Content
- What is Career Development?
- Career Planning
- Career Development Theory
- Career Development Goals
- Career Development Plan
- Career Development Plan Template
- Career Counselling
- How do I start to develop my career development plan?
- Implementing your career development plan will need guts!
- Having a career coach can help help you develop your plan
What is Career Development?
Career development is best described as your personal career plan for the future. It tends to include your goals, ideas and aspirations for your ideal work life and life style. Taking the time to create a personal career development plan enables you to fully appreciate your existing career strengths, weaknesses, talents, skills and interests. It also allows you to see how big the gap is between where you are in terms of your career at the moment and where you want to be in the next 5, 10 or 15 years. By defining your career development goals in detail, you are able to see clearly what resources and benefits you have to offer an employer and what you need to attain in order to close the career gap.
Career Planning
Career planning is not just for career minded people or for people facing a career change. It is now an essential requirement if you want to fulfil your career potential, achieve long term career satisfaction and to avoid derailment. Career planning is an excellent career strategy which allows you to plan for what the work world has to offer you in the future. Many people have only ever received career advice when they were either at school, college or university which may be a long time ago now. It is, however, best if you gain career planning advice throughout your profession as it helps you to make sure that you are on the right career track. When you receive career planning advice from your educational establishment, it tends to focus on helping you to choose a career that is in line with your personality, education and skills. You may be given the opportunity to fill in a personality test or a career choice profile which will highlight the types of jobs and tasks that you are well suited to. Career planning from this point onwards tends to be left to the individual concerned who may either read career planning articles on-line or career books, or who may fill in career development worksheets or attend career panning courses. Taking your career to the next level is all about making your own career plans, taking the necessary action in order to reach your desired career goal. People who plan are not dependent upon any other person or organisation. These career planners know how to take control of their work circumstances so that they avoid falling into any type of career rut or negative situation at work. They know that they have to develop their own career plans and strategies. These planners keep adding skills, knowledge and experience making themselves so valuable that head-hunters and HR recruiters everywhere are approaching them with job offers and contracts. The career planning process is not a mystery, it is something that anyone can do and implement as long as you have the right career planning tools.
Career Development Theory
Popular career development theories are constantly being put forward in the press by successful entrepreneurial business men and women, writers or management gurus. The type of career development model that appeals to you depends largely upon what level or position you want to take your career to. Many career changers like to have a career development model that allows them to take action with confidence and certainty. One of the added bonuses of a career development theory is that it offers the career mover an indication of the time that it will take to change or move career. A career development theory timeline is often the information that encourages the person to start the career change process.
Career Development Goals
Establishing your career development goals is a three part strategy. Firstly, you need to be able to define what your job development goals are and what your work development goals are before you reach the point when you can describe your overall career development goals and objectives. Secondly, you need to assess and record your personal development goals in order to check whether they match with your overall career development path. Thirdly, you need to pull your ideas together in a graphical or mind-map form so that you can refer to them when you create your career development plan.
Career Development Plan
Creating a career development plan involves thinking about what you would like to do with your future work life. A lot of people have a vague idea of the types of things that they want to achieve but they may not necessarily put them into any kind of formal plan or career strategy. Some people find it very hard to think about conceptual things as they have a tendency to quash their creative ideas before they are fully formed or developed. Some people prefer to follow a career development example, plan or template. Looking at your career development goals involves quietening your mind and listening to the desires of your heart and soul. It is a good idea if you can set aside some quiet time to allow your creative ideas to flow without any form of resistance or control. It is not helpful to ask yourself any ‘what if’ questions at this stage or to assess the validity of the idea itself. It may be that you have to practice this exercise on a number of occasions as your ideas may not flow the first time you do it. Start with your five year career development plan. Where do you want to be? What do you want to be doing? Write down all of your ideas. Then work backwards and do the same exercise for your three year career development plan and your one year development plan. Sketching out your professional career development plan in this way is guaranteed to stretch your mind and thinking far more than if you had just plodded along with your usual work routine. Once you have formulated your plan, you can start to action it. It is worth noting that some people find it easier to work with a career consultant or career coach at this career planning stage. They need career guidance, input and career strategies from a professional source. A career development path is all about tuning into your unique career purpose and mission so that can be the person you want to be and to do the things at work that give you the most amount of pleasure.
