Panoramic view of Western's campus
 

By engaging with your unique strengths, you will work better in academic and interpersonal settings, build confidence to pursue meaningful careers, and positively impact your community. 


Western Student Experience has partnered with Gallup Inc. to bring you the CliftonStrengths for Students assessment, which will help you:

  • Improve self-awareness by discovering what you naturally do best
  • Thrive in and out of school by applying your talents to every area of your life
  • Improve performance in the classroom, at work, and everywhere else, thanks to proven advice and ideas for applying CliftonStrengths in different settings
  • Explain in a positive way who you are to peers, friends, and family using a common language of CliftonStrengths shared by more than 22 million people
  • Succeed in spite of your weaknesses using concepts and strategies that help you focus time and energy on your areas of greatest potential

 

How it works:



The CliftonStrengths assessment is all about finding your unique talents (your natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving).


After the assessment, you will be given your Top 5 CliftonStrengths: the areas in which you have the greatest potential for turning talent into strength.


When you work on intentionally applying your Top 5 in productive ways, your talents will become your strengths, and you'll use them more often to achieve your goals.

 

TAKE THE ASSESSMENT

Privacy Notice: Western Student Experience uses a third party provider (Gallup Inc.) to build and administer Western's CliftonStrengths Portal. After completing the assessment, the Strengths Program Coordinator will have access to and be able to view your results but not your individual answers. You will own the results and they won't be shared or used without permission. Your results will be collected in aggregate by Western for reporting purposes only. You may be asked to share your results if you are participating in a course, workshop, or campus opportunity, and if you would like to opt out of sharing, you are welcome to do so. Gallup Inc. uses cookies, web beacons and other similar technologies for the purpose of measuring performance and providing the online service. Western recommends that you do not connect your Gallup Inc. information to a social media service provider and that you read and review Gallup Inc.'s terms of use and privacy statement. Your participation in this program is completely voluntary and you may stop using it at any time. 

By taking the CliftonStrengths assessment, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the privacy notice above.

Take the assessment

Note: You must use your Western (@uwo.ca/@ivey.ca) email address to create an account (ex: JDoe78@uwo.ca)

Already taken the assessment? Sign in to review your results and other resources.

Frequently Asked Questions

Taking the Assessment

How do I take the assessment?

Click the 'Take the Assessment' button above, and follow the onscreen instructions to create a profile and take the CliftonStrengths assessment. You must use your @uwo.ca email address when creating your profile.

How long will it take for me to complete the assessment?

Once you have created your account, it should take about 35-40 minutes to complete the CliftonStrengths assessment.

Why is there a timer for each statement? What if I did not have time to choose a response?

The time limit and your unfamiliarity with the statements ensure your assessment's accuracy by making it difficult to over-think your responses. The CliftonStrengths assessment works by challenging you to make choices between paired statements. The combination of all the choices you made is used to calculate your top 5 CliftonStrengths. If the time limit prevented you from making a choice, it is very likely that neither statement affected you in a way that allowed you to make a top-of-mind choice. Whether each of the two statements described you equally well, or neither statement described you well, your difficulty in making a choice reveals that the statement pair probably did not tap into one of your most dominant themes.

Are there accommodations for people with disabilities?

Yes. There is a 20-second timer for each statement on the assessment. However, it can be turned off if you need an accommodation to take the assessment without a time limit. If this is the case, please create your account, and before beginning the assessment, call Gallup's support team at 1-866-346-4408 (available 6 p.m. CST Sunday through 5 p.m. CST Friday) to request that the timer be removed.

I stopped in the middle of taking the online assessment. Can I start again?

Yes. If necessary, simply sign in again by clicking Sign In on the upper-right side of the page. The assessment will automatically resume where you left off. If you are still signed in, click the Continue button to return to the paired statements you were considering before you were interrupted. If you need assistance, contact the CliftonStrengths Support Team.

What happens to my data when I take the CliftonStrengths assessment?

Western conducted an extensive review of Gallup's data security procedures; they met our standards for data and privacy protection. Please read our full privacy notice for details.

Any student who takes the assessment and wishes to delete their profile from Gallup may do so by emailing them at Privacy_Administrator@Gallup.com. Those individuals should print and save their reports externally if they intend to re-read or use them in the future.

Can I retake the assessment?

It is highly discouraged to take the assessment more than once in a 5-year period. At Western, we do not recommend retaking the assessment during your time here as a student. Taking CliftonStrengths more than once may decrease the accuracy of your results.

Strengths-based Approach

What is a talent?

CliftonStrengths defines a talent as a naturally recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that can be productively applied. Our talents can be applied in many areas, including relationships with others, learning, academic studies, leadership, service, and careers. Each of us can find joy, meaning, and success in using our talents and strengths in our lives and our work.

What is a strength?

According to CliftonStrengths, a strength is the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance in a specific activity. The key to building a strength is to identify your dominant talents, which are likely found within your top five themes, then complement them by acquiring knowledge and skills pertinent to the activity. For more information on talents and strengths, visit the CliftonStrengths website.

What about weaknesses?

A weakness is a shortage or misapplication of talent, skill or knowledge that causes problems for you or others. In a strengths-based approach, the focus is on building strengths and determining ways to manage weaknesses, not ignore them. Managing weaknesses will help you prevent failure, and building strengths will lead you to success.

What is the value in learning about my strengths?

Research in positive psychology and strengths-based approaches indicate that people who use their strengths everyday are more productive, have more positive than negative interactions, and have more creative innovative moments.

People who invest in their strengths generally feel more confident and hopeful.

My Results

I completed the assessment. How do I get my results?

You should be able to obtain your results immediately after completing the assessment. Go to Western’s CliftonStrengths portal and log in using the user name and password you set up when you created your account. Once you are logged in your results should appear automatically on the home screen. You can download further reports by clicking on the report links beneath the results.

Which report should I read first?

Start with your CliftonStrengths Top Five Report. This report will provide you with your unique descriptions of each of your themes, based on all 177 questions and your unique combination of all 34 themes. No one else has a Strengths Insight Guide like yours!

After you are more familiar with these descriptions and how your themes apply in your life, move on to the Strengths Insight and Action Planning Guide. This report also provides some specific ideas for how you can take action steps based on your talents in an academic and personal development setting.

How likely is it to have the same top 5 CliftonStrengths as someone else?

The chances of having the exact same top 5 CliftonStrengths in the exact order as someone else is 1 in 33.39 million. The chances of having the same top 5 CliftonStrengths as someone else, but in a different order, is approximately 1 in 340,000.

Should I pursue a specific major, degree, or career based on my strengths?

Your top 5 CliftonStrengths will not indicate specific majors or career paths for you to pursue. For example, having the theme of “Analytical” does not mean that you should pursue a major in math or computer science. The best way to use the assessment to inform your choice of major and/or career is to determine ways to apply your strengths to your chosen major and/or career. Skills and knowledge gained through a specific major and/or career will also provide opportunities to transform your talents into strengths.

Will I be labeled, stereotyped, or "put in a box" based on my results?

No. The CliftonStrengths assessment is a tool to help you in your self-discovery. Your top 5 CliftonStrengths are intended to help raise your awareness about where you naturally excel or have the potential to excel. The intent behind this strengths-based approach is to help you learn and understand how to apply your specific talents to the choices you make in your academic, career and personal life.

 

If you have any questions, concerns, or technical difficulties please contact our Strengths Program Coordinator.