Career planning is normally an activity left to the Human Resources (HR) function of an organization. The key interest of organization while planning your career is to ensure that you fit in their future plans (which may not always be in your best interests). While your best interest is in finding out how the company fits into your career plan.
We have seen individuals do financial planning, retirement planning etc. Not many professionals do individual career planning (on their own). Most of our career actions are either based on opportunities we got along the way or someone else (organization) has done it for us. We recommend each individual to do a career planning based on their individual goals.
Career Planning Defined
“Career planning is a step by step (continuous) process, by which individual selects the career goals, identifies the paths to reach these goals, formulates strategies to achieve career goals, review periodically to check progress and take corrective actions.”
Career planning is not a one time but a continuous process which has to be reviewed periodically based on environment, opportunities and individuals progress. Career planning is basically an individual’s responsibility (and not of organization they work in).
Seven steps to career planning
STEP 1: Self Analysis
Before you set to decide on what you will do in career – perform self analysis to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Identify your values and guiding principals, because unless your goals are in conformity to values and guiding principals, you will not be successful. Ask yourself questions like following and note your answers in your career workbook* (a log book you will keep and maintain for a long time):
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What are your strengths?
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What are your weaknesses?
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What are your values?
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What principals guide you in life?
* Add this site to your favorites to keep watching this space for a copy of our career workbook
STEP 2: Set your Career Goals:
Do an objective analysis of your needs and aspirations and set your career goals. You have to “start with finish in mind”. Ask yourself questions like following and note your answers in your career workbook:
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What I want to do in life?
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Where I see myself (in my career) in 20 or 30 years?
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Where I am at present?
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Breakdown answer to question 2 and list where you see yourself in 15 years, 10 years, and 5 years?
STEP 3: Analysis Career opportunities:
The country, economy, industry, and state – multiple factors drive the current career opportunities available to you. Your career goals can be reached by using multiple paths. You need to do analysis of career opportunities currently available (which reach to your career goal) and likely to be available in near future. Check what these careers demand in terms of knowledge, skills, experience, attitude, etc.
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What current opportunities are available or will be available in near future?
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What these careers demand (knowledge, skills, experience, and attitude)?
STEP 4: Identifying Match & Mismatch:
Now you are set to identify where your profile is matching the demands of available opportunities and where they are not.
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Where your profile is matching to the demands (knowledge, skills, experience, and attitude) of career opportunities?
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Where your profile does not match the demands of career opportunities?
STEP 5: Formulating the action plan:
Workout the action plans to close the gap between what knowledge, skills, experience and attitude you have and what is desired.
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Formulate action plan to reduce or remove the mismatch
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Formulate action plan to strengthen the match
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If a correction is not practical go back and analyze the alternative career opportunities.
STEP 6: Implementing the action plan:
The action plans to close the gap between what knowledge, skills, experience and attitude you have and what is desired, need to be implemented. This may be a time consuming and lengthy process
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Implement your action plans
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Keep track of your progress
STEP 7: Reviewing Career plans:
A periodic review of career plan is required to understand whether the plan is leading to the direction you want to give to your life. Sometimes a review will be necessary to reap in the opportunities which became available due to external factors like changes in economy etc.
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Review the career progress
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Review the career plan make necessary changes
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