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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to know what you are good at. Being

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Speaker 1: able to name strengths and examples of these will boost

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Speaker 1: your confidence and might come in handy for reviews or

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Speaker 1: if you're job seeking. So I recently heard about a

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Speaker 1: job seeker who got an assignment from a career transition

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Speaker 1: course to ask several colleagues to identify her greatest professional strengths.

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Speaker 1: I know I would enjoy telling someone I liked and

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Speaker 1: worked with where they shined, and I imagine this woman's

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Speaker 1: colleagues felt the same way. And I imagine she enjoyed

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Speaker 1: hearing these good things. When she walked into interviews, she

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Speaker 1: would have a ready list of strengths and examples that

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Speaker 1: people told her of how she demonstrated them. Most of

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Speaker 1: us won't have a good excuse to ask people about

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Speaker 1: our strengths so formally, but still people often tell us

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Speaker 1: what we are good at. If we listen. By paying

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Speaker 1: attention to compliments and not batting them off, we might

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Speaker 1: be able to learn about ourselves and present ourselves in

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Speaker 1: a positive way in the future. So pay attention, take notes.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you give an important presentation and a colleague comments

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Speaker 1: that you are a great presenter, or that you are

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Speaker 1: a natural at connecting with a crowd, or that you

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Speaker 1: respond to questions. Well, write that down. Now you've got

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Speaker 1: a strength and an example of how you showed that strength.

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Speaker 1: Or perhaps after you coordinate a successful Halloween bazaar at

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Speaker 1: your kid's school, the principal comments that she knows she

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Speaker 1: can count on you to produce a great event. Remember

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Speaker 1: that event production is a useful skill, and a quote

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Speaker 1: from management about it being successful is an example you

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Speaker 1: can cite to anyone asking about this. Your boss might

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Speaker 1: mention that she assigned you to lead a particular organizational

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Speaker 1: change project because of your strength and gathering stakeholder feedback

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Speaker 1: she just identified as strength, and when the project goes well,

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Speaker 1: you can cite it as an example of how you

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Speaker 1: excel at this. When people tell you what you are

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Speaker 1: good at, listen, don't explain it away, really hear it.

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Speaker 1: You can thank people politely and then make sure you

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Speaker 1: capture it in some way, such as in a note

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Speaker 1: file or even in a journal or an email to yourself.

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Speaker 1: These strengths will really be helpful for anyone crafting a

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Speaker 1: personal reflective part of an annual performance review. Whatever you

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Speaker 1: are presenting to your manager will definitely be aided by

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Speaker 1: having the ability to quote her positive feedback back to

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Speaker 1: her or the feedback from other people she respects. And

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Speaker 1: if you are job hunting, I know many of us

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Speaker 1: have been tripped up in the moment when asked about

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Speaker 1: our greatest strengths. But if you have seen the skills

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Speaker 1: required in the job posting and you are asked this

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Speaker 1: question and you have been making a list of strengths,

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Speaker 1: you can mention the strength that most closely matches the

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Speaker 1: job description and then you can give an example from

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Speaker 1: when you got this feedback. This will definitely help you

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Speaker 1: stand out and could be just the thing to help

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Speaker 1: you land this opportunity In the mean time, time, this

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Speaker 1: is Laura, Thanks for listening and here's to making the

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Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows,