Plan Your Career
Planning your career is an important step. Without a plan you may go from job to job without ever knowing what your goals are and what you hope to accomplish in your career. You may even forget to invest for retirement, so it is important to have a plan.
Planning your Career
To manage your career you need to have a plan.
What is in a Career Plan?
- What career field do you want to be in?
- Where do you want to get training?
- How are you going to pay for the training?
- Make a list of companies you would like to work for.
- Does working for these companies involve moving to a new location? Where are moving expenses coming from?
- What career style are you going to have?
- What criteria shows you are succeeding in your career?
- Where will you save for Retirement?
- Do you have an emergency fund?
- What will be doing outside work for fun and staying healthy?
Having a wrote out career plan will help guide your career over the years. You set goals for yourself, like if you want to move up into management, run a department in a company, start your own company, etc. It will be how you judge your progress and success.
Guiding your career
Guide your career using the P.A.A.R. method -
- Plan your Career
- Act – Get a job & build your career
- Assess your progress and adjust as needed
- Repeat
Planning your career, putting the plan into action and then periodically reviewing your progress are important steps in managing your career.
When you review your progress decide what went well and what didn't and modify your written plan as needed. This review process usually happens when you move to a new job, get laid off, or have life events that require you to reassess your career plan.
Having a plan helps guide you through your career and helps guide your choices on job moves, whether you take promotions or not, and if you move from company to company strategically. It is up to you what you accomplish in your career.
Repeat
During your career you will need to use the Plan, Act, Assess and Repeat process over and over. Did your career plan not go well? Do you need to readjust your plan? You may need to modify your written career plan.
Repeating the process over time helps guide your career and helps you mantain career focus on what is important to you.