A career is something you can plan. Start today. In this blog, we will lead you through the process of creating a career plan. A career plan will allow you to get to know what you would like to do in the near, but also in the distant future. It gives you a perspective and you’re more likely to go get what you want if you plan it all out in advance, for yourself.
The first thing, to start career planning, is getting to know yourself.
In the career plan you can divide two kinds of aspects, namely:
– Your personality: personal skills, traits, ideas, strengths and weaknesses
This is the core of what you stand for and how you handle business-related topics, so will decide a lot about your career. Also, your personality can change over time so it is important to keep up reflecting on this to keep your career plan in mind and to see if it still makes sense for you to keep up this specific career.
– Your qualities: experience, education, knowledge, things you undertook in de past.
This is basically what you have achieved already and you can use this as a starting point for your career planning.
When you have a good view of your personality and qualities, it is time to set your goals. These must be drawn up in a structured way but, above all, they must be achievable. It is also important that you link a certain duration to each goal, so in what timeframe do you want to have reached this goal. Also, take your personal life into account when you draw up this period. Based on your goals, you can look for new opportunities and review the movement on the job market in your industry or the new industry you are trying to enter. For each goal, you identify the specific actions needed to achieve it. List these actions and make an estimation on how much effort it takes to complete them. This way you can schedule your goals with planned date for achieving them.
To stick to your plan it is important to stay invested in your career and don’t lose focus. If you lose focus, you can always consider adjusting your goals. Work is important but so is your personal life. Also, keep monitoring what you have achieved so far, this will give you more motivation to stick to the plan for your future because the future is bright. Small steps are also steps in the right direction.
“Your career is a marathon, not a sprint”
https://www.reed.co.uk/career-advice/how-to-make-a-career-plan/
https://careers.yorku.ca/students-and-new-grads/my-career-plan
https://www.michaelpage.nl/en/advice/career-advice/career-development/creating-career-plan