Career Development Plan Template
A career development plan template allows the career changer to see the type of work that is involved in closing the career gap between where they are at the moment and where they want to be. The career development plan or template maps out the necessary steps required to create the career goal or change. It allows the career changer to become involved in the process of change and to move from a passive state into an active one. Most career development plans are sample professional development plans and they then need to be tweaked or adapted to incorporate the specific career needs of the individual career mover. A personal career development plan allows the individual to work alone or in conjunction with a career consultant to manifest the desired career change.
Career Counselling
Changing career often involves some form of career counselling. Although there are a lot of free on-line career tests nothing beats individual career coaching tailored to your specific career needs, aspirations and wants. It is often very helpful to have an independent professional career consultant to help you to see your individual talents and to talk you through the career path required to take your career to a new level. A career coach is likely to ask you a lot of poignant questions to help you to come up with a new career path. The coach may ask you to fill in a career test, a career choice profile, career exercises or capability assessments with the overall intention of helping you to see the appropriate career direction for you. The career consultant or career coach through a series of exercises and talking to you will help you to explore your own career needs and what you value in your work life. The career consultant helps to make the career vision become clearer for you and will usually design the career strategy and step to complete. Creating a career development plan is about defining what you are looking for in terms of career success and fulfillment and establishing a career plan that you can easily achieve your career goals. One-to-one career counselling can often give you an insight into yourself and a career path to help you achieve the next level of your career success. Are you an ambitious, goal-orientated and work-loving person who is looking to gain more from your job or career? Are you looking to advance your career, to gain personal recognition or to gain greater financial rewards? Career development plan taking your career to the next level is easy as long as you know what you have to do. It is all about setting your career objectives, deciding what you are comfortable earning and focusing on your unique talents. Yes, your career development plan can be that simple. Sarah Berry, the UK’s best-selling career writer and career consultant says, ‘Fasten your seat belt and you will have the career ride of your life. If you want your career to go faster, you are going to have to learn some new techniques and put some pace into your efforts.’
How do I start to develop my career development plan?
The number one ingredient needed in your career development plan is to possess “PASSION“. It sounds simple but this is what most people lack. Are you passionate about what you do each day or are you just doing a job which pays the mortgage? Passionate people have the ability to generate ideas and they exhibit enormous energy and pride for what they do. They have the ability to strive forward and follow their dream and vision in spite of what other people say about them.
Implementing your career development plan will need guts!
The next necessary ingredient in your career development plan is to have “GUTS“. Many employees lack this because they feel it is safer to keep quiet at work. They put up with things, fail to take action and they avoid trouble. Getting along in business is not about being a good employee or worker. It is about standing up for what you believe in and stamping your ‘mark’ on the organisation. It is a risk, I know, because you won’t always be liked for it but it is far more dangerous to do nothing. Putting up with things that you don’t like will only lead you in time to feel frustrated and dissatisfied.
The third ingredient that you need to develop in your career development plan is the ability to “LEAD” other people. You need to create a positive following and create group of people around you who believe in you, your concepts and ideas. You need to be able to inspire, motivate and encourage other people. Leadership is not about being bossy; it is about being empathetic and leading people by example.
Having a career coach can help help you develop your plan
The last ingredient you need to have in your career development plan is to have a CAREER COACH. Top sportsmen and women are rarely self-taught. A Career Coach can make all the difference to your career development. He or she can help you overcome any personal challenges and offer you career strategies to get your career moving in the right direction. The role of career coach is to help you to unravel your career purpose, dreams and aspirations in order to develop your own career path. Share your ideas with your career coach and look for someone who can offer you tried and tested career strategies or techniques. We can offer you this service. Top How to Plan your Career Career Change Ideas LinkedIn profile tips to help you with your change of career More Career Change Advice
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