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By: MJ Gonzales | Executive Chronicles
It’s better to walk out of nowhere than going nowhere, right? It is similar with some lucky employees who look successful in their companies. However, they feel different because of something they’re missing or do not achieve. One cause of this is the lack of long term goals or career planning.
What is career planning?
According to Fresno State Career Development Center (FS Careers), “Career planning is a lifelong process in selecting an occupation, locating career opportunities, professionally developing one’s self in a career, and possibly changing one’s career.”
FS Careers added that it something you thought several times. It’s because as you progress in life, you’ll encounter changes too. These changes may affect your personal life and then, your career. They shared there are four major steps in analyzing your career plan, which called D.I.G.S. or Discover, Investigate, enGage, and Succeed. Under Discover, it’s important to have self-assessment on your skills, realities, values etc.
Meantime, Michael Page International shared that the next steps after self-evaluation are “skills analysis,” “setting your direction,” commitment with timeframe, and lastly, “reviewing your time plan.”
Setting your career direction
To set your career direction, the Australia-based recruitment consultancy explained that it’s vital to visualize the designations that fit for you. Furthermore, notice your set of skills that you need to improve, companies or industries that are interesting for you and your other personal preferences.
Another point that Recruiter.com emphasized is to ask for feedback and advice. It include consulting a professional career coach or an expert in your field.
“Career planning should properly occur throughout an individual’s working life, not solely at the beginning of the career, or at crisis points such as when a job is lost. Some experts recommend that a person take time as frequently as once a year to do career planning (especially if on a yearly employment contract),” a Recruiter’s tip.
