How to Develop a Career Plan?
20 March 2014
Read by 3049 persons
The goal of a career plan is to give direction to your professional development, preventing you from just stringing together jobs without a clear purpose. Furthermore, if your career plan is based on your strengths and respects your values, you will be more fulfilled in your work. Here is some advice.
Define your important values
Even if a career plan should be concrete, first think about the values that are important to you. What do you prefer? A job that stimulates your creativity, that assures you job security, or that allows you to keep free time for your friends and family? Think about this before moving to the next phase.
Set specific goals
After defining these values, set concrete goals. Do you value human contact, do you like to work independently, do you want to continue learning, and are you very interested in marketing? You could consider a position as a marketing consultant that offers you the possibility of working with various clients.
Believe in your dreams
Your career plan must remain realistic, but that doesn't prevent you from dreaming a little. If you want to completely change your professional orientation or if you dream of starting your own business, define concrete goals and do everything to achieve them. These are the first steps in the right direction.
Proceed step by step
Don't just set long-term goals; also imagine where you would like to be in a few months or a few years. Do you want to become the editor-in-chief of a magazine in 10 years? In that case, you could aim for a position as deputy editor-in-chief in 5 years. Take your final goal as a starting point, and reconstruct in reverse the path you will need to follow to get there.
Give yourself the means to succeed
What do you need to achieve your goals? Maybe you don't have enough experience in a certain field; or maybe you first need to improve your knowledge, or even move abroad to have a chance of getting the job that interests you. See what you need to do to put your career on the right track.
Seek help
Improve your knowledge and skills by carefully listening to the comments of your colleagues, your clients, and your superiors. Stay in touch and build relationships with people who can help you achieve your goals. It's not uncommon for an acquaintance to tell you about an interesting job offer. So don't hesitate to expand your network and stay in touch with your colleagues, clients, etc. Who knows? They may one day be valuable allies.
Stepstone.be
Posted on March 20, 2014.
Define your important values
Even if a career plan should be concrete, first think about the values that are important to you. What do you prefer? A job that stimulates your creativity, that assures you job security, or that allows you to keep free time for your friends and family? Think about this before moving to the next phase.
Set specific goals
After defining these values, set concrete goals. Do you value human contact, do you like to work independently, do you want to continue learning, and are you very interested in marketing? You could consider a position as a marketing consultant that offers you the possibility of working with various clients.
Believe in your dreams
Your career plan must remain realistic, but that doesn't prevent you from dreaming a little. If you want to completely change your professional orientation or if you dream of starting your own business, define concrete goals and do everything to achieve them. These are the first steps in the right direction.
Proceed step by step
Don't just set long-term goals; also imagine where you would like to be in a few months or a few years. Do you want to become the editor-in-chief of a magazine in 10 years? In that case, you could aim for a position as deputy editor-in-chief in 5 years. Take your final goal as a starting point, and reconstruct in reverse the path you will need to follow to get there.
Give yourself the means to succeed
What do you need to achieve your goals? Maybe you don't have enough experience in a certain field; or maybe you first need to improve your knowledge, or even move abroad to have a chance of getting the job that interests you. See what you need to do to put your career on the right track.
Seek help
Improve your knowledge and skills by carefully listening to the comments of your colleagues, your clients, and your superiors. Stay in touch and build relationships with people who can help you achieve your goals. It's not uncommon for an acquaintance to tell you about an interesting job offer. So don't hesitate to expand your network and stay in touch with your colleagues, clients, etc. Who knows? They may one day be valuable allies.
Stepstone.be
Posted on March 20, 2014.
