Going about career planning

Career planning is not something you do when you are at the threshold of getting your maiden job. It has to be undertaken periodically as you move ahead in your career journey. Most people change jobs and careers; and hence it is all the more necessary to engage in career planning at regular intervals.

You should shed all apprehensions that career planning is a difficult task and hence should be avoided. In fact, career planning ought to be taken as an unshackling and satisfying activity that makes you aware of the objectives that you need to pursue in your present or new career. Some guidelines to make career planning a gratifying experience are:

·     Make it at least once a year: We indulge in so many annual events like celebration of birthdays, anniversaries and festivals together with a horde of allied activities. If that be so, why shouldn’t career panning be on our agenda? You need to identify a suitable date for the purpose. And when the day comes, you should make certain that you are free from all distractions and interruptions. You should focus only on your career – what you actually want from it to be precise. The exercise will gear you better to cope with various challenges that you will encounter in the ensuing period.

·     Take stock of what you have done since your last similar exercise: You should spend time figuring out how you have fared since the last time you did some career planning. Spending too much time on whatever has happened is not advisable. What you should be delving into is the path that you have followed so that you can institute appropriate remedial actions, including doing things differently to derive more happiness.  

·     Deliberate on your preferences & requirements: In this world, there is only one constant and that is change. Over a period of time, even our preferences change. This time should also be utilized to cogitate over different aspects of your life and career that impact you. Your findings should then be used to evaluate your present work and career path. You will be deemed to be on the correct course if your job and career are on your preferred list of things, But if it is not so, then you need to take a relook at your job and career alike vis-à-vis what you want to achieve in life.

·     Weigh up your leisure pursuits: Career panning also entails taking stock of what you enjoy doing when you are off work. Your leisure pursuits are good indicators of your future career paths. You must ponder over the possibility of converting one to a full time activity. In this way you will be able identify your passions that can be given wings.

·     Record all your attainments till date: A large number of people get momentary happiness on doing something great; they then forget about it. And when the time comes to reduce their accomplishments to writing, they simply cannot recollect any. You should spend time cataloguing all your attainments till date; the information will tell you what your strongpoints are; and how and why you need to be in a job or career that affords you opportunities for maximum satisfaction.  

·     Enunciate your career & job objectives: You will need to chart a route, moving on which will bring you career success. You can always be successful in your career, even if you do not have any specific objectives. And if you set objectives, the degree and possibilities of attaining that success is multiplied. Therefore, you need to be clear what you want to achieve in the short, medium and long terms. Having discerned such objectives, you will add another activity to your career planning – a review of them to see if any mid-term corrections are required or if any change in the objectives is necessitated. 

·     Delve into transferable skills possessed by you: Men and women get so engrossed in their work schedules that they become blind to other career prospects available to them. They just cannot hear opportunities knocking on their doors. Every job calls for certain skill-set and you should classify yourself in terms of the skill-sets possessed by you. You should identify areas other than your present work where you can put your skill-sets to good use. The results could well be surprising because you will find different careers where you can fit in well.

·     Evaluate prevailing career & job drifts: What one does in one’s career is his or her baby; and how one progresses is also likewise. This implies that you should be able to find a good job on the basis of your skill-sets in the eventuality of a career slump. To make such a thing possible, you should know how to promote yourself. Therefore, you need to understand what prevailing career drifts are and areas where progress can be expected. If you indeed examine career and job drifts holistically, you will feel empowered to strengthen your position and position yourself ahead of others competing with you.

·     Identify additional qualifications that you could acquire: In the present day competitive world, you should never let go any opportunity to learn. You need to identify newer ones that could boost your career. Therefore, in any career planning exercise, you should devote some time to pin point specific qualifications that you need to acquire that will facilitate accomplishment of career objectives set by you. A little bit of effort and research on the subject will put you wise and very soon you would be looking at ways and means to acquire them.  

·     Explore other opportunities available: A career planning exercise entails envisioning where you stand in the future. Where precisely will you be in the near, medium and long terms? To be able to discern that, you need to study different career courses that you need to adopt. This issue is more relevant if you feel that you have already reached the plateau stage of your career. It is not essential that you focus outside your present organisation; you can well keep your wits about for changes that you can affect within it. However, there is no harm whatsoever if you start exploring other career options elsewhere.

The interval between two career planning should not be too much because of the inherent advantages offered to you. You can derive a horde of benefits from this activity – setting objectives, going in for a career change and leading a better life. You will find that you will be better geared for your future.