Throughout our life, at different career stages, we all face crossroads. In the current climate, with Co-vid 19 dominating the world, this is even more prevalent for many people.
Whether it’s the threat of redundancy, a general feeling of unrest or just that you need more flexibility to achieve a healthier work life balance. Or maybe you would just like to move to a different job and organisation more frequently, or even whether your preference is to stay with one company for longer periods, none of us can avoid periods when we need to take some time to review our professional life.
So where do you start?
Firstly, think about creating a career plan. A career plan is a road map for your career – a tool to help you get where you want to be by the most direct route.
Before you get started in creating your career plan, think about these three questions:
- Where am I now?
- Where do I want to be in the future?
- How am I going to get there?
To help you answer these questions, creating a concise and detailed career plan is one of the most useful tools you can have to help you along this journey. The key characteristics of career planning is developing realistic goals and objectives that you can accomplish in the near future. A few steps to help you create your own career plan are:
Step 1: Self Evaluation & Skills Analysis
Before you start, some questions to get you thinking about the right role and help you discover what you really want to do:
- What motivates me and what do I really enjoy doing, what do I enjoy most about my current role?
- What is important to me?
- Which boss has brought the best out in me and why?
- What are the three key things I am looking for in a job?
- What organisational culture do I fit best?
- What qualifications and experience do I have?
- What are my key strengths, transferable skills and specific skills?
- What areas do I need to develop?
Step 2: Setting Your Direction
Based on your strengths, skills and experience, you can now start to create your career plan. To help you do this think about:
- Industries that really appeal to you and why
- The types of roles that would suit you best
- How do these options match your current strengths and skills
- What skills are lacking that may need some development or additional training
Step 3: Setting a Timeframe
Establishing a timeframe is very important and now that you have an idea of where you want to go, it’s time to work out how you can get there. To create an achievable timeframe, ask yourself some of the following questions:
- What do I want to achieve within the next six, twelve, eighteen months?
- How and when will I achieve any additional training and education goals?
- How and when will I gain the additional skills and experience I need?
- How can I expand my network, and who can I meet that can advise me and guide me?
Step 4: Review Your Career Plan
Write everything down, with relevant timeframes, to ensure you have a clear pathway in which to head. Ensure you monitor the progress of your career plan on an ongoing basis, at least every month, to ensure that you are on track to meet your goals. Re-evaluating your career plan and goals allows you to make adjustments based on changing economic and personal circumstances.
Finally, always remember that career planning is an ever-changing and evolving journey. If you feel you would benefit from one to one career coaching, then you can contact me directly.
Contact me on [email protected] or mobile 0419 350051 if I can help you.