to find out which assessment is right for you.
‘OMG I got it!!!’
Interview Skills FAQ
Highlight briefly where you would add value to the role, your experience, your commitment, your personality.
If they chose not to, it means that the role wasn’t for you!
- How would you describe the culture of the organisation
- What are the priorities to be addressed in this role
- What does your ideal candidate look like
- How does this role fit into the larger team
- What reservations or gaps to you see in my application
- What happens next?
You will have gained experience and skills at each different stage and circumstance in your life. Here are just a few ideas but you know yourself best and will be able to come up with skills you may not previously have recognised. Also ask friends, family and colleagues what they see as your skills – these may be different to the ones you see. Example of skills are: planning; organising and prioritising; conceptualising ideas; decision making and problem solving; research and processing of information; working effectively or leading a team; verbal and or writing skills; goal setting; time management; selling; project management; financial accountability.
In addition to specific subject expertise and the ability to perform the role, interpersonal skills are the key things employers are looking for. These are
- Communication
- Confidence and motivation
- Strong ethics and integrity
- Critical thinking
- Innovation and creativity
- Resilience
- Emotional intelligence and team work
- Responsible digital and social media behaviour
Preparation is key.
- Find out a little about who you are meeting so you have some sense of who will be interviewing you, their time at the company and their role and interests.
- Make sure you know about the organisation, what is its history, what makes it different to other companies in the same sector and why you’d like to work there
- Know how you could add value to the role and the organisation. Be very clear about your skills and make sure you have examples of experience if possible using the RSTAR approach. Result up first (eg the time I took charge in an emergency, summoned the ambulance and saved a life); then describe the Situation, what was the Task /problem you had to face, what Action did you take, what was the Result
- Arrive early at least 30 minutes and go to a nearby café first to check yourself in the bathroom (no poppy seeds from that lunchtime roll). And do a couple of start jumps to get your energy up
- Listen carefully to the questions, don’t ramble and be yourself
The best way, as with anything, is knowledge and practice which then helps build confidence. Being the real you, showing your authentic personality, your skills and experience is the best way to shine. Employees want to hire people who not only have the capability to do the job but someone who fits in well with the team and the organisation’s values.
Interview training helps you prepare for an interview with someone independent who has extensive experience of recruitment and what employers are looking for. They will give you feedback on your presentation and top tips on how best to succeed.
Meet your coaches
Helen-Louise
Helen-Louise Helen is a former business owner [...]
FAQ
In addition to knowing what path you want to pursue, the most important things employers are now looking for are the ‘soft skills’ including confidence and motivation, resilience and emotional intelligence – things our current education system does not cover.
A career coach will help you define your career direction, ensure you have the tools to make the best applications, shine at interviews and build your key soft skills too.
Our Forward coaches help you find a clear path to the life you want most.
We help you increase your self-awareness – of your strengths so you can maximise them and your weaknesses so you can address them. Self-awareness is one of the most sought-after skills of today’s employers.
Our Forward coaches help you build confidence and support you to develop key skills.
Your Forward coach is your trusted partner who helps expand your thinking and gain perspective and clarity about your objectives. Your coach is non-judgemental and has no agenda other than to help you be the best you can be.
Elite athletes, singers and top executives all have coaches to help them achieve and maintain their peak performance. Isn’t it time you had one too?
Yes, you would certainly benefit from career coaching if you don’t know what you want to do, which path would suit you and how you can find it. Having a career coach is the best investment you can make.
If however you know exactly what you want and how to find it, then you don’t need a career coach.
However, if there are other areas in your life that are not exactly how you’d like them e.g. money/finance, work/life balance; family/friends; health/wellbeing, then a Forward life coach can help.
When you invest in your future with Forward you’re also making great things happen in the world. Forward is a member of B1G1—Business for Good
18-35 is a guideline. We do work with younger people still in education perhaps struggling with exam pressures, general anxiety, and other challenges and we do work with people older than 35. However, we have found that people mid-30s + have different challenges, best served by our sister company Rutbusters www.rutbusters.org
A career coach helps you identify, set and achieve your goals. We all achieve so much more if we are very clear about where we want to get to, but so often job searching can simply be a ‘scatter gun’ of applications.
A career coach helps you clarify your strengths, motivations, interests and skills and identify a career path(s) (which sectors, activities,) that suit you; highlight any skills you might need to develop (e.g. interviewing, networking) and works with you to develop the tools you need (e.g. CV writing) to secure a great job.
A life coach works with you to look at all aspects of your life; this can include career; romance; money; health/wellbeing and you chose which element (or more than one) you’d like to focus on and improve.
Coaching is very much goal focused (rather than therapy which is often addressing past traumas and other issues) so you can achieve your individual potential.
A coach helps you achieve the best you.
All our programmes are designed around your personal needs, your goals and the challenges you wish to overcome. We match your requirements to the expert member(s) of our team to get you the right support – whether it is career direction, confidence building, personal branding or interview preparation – and work around your diary.
Each session is typically between one and two hours, but the length depends on the nature and range of the discussion. Sessions are supported with email and texts and homework is often given to make maximum progress.
An initial one to one coaching session, lasting 90-120 minutes, starts at £300. Subsequent sessions cost from £195. In most cases our clients invest between £300 – £700 in a coaching programme tailored to their specific needs.
The style will depend on what you the client want to achieve and your preferred style. Some people like a challenging and stretching style; others a more supportive and encouraging style. The free consultation with Catherine our Director of Client Relations will help you choose which coach is right for you to achieve your goals, whatever they may be.
- We have an outstanding track record of delivering results
- We are experts on the challenges and opportunities experienced by 18-30-year olds
- We’re great value for money
- We have coaches to suit every individual.
- We use proven world-class tools to help you achieve your goals
- Our extensive networks help you explore career paths and get to talk to professionals in their fields so you can learn about what working in different sectors and industries really looks like
In the mood for re-evaluating?