10 Tips for Successful
Career Planning: An
Activity for Job-
Seekers of A
Career planning is not an activity that should be done
once — in high school or college — and then left
behind as we move forward in our jobs and careers.
Rather, career planning is an activity that is best done
on a regular basis — especially given the data that
the average worker will change careers (not jobs)
multiple times over his or her lifetime. And it’s never
too soon or too late to start your career planning.
Career planning is not a hard activity, not something
to be dreaded or put off, but rather an activity that
should be liberating and fulfilling, providing goals to
achieve in your current career or plans for beginning
a transition to a new career. Career planning should
be a rewarding and positive experience.
Here, then, are 10 tips to help you achieve
successful career planning.
1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event
Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and
dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual
basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or
weekend once a year — more often if you feel the
need or if you’re planning a major career change —
and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out
all distractions so that you have the time to truly
focus on your career — what you really want out of
your career, out of your life.
By making career planning an annual event, you will
feel more secure in your career choice and direction —
and you’ll be better prepared for the many
uncertainties and difficulties that lie ahead in all of
our jobs and career.
2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning
One of your first activities whenever you take on
career planning is spending time mapping out your
job and career path since the last time you did any
sort of career planning. While you should not dwell
on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on
the path — whether straight and narrow or one filled
with any curves and dead-ends — will help you plan
for the future.
Once you’ve mapped your past, take the time to
reflect on your course — and note why it looks the
way it does. Are you happy with your path? Could you
have done things better? What might you have done
differently? What can you do differently in the future?
3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and
Wants
Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do
our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two
years ago may now give us displeasure. So always
take time to reflect on the things in your life — not
just in your job — that you feel most strongly about.
Make a two-column list of your major likes and
dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current
job and career path. If your job and career still fall
mostly in the like column, then you know you are still
on the right path; however, if your job activities fall
mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin
examining new jobs and new careers.
Finally, take the time to really think about what it is
you want or need from your work, from your career.
Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To
be famous? To become financially independent? To
effect change? Take the time to understand the
motives that drive your sense of success and
happiness.
4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies
Career planning provides a great time to also examine
the activities you like doing when you’re not working.
It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work
activities when doing career planning, but it’s not.
Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can
give you great insight into future career paths.
Think you can’t make a hobby into a career? People
do it all the time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was
a successful business person who painted on the
side. It actually wasn’t until he was encouraged by an
artist he admired to continue painting that he finally
took a serious look at his hobby and decided he
should change careers. He was good at business, but
his love was painting.
5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments
Most people don’t keep a very good record of work
accomplishments and then struggle with creating a
powerful resume when it’s time to search for a new
job. Making note of your past accomplishments —
keeping a record of them — is not only useful for
building your resume, it’s also useful for career
planning.
Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will
reveal forgotten successes, one or more which may
trigger researching and planning a career shift so that
you can be in a job that allows you to accomplish the
types of things that make you most happy and proud.
For more about accomplishments, read: Tracking and
Leveraging Accomplishments .
6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable
Skills
Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles
that they don’t see any other career possibilities for
themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills,
and it’s much better to categorize yourself in terms of
these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on
job titles.
For example, one job-seeker who was trying to
accomplish career planning found herself stuck
because she identified herself as a reporter. But once
she looked beyond her job title, she could see that
she had this strong collection of transferable skills —
such as writing, editing, researching, investigating,
interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals
and deadlines, and managing time and information —
skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of
jobs in many different careers.
For more about transferable skills, read: Transferable
Skills .
7. Review Career and Job Trends
Everyone makes his or her own job and career
opportunities, so that even if your career is shrinking,
if you have excellent skills and know how to market
yourself, you should be able to find a new job.
However, having information about career trends is
vital to long-term career planning success.
A career path that is expanding today could easily
shrink tomorrow — or next year. It’s important to see
where job growth is expected, especially in the career
fields that most interest you. Besides knowledge of
these trends, the other advantage of conducting this
research is the power it gives you to adjust and
strengthen your position, your unique selling
proposition. One of the keys to job and career
success is having a unique set of accomplishments,
skills, and education that make you better than all
others in your career.
For more about researching careers, review our Career
Research Checklist .
8. Set Career and Job Goals
Develop a roadmap for your job and career success.
Can you be successful in your career without setting
goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful
through goal-setting? Most research says yes.
A major component of career planning is setting
short-term (in the coming year) and long-term
(beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you
initiate this process, another component of career
planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those
goals as your career plans progress or change – and
developing new goals once you accomplish your
previous goals.
9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities
It’s somewhat of a cliche, but information really does
lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to
learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part
of career planning is going beyond passive
acceptance of training opportunities to finding new
ones that will help enhance or further your career.
Take the time to contemplate what types of
educational experiences will help you achieve your
career goals. Look within your company, your
professional association, your local universities and
community colleges, as well as online distance
learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing
opportunities — and then find a way achieve them.
10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement
Opportunities
One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is
picturing yourself in the future. Where will you be in a
year? In five years? A key component to developing
multiple scenarios of that future is researching career
paths.
Of course, if you’re in what you consider a dead-end
job, this activity becomes even more essential to you,
but all job-seekers should take the time to research
various career paths — and then develop scenarios for
seeing one or more of these visions become reality.
Look within your current employer and current career
field, but again, as with all aspects of career
planning, do not be afraid to look beyond to other
possible careers.
Final Thoughts on Career Planning
Don’t wait too long between career planning sessions.
Career planning can have multiple benefits, from
goal-setting to career change, to a more successful
life. Once you begin regularly reviewing and planning
your career using the tips provided in this article,
you’ll find yourself better prepared for whatever lies
ahead in your career — and in your life.
Find this article helpful? There are plenty of other
great career planning articles in this section of
Quintessential Careers: Career Planning Articles .
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