Bulk up career skills with StrengthsQuest

By ANN STACY
Reporter

Wednesday night, sophomores had a chance to learn about a test to add to their “to-take” lists.

But this test is different from the run-of-the-mill history, Spanish or biology exam.

It is the StrengthsQuest StrengthsFinder, a free assessment from the Gallup Organization that the Career Center is teaming with the Ratio Studiorum Program to administer.

According to Sandy Ciriaco, assistant director of the Career and Academic Planning Program, the assessment asks a series of questions, the answers to which determine five of 34 main themes into which a person fits. These five themes are the person’s main strengths.

The idea is then for people to continue to improve their main strengths or themes and cease attempting to become proficient in skills they lack.

“Companies have gone to Gallup for a long time for assistance in their work environments to better understand their coworkers and the cohesiveness of a working environment to make sure they’re doing the right things and not wasting time training the people on their weaknesses,” Ciriaco said. “Instead, they use their strengths to make it work better for them and for their company.”

For sophomore students, this theme is finding a passion. However, Jim Bretl, Creighton Career Center director, said the results of StrengthsQuest also can show how they can effectively study and raise their performance level in school.

Katie Trautschold, Career Center graduate intern, said StrengthsQuest also can help improve relationships, including roommates or business associates.

Business junior Rachel Knust took the test last year as part of the Anna Tyler Waite Business Leadership Program.

“I think it’s a whole mindset of understanding not only your strengths, but also the strengths of those around you, so you are better able to communicate with them and understand where they are coming from,” Knust said.

After Knust took the test, she went to Gallup to learn about her results. Students who take the test on the StrengthsQuest Web site will be able to see their results and find the meaning of their five main strengths. There also is a StrengthsQuest book that serves the same purpose.

Knust said she enjoyed her experience with StrengthsQuest so much, she purchased tests for her family members. Bretl and Ciriaco share Knust’s enthusiasm and promote the Career Center’s and Ratio Studiorum Program’s launch of StrengthsQuest.

“It’s in the baby stage for right now. We’re hoping it will take off appropriately,” Ciriaco said. “And in the whole spectrum of what students have on their plates, they have to keep in mind that this is one aspect of their life that could help them beyond their college years, so that’s what our hope is.”

To take the StrengthsQuest StrengthsFinder, sophomores must have a code to access the Web site. Students can get a code from their pre-major adviser or the Career Center.