Quite a number of people get into employment without a career plan or goal, and end up floating around for years. The best way to achieve a steady climb up the corporate ladder is to set a career plan. A detailed plan should outline your professional goals and strategies for getting where you desire to be.
Of course, a plan is susceptible to change; as it doesn’t take into account the opportunities or mishaps that life often tosses our way. Still, it is better to have a plan to guide you towards achieving your goal than to merely “wing” it.
Create your own career plan by following these steps:
Evaluate Your Personality: In choosing a career path, it is important to do a thorough self- evaluation, so as to make an informed decision.
- Go ahead and draw a SWOT analysis on yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your best character traits and which are your worst? You may even get your family or close friends to pitch in.
- It is important to define your values and attitude towards work as this is very instructive in determining the work culture that best suit you and ultimately, what companies will be good fits for you. Are you more passionate about the value you add or about how much money you can make? Are you excited to work round the clock or do you belong to the work-life balance school of thought?
- What piques your interest? There is nothing as frustrating as getting into a career that holds absolutely no measure of excitement for you. When you have chosen your industry of interest, you still have to decide in what area you want to specialize. For instance, if you choose to be in the advertising industry, would you rather be a voice-over artist or a concept strategist?
- What skill sets do you have? Your skill set should be the major determinant of the kind of industry and the capacity in which you choose to work. Let us say for instance, you are a graduate of Banking and Finance and are people-oriented, you will likely do well working as a Human Resource Executive of a financial house.
- In what kind of environment are you most effective? Do you prefer working the field like marketers or do you like all-day desk jobs? This is a question of personality and skill. If you are energetic and extroverted, depending on your field of study, you may want to consider job options such as Marketing, Geology, Journalism, Client Services, Civil Engineering, etc