Getting ahead and knowing where your career is going requires a plan.
Having career goals is important when planning for your future. Whether you’re studying or working, knowing where you want to navigate to is a good idea. So have a career plan in place for 2020.
How do you go about making a career plan?
Getting a practical strategy in place that will help demonstrate your skills, goals and then taking action to get there, is the plan you would expect to draw up.
Your plan may comprise of the following areas:
Skills
Experience
Interests
Aims
Goals
Actions to achieve your goals
Time scale
Your plan should be visible and easily accessible acting as a consistent personal reminder. Don’t adopt the “out of sight, out of mind" mind-set.
Is a career plan important?
Absolutely! Planning is the key to success so having something drawn up and knowing how you will achieve it is beneficial for the progression of your career. It will also give you a step ahead in knowing how to answer career goal questions at any upcoming interview.
Everyone can benefit from a career plan
This strategy is ideal for everyone. Whether you’re a student, professional, climbing up the career ladder or want a change in career direction, drawing up a plan will help give you focus. Reminding yourself of the things you want to achieve is always a positive thing.
How to draw up a career plan
Here’s an outline of how to draw up your career plan:
Working out what’s right for you
Figuring out what you want for yourself and where you’d like to be by the end of 2020 is a good way of looking ahead. You will want to encompass areas that will suit your personality and lifestyle such as workplace environment, distance, salary expectations and job progression.
List your skills and experience
Understanding your skill set and the experience that you have alongside it is a good way to gauge which way your career is taking off. Maybe you might want to extend your knowledge in the field further or perhaps you’d like to veer in a different direction completely.
What actions do you need to take?
Whether you want to stay on the same track and build your skills and experience further or start afresh and learn something new, the actions you take to accomplish this needs to be listed.
What will you do to achieve your goals? Do you need to change your job? Start a course? Take on a volunteering or internship placement? Have a good think and if you need to modify your plan, don’t be afraid to do so.
Keep checking in on your plan
Once you get the ball rolling, don’t forget to check back on your plan to see how you are progressing. Are you on track? Do you need to make alterations to your original expectations? Or could it be that you are slacking and need extra motivation? Revisit that plan often so that you don’t fall behind.
Good luck on building a career plan for 2020.
