Career Planning

The career planning process has four steps:

☛ Knowing yourself

☛ Finding out

☛ Making decisions

☛ Taking action

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?

☛ Where are the gaps?

☛ 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.

Begin by thinking about where you are now, where you want to be and how you are 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.

When it comes to long term career planning, you can go a bit ambiguous and even out of the material world. For example, you can say that your long term career aspirations are to create a path that other people in the profession and line of work may follow. You may even speak about what are your career ambitions, like obtaining the highest post in a company in a while etc.

For this question we would like you to think about the current trends in the market and how they may affect your career path. Think about what things you could do to increase your employment potential.

Career planning is an ongoing process that can help you manage your learning and development.

Short term career planning is quite simple, like getting a higher post in a few years or months or learning a new skill so that you can become more productive for the company or even earning a certain amount per month by a particular time. These are the answers that you can provide when you are asked what your short term career aspirations are. In some cases, you can also speak about any dream company that you would like to work with as your short term career aspirations.

Career planning is the continuous process of:

☛ Thinking about your interests, values, skills and preferences.

☛ Exploring the life, work and learning options available to you.

☛ Ensuring that your work fits with your personal circumstances.

☛ Continuously fine-tuning your work and learning plans to help you manage the changes in your life and the world of work.

Career should change if:

☛ Your life has changed

☛ The job outlook in your field has worsened

☛ You are experiencing job burnout

☛ Your job is too stressful

☛ Your work bores you

☛ You want to earn more money

The future looked promising for your field when you entered it. Due to changes in technology, the economy or the industry you work in, job opportunities are no longer plentiful and your research indicates that things are going to get worse instead of better. You should look for an occupation that has a better outlook.

For this question think about the skills your future employer might wish for you to have, for example communication, team work, analytical or interpersonal skills and how you can demonstrate that you have them.

Think about how your key achievements link to your future career did you learn something about yourself, your skills or career interests that has since informed your career thinking?

Use this time wisely to explore career opportunities and narrow down your choices.

☛ Keep up on your school assignments.

☛ Explore some of the more interesting courses that your high school offers.

☛ Think about what kind of job you would like to have some day.

☛ Get experience.

☛ Ask the employed adults you know what they like and dislike about their job.

☛ Talk to your parents about school and your future plans.

Think about the sector you want to be working in, the type of position or business you want to have and which geographic location you want to be in. Use these two questions to identify your career goals.

If you have no clear goals think about the resources you have used, such as websites, meetings with the career service at your university, presentations you have attended or talks with your friends or family that have helped you to form your ideas for your future career.

The answer should be:

My career goal is to became expertise in field where am i working and constantly update myself with the latest technologies to move up in ladder and also to pursue a MBA degree.

Once you identify some career areas that interest you, take a look at your high school curriculum to see what classes may help in your career decision-making. Interested in journalism? Try a writing class. Interested in medicine? Sign up for an anatomy or biology class.

Taking a class can re-affirm your interest in the field and build on your skills. If you find that the class is not for you, you still have time to change course and explore different career paths. High school provides the perfect time to "sample" what's out there before you need to make a commitment.

Take classes now to help establish a direction for the future.

Get an early start on career exploration by trying out an internship or job shadowing opportunity. Internships and job shadowing are great ways to get some "real world" experience in a field that interests you. These types of on-the-job training give you a small taste of what you may face day to day should you pursue full-time work in that field.

Internships and job shadowing look terrific on a college or employment application.

If you dream of making more money, you may be surprised to learn that doing so will not necessarily bring you job satisfaction. If you definitely can not live the way you want to on your current salary and there is no way you can get a raise, you should probably make a career change. Choose an occupation that has higher earning potential.

If you are the type of person who prefers an organized way of life, you may find this question a piece of cake to answer. But if you're among the majority of people who let life happen as it comes along, you will probably not have a smooth answer without some forethought.