The Career Planning Process

Planning your career


Self-Assessment is a vital and often overlooked step in planning your various career paths. In order to evaluate the suitability of work options, it is important to know who you are as a person. This involves taking a careful inventory of your current values, interests, skills, passions and personal qualities.

Once you have assessed what interests you and what you have to offer employers, you can begin brainstorming possible career options and investigating them thoroughly. You will learn about the descriptions and qualifications for positions, typical entry points and advancement, and other important facts in order to determine if there is a good fit.

Research - Online resources is one way of gathering preliminary information. The next step will be to speak with as many people as possible that are involved in work that is of interest to you. By interviewing these individuals for information and advice about their work, you will be getting an insider’s perspective about realities of the field and recommended preparation.

Internships and part-time jobs are an excellent way to sample a field of interest. They provide the opportunity to perform some of the job functions, observe others work and evaluate the environment.

Decision-making involves an evaluation of the pros and cons prioritizing and sometimes risk-taking. Since the work landscape is constantly changing, it is unrealistic to aim for decisions based on absolute certainty. Flexibility and adaptability are important.

Head out there - Once you have made up your mind on your work objective, you can begin looking for a job. Networking, identifying prospective employers, writing cover letters and resumes, and interviewing and all part of this process.

Acceptance - Finally, you will accept employment. It will mark the beginning, or a milestone, in your exciting and varied career. If you are like most people, you will change jobs from 8-12 times during your work life. You will continue the process of self-assessment, research and decision-making in order to make effective and fulfilling changes but make sure that whenever you leave a job, you do it ethically and professionally, without causing any harm or disruption to the company. Leave on good terms so that no doors are closed on a future opportunity.