Personal Career Development – A Systematic Personal Career Plan Is Essential
In this constantly changing working environment today, personal career development planning is vitally important if we are to remain employable and to achieve our career goals. A systematic approach to your personal career plan is very essential these days if we are to observe that over the years, skills that were once in great demand have become obsolete due to the progress in new technology and market dynamics.
You may adopt a three step process approach for your personal career plan by assessing your current situation, examine and determine your future goals and finally to draw up a program towards achieving your future goals. These three step approach is elaborated in the next few paragraphs.
Your current situation is basically your resume or curriculum vitae. When assessing your current situation, you are basically drawing up your resume which is a very important document in your job search for the career opportunities that you are seeking. You are basically stating your experiences, skills, knowledge and qualification on paper. The resume has a dual purpose in that you are now fully aware of your current situation.
In personal career development planning, it is vary important to have a clear picture of your future goals, only then can you work towards achieving your objectives. You need to have a vision of your near term, medium term ad long term goals. For example, if you are an engineer and your goal is to be the director of a construction firm, your near term goal would be to be a project engineer, to be promoted to a project manager later and ultimately to achieve your long term goal of becoming a director of a construction firm.
It is important to work towards your ultimate career goal by focusing on a practical development program that will benefits and provides you with the necessary work experience and skills when you reach your career destination. Such program should include working under a more experienced person in your industry for the valuable mentoring assistance and guidance, as well as retraining and attending courses to build up your understanding and required skills relating to your industry. It may also be beneficial to work in different functions within the industry to acquire an overall knowledge of the industry if your ultimate goal is a managerial position such a director of a construction company. If you are already in well organized organization, you should constantly discuss with your immediate superior on your career development plan to obtain the necessary skills in the industry. Otherwise, it would be advisable to check the job market to steer your career path in the right direction.
In addition to the above, it is always important to develop soft skills such developing your personality and learning to work as a team. Building a successful career involves more than an individual’s effort, therefore having the ability to work with others is an important trait to acquire.
As mentioned above a personal career plan should be in place if your desire is to achieve your career goal. Otherwise, you may find yourself stuck in your present position with little direction right up to the time for your retirement. Personal career development planning is the key to achieving your career goal and at the same time to help you to remain employable.
