Career planning represents planning career choices, setting career goals, and applying for academic and developmental projects to enhance the abilities to accomplish career goals.
Career planning is not something you do every day– so it is highly significant to execute it correctly. It decides the outline of your career development and is an essential aspect of creating your professional life.
Career planning consists of mainly four essential procedures
- Self-Assessment – This comprises specifying your strengths, weaknesses, talents, shortcomings, etc., to assist you in choosing the right career path. Self-assessment is the first step in career planning and is incredibly valuable as well. When you do not know about yourself, how will you decide on a promising career for you? Personality tests and career assessment tests are two vital ingredients of this procedure. By the end of your evaluation, you will be able to short-list careers reasonable for you.
- Career analysis – When you are done with self-assessment, it is time to research the careers that are appropriate for you. Eliminate all the career paths you are not interested in.
- Career identification – The next step is deciding on the career choice that you like the most. Look for the skills and abilities required in that career field. Study all the prerequisites of building your career in that particular arena.
- Career action plan – This includes your short-term and long-term goals. Write down all that you have to accomplish. Break long-term goals into short-term goals so that it is easy for you to pursue and attain them.
While you are proceeding with these steps, it is necessary to keep the following things in mind –
1. Evaluating other factors
When you are choosing your career path, it is significant to contemplate factors other than your preferences.
What are the qualifications required in the field? What are the essential skills? What is the prevailing need of this field? What are the obstacles you might face? Are you ready to take risks? How will choosing this field influence your life?
You can accept advice from your friends, families, and companions. Moreover, you can also hire a career coach if you think you need an expert’s recommendation on the matter.
2. Revise your career plan
It is essential to keep updating your career plan. Analyze what you have accomplished so far.
Are you optimistic about your career path? Are you improving? Are you going in the right direction? What are the things you could have completed in a better way? What are the elements you need to change?
You can revise your career plans every six months or a year. Select a particular day and time to update your career plan. Keeping track of your career objectives is crucial to gauge your advancement.
3. Set ‘SMART’ goals
Are you familiar with the SMART technique to set your goals? It is a wonderful procedure to properly planning your objectives.
The acronym stands for –
- Specific – Your goals must be well defined.
- Measurable – You should be able to evaluate your goals.
- Achievable – Your goals should be appropriate and achievable.
- Relevant – Your goals should be relevant to your career advancement.
- Time-Bound – Your goals should be time-bounded.
When you set goals utilizing the SMART methodology, you achieve further clarity on your career choice, and it becomes easy for you to update your career plan. Moreover, keeping track of the progress in your career planning is possible only when your objectives are measurable.
4. Scour new courses and training sessions
Acquiring knowledge must go on even when you have established your career. Learning is a never-ending process. Never miss out on new opportunities for learning more about your field. You can take up new courses or join training sessions and workshops to enrich knowledge and grow in career development.
5. Leave your comfort zone
When you are on your way to forging a career, it is necessary to step out of your comfort zone. You will never achieve more than what you already have if you want to maintain your stability. Retiring from your comfort zone is the only way possible to take new risks and make bold moves to advance your professional life.