| Career planning
Do you have a career plan? A plan that maps out where your career is headed in the next five, 10 or more years?
If you’re wondering what a career plan is and how it might help, you (like most people) probably don’t have one yet.
A career plan is simply a goal. You decide where you want to take your career – then you make plans to get there.
Why make a plan?
Without a plan, you allow your employer/s (or fate) to decide where you’re headed. When you take responsibility for what you want (inside and outside of work), you gain clarity and control. Goal setting gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation.
‘Psychologically most people know what they don’t want, fewer people know what they really do want. If people don’t know what they’re aiming for then it is virtually impossible for them to be truly engaged in life, let alone work,’ according to Life by Design, an Australian company specialising in employee engagement.
Be prepared to change your the plan when your needs or circumstances change. But have a plan. Without a plan you’re leaving your career to luck.
‘Without a plan, either you'll get where you're going and it'll take you longer or you won't get there at all,’ says Louis Verreault from global human resources consulting firm DBM. (Originally published in ‘Do you have a career plan?’ Stephanie Whittaker, The Gazette 27 Sept 2008.)
Build the plan
Understand yourself
While you need to think about how much money you’ll need and what kind of workplace you will feel comfortable in, you also need to focus on you. Listen to your heart: what’s really important to you?
Know your skill set, abilities, interests, preferences, priorities and personality. This self assessment process helps you gather information about yourself in order to make more informed career decisions.
You need to decide:
- what you want to do
- whom you want to work for
- where you want to work
- what steps do you need to take to achieve these?
It can be helpful to get a mentor or professionally trained career coach to help guide you through this process, give you constructive feedback and suggest strategies for achieving your goals. They can help you ask the right questions, reflect and plan.
Careers coaches can help you gain increased self awareness in relation to your career interests, aptitudes, work values and other work-related aspects. They can also help guide your career decision-making process and develop action plans.
Your career plan may include:
- your top 3 career goals
- alternatives, contingencies or back-up plans
- any potential obstacles that might hold you back
- strategies to overcome these obstacle
Make sure you identify do-able, tangible career and life goals. Define and write them down in order of priority.
Analyse and evaluate all the information you have gathered so you can effectively weigh up each option. If you don’t have enough information to make a decision then you may need to do more research.
How to set effective goals
If your goals are specific, measurable and do-able you will know exactly when you have achieved them – and can feel satisified and rewarded in achieving them.
Goals should be:
Specific and Measurable
Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. What exactly will you be doing when you achieve your goal? When will you do it? Who else is needed?
Observable and do-able
Define your goals as actions. Set definable limits so that you know when you’ve achieved your goal.
Small Steps
Break your goals into small, realistic and achievable steps or sub-goals. These help you gain a sense of progress and accomplishment.
Important to you
Someone else’s goals won’t necessarily suit you, your values or ambitions.
Prioritised
When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.
A challenge
Your goals may be hard work, but they are important and worth the effort. Don’t set them too low.
Self assessment tools & resources
There are many self assessment tests, quizzes or surveys on the Internet – but check that they are valid, research based and respected. No test can provide all the answers, but they may help to increase your self-awareness and clarify your preferences and priorities.
CareerOneStop Skills Centre
Conduct a self-assessment of your skills and learn how skills relate to occupations and how skill levels are measured.
http://www.careeronestop.org/SKILLS/SkillCenterHome.asp
The Career Key
‘Expert help with your career search and career choices’ — career change, career planning and job skills. http://www.careerkey.org
Action the plan
You’ve set your career goals – now to achieve them.
Start working on the smaller tasks that help you achieve your long term goals.
Examples of tasks or sub-goals include:
- Locate organisations who employ people in your chosen field. Indentify the personal qualities, skills, knowledge and experience required to be competitive.
- Build or upgrade specific skills – these could be technical, managerial or creative, for example. Do you need further education or training?
- Rewrite your resume.
- Make an appointment with a careers coach.
- Increase networking opportunities -- attend a professional conference or seminar.
- Speak at an industry event.
- Join a committee – or reduce the number of committees you are on!
- Develop presentation skills.
- Last but not least, aim for work-life balance.
Review
It is easy to become side tracked or lose sight of your goal. Is your career plan working?
Ask yourself:
- Am I networking properly?
- Do I perform effectively?
- Do I have the right skills?
- Has the market changed?
- Am I with the right employer?
- Has my employer's mission or work culture changed?
Reassess these every year. Adjust the goals you set according to the person you become in the process.
Make your plan an evolving guide, not a static document. Don't be afraid to change your plans as you change and grow: ‘a career is a journey, not a destination’.
KFC | 
