SWOT Analysis
for business & work
Use this worksheet to take stock of where you stand professionally, in your current role, your career, or a side project. Honest reflection beats hopeful guessing every time.
No. 01, Context
Useful for B1+ business English · works at any career stageWhat is a SWOT?
SWOT analysis comes from corporate strategy, but it works just as well at the individual level. It splits your professional situation into four clear quadrants: two about you (strengths and weaknesses) and two about your environment (opportunities and threats). Use it to plan a career move, prepare for a review, or just get clearer on where you are right now.
The skills, experience, and qualities that set you apart at work.
The gaps and habits that hold you back, the ones you’d rather not name.
Trends, networks, and openings you could move into.
Forces that could derail your plans, the market, the company, your competition.
No. 02, The worksheet
Click a quadrant. Be specific.
All four corners are visible. Tap any letter to open its questions in the worksheet below. Your answers stay on this page, nothing is sent anywhere. When you’re done, print the page or save it as a PDF for your records.
Strengths : what you bring to the table
Skills, achievements, and the qualities others rely on you for.
Weaknesses : the honest list
This stays on your screen. Specifics beat generalities.
Opportunities : doors that are already open
Look outwards: industry, network, tools, timing.
Threats : what’s outside your control
Naming a threat doesn’t make it bigger. It makes it manageable.
No. 03, Pay attention
A few things to watch out for.
Be ruthlessly specific.
“I’m a good communicator” is meaningless. “Three of my last five client meetings ended in a follow-up call” is data.
Inside vs. outside.
A weakness is yours to own (poor delegation). A threat is environmental (your industry is automating). The fixes are completely different.
Pair Ws with Os.
For each weakness, find an opportunity that addresses it. That’s the move that turns a SWOT into a plan, not a journal entry.
Watch for false strengths.
“I work long hours” is a habit, not a strength. “I deliver complex projects on time without burning out the team”, that’s a strength.
Don’t catastrophise threats.
List them, sure, but stop after five. Anxious lists become longer than useful ones.
Bring it to your next 1:1.
A SWOT in your manager’s hands is a career conversation. Without it, you’re just hoping they’ve noticed.
No. 04, What next
Now turn it into a move.
- Pick one square that, if you acted on it, would change the most. Trying to fix all four at once is how SWOTs end up in a drawer.
- Write one concrete action per quadrant. “Take the Coursera course on negotiation by month-end.” “Email three contacts about the new role.” Vague intentions don’t count.
- Set a deadline. Without a date, a plan is just a wish. Put it in your calendar before you close this page.
- Find one accountability partner. A peer, a mentor, your manager. People who know your plan tend to remember it for you.
- Review every quarter. Career SWOTs go stale fast. Set a recurring 30-minute slot to revisit and update yours.
A career rarely changes because of one big move. It changes because of one honest assessment, followed by one small action, repeated until something shifts.