Summer is often a time of exploration and transition, of taking on new roles, doing internships or planning for the academic year ahead. As part of your preparation, check out this blog post from the Huffington Post about the benefits of understanding and using your strengths. They focus on the work environment but the advice is equally as appropriate for those who are studying.

What we notice at LSE Careers is that students who are clear about their strengths are better able to understand where to focus their time and energy, make well thought through decisions, create a compelling career narrative, get hired, and succeed in a new role.

At LSE we use Strengthsfinder 2.0, Gallup’s system originally devised by the ‘godfather’ of strengths, Donald Clifton. There are plenty of similar tools on the market too though – Strengths Profile and Strengthscope are two of them. Huffington Post makes the point that gaining an external perspective on what others’ perceive your strengths to be can be immensely valuable too. The Reflected Best Self Exercise can help with this too.

So why not invest some time this summer in understanding what your strengths are?