Career is no longer a term used to refer to specialists or someone climbing the corporate ladder.
The term “career” has broadened to reflect all the changes we have in our life. So, your career now includes all of your life, work, learning and leisure activities.
Career development is a lifelong process that is unique to each person. Knowing what you value in your work and your life as you move through your career will help you manage your work in your life.
Career Planning
- think about your interests, values, skills, and preferences;
- explore the life, work and learning options available to you;
- ensure that your work fits with your personal circumstances; and
- continuously try to manage the changes in your life and the world of work.
4 Steps for Career Planning
Step 1: Knowing Yourself
Begin by thinking about where you are now, where you want to be and how you’re going to get there.
Once you have thought about where you are at now and where you want to be, you can work on getting to know your skills, interests, and values. Begin by asking yourself the following questions:
- Where am I now?
- Where do I want to be?
- What do I like to do?
- What are my strengths?
- What is important to me?
At the end of this step, you will have a clearer idea of your work or learning goal and your individual preferences.
Step 2: Finding Out
This step is about exploring the occupations and learning areas that interest you.
Once you have some idea of your occupational preferences you can research the specific skills and qualifications required for those occupations.
- Explore occupations that interest you and ask yourself how do my skills and interests match up with these occupations?
- What options do I have to gain these skills or qualify for these occupations?
- What skills do I need?
- Where is the work?
At the end of this step, you will have a list of preferred occupations and/or learning options.
Step 3: Making Decisions
This step involves comparing your options, narrowing down your choices and thinking about what suits you best at this point.
- What are my best work/training options?
- How do they match my skills, interests, and values?
- How do they fit with the current labor market?
- How do they fit with my current situation and responsibilities?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
- What can I do about it?
At the end of this step, you will have narrowed down your options and have more of an idea of what you need to do next to help you achieve your goals.
Step 4: Taking Action
Here you plan the steps you need to take to put your plan into action.
Use all you have learned about your skills, interests, and values together with the information you have gathered about the world of work to create your plan. Begin by asking yourself:
- What actions/steps will help me achieve my work, training and career goals?
- Where can I get help?
Try basing your plan on a specific occupation.
- Identify a key occupation;
- Set yourself a key task like arranging work experience or speaking to someone that works in the field;
- Find out about study or training pathways that would help you achieve a specific qualification for a preferred occupation.
In all of this, you need to remember that your career doesn’t happen in isolation to other aspects of your life. As you work your way through the model ensure that you’re taking your entire life circumstance into any decisions you make.