Know, show, and grow: how to unlock your strengths and shape your career

At NCFE, we’re proud to sponsor Youth Employment Week – a time to celebrate the incredible potential of young people. Your ideas, energy, and ambition are shaping the future of our workforce, and we’re here to help you thrive. 

One of the most powerful ways to build a fulfilling career is by understanding and using your strengths. These are the qualities that energise you, help you stand out, and make a real impact in the workplace.  

In this blog, we’ll explore how to know, show, and grow your strengths, so that you can take confident steps toward a career that’s right for you. 

What are strengths and why do they matter? 

 Strengths are tasks or actions that you, as a unique individual, can do well. Some of your strengths may be things you enjoy and naturally excel at, whereas others may be because you’ve worked hard to become good at them.  

Strengths matter because they can give you energy, help you perform at your best, and motivate you to go on to succeed – no matter your definition of what success looks like.  

As Tom Rath, author of Strengths Finder 2.0, puts it: “If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything.” Nobody is good at everything – and that’s okay! 

Focusing on your strengths doesn’t mean ignoring your weaknesses – it means building your career around what makes you unique and valuable. When you do that, you’re more likely to feel encouraged, confident, and successful. 

Step 1: Know your strengths 

The first step is self-awareness. Why not sit down with a pen and paper, and ask yourself the following questions: 

• When do I feel most energised and motivated? 
• What tasks do I enjoy and relish, even when they’re challenging? 
• How do I respond in challenging situations? 

You can also ask trusted friends, family members, teachers, or colleagues, “What do you think I’m really good at?” Their answers might surprise you and help you to see your strengths more clearly. 

At NCFE, we sometimes use psychometric tools to help our teams understand their strengths better. There are also free online resources like the VIA Character Strengths Survey or 16Personalities that can give you insights into your natural talents. 

Step 2: Show your strengths 

Once you know your strengths, the next step is to use them and let others see them in action. Head back to your pen and paper, and ask yourself: 

• How often do I get to use my strengths in my current role, studies, or volunteering? 
• Are there ways I could use them more? 

Think creatively and seek opportunities that will allow you to put these skills into practice, giving you real-world examples that you could collate onto a CV. For example, if you’re great at organising, could you help plan an event? If you’re a natural communicator, could you lead a presentation or support a team project?  

Here at NCFE, we encourage our colleagues to create personal skills profiles and connect with others to share and learn from each other’s strengths. Collaboration is one of our core values, and we believe that when people bring their whole selves to work, everyone benefits. 

Step 3: Grow your strengths 

Your strengths are like muscles – the more you use them, the stronger they get! Over time, they can become your ‘super strengths’ and truly set you apart. 

As you think about your career development, keep the focus on your identified super strengths and the ways in which you can leverage them to reach your true potential and impact. Only spend energy on the weaknesses that are holding you or others back – and reframe them into development areas you can actively focus on. 

To grow your strengths, why not do the following: 

• Look for opportunities to stretch yourself. Take on new challenges that align with your strengths. 
• Seek feedback and support. Who do you know who’s great at something you want to improve? Could they mentor or coach you, or even spare five minutes for a quick chat? 
• Don’t be afraid to fail. As Oprah Winfrey says, “Do the one thing you can’t do. Fail at it. Do better the second time.” There is much to be learned from what you may consider a ‘failure’! 
• Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Once you’ve mastered a strength and feel confident, look out for opportunities to test yourself on it. Examples could include projects, mentoring, speaking and volunteering. 

It helps to be mindful that a strength overdone can become an unwanted weakness – for example, confidence could become arrogance. Our strengths should push us forwards, rather than hold us back. 

At NCFE, we’ve seen how powerful the mindset of growing your strengths can truly be. Between June 2024 and May 2025, we had 80 internal role changes – and just over a third of those were made by colleagues under 30, showing their determination to gain and put into practice new skills.  

We’ve also revised job descriptions to focus more on experience and potential, rather than just qualifications, to remove barriers and open up more opportunities. 

Why your strengths are your superpower 

Youth Employment Week is about celebrating you – your potential, your passion, and your power to shape the future. By knowing, showing, and growing your strengths, you’re not just building a career – you’re building a life that reflects who you truly are. 

So, take the time to discover what makes you shine. Be proud of your strengths. And remember: the world needs what you have to offer. 

Helpful resources 

• Liggy Webb’s Life Skills Digital BiteSized book series 

• Squiggly Careers podcast episode #122: How to make your strengths show up and stand out  

• TedX video - 'Want to bring out the best in people? Start with strengths', by Chris Wejr