0What is Career Planning?
It is a set of organized activities to achieve the desired career goal. Career planning consists of activities and actions that you take to achieve your individual career goals
People ask me Why Career Planning? I say Why Not? When we plan every small thing in life. Even things like going out for dinner with family/friends, then how can we not plan our careers?
Suppose you need to reach a particular place and you do not know the address, the way and don't have the map to reach there. Reaching there would be difficult, right?
There was a time when we had limited career options, but today we have thousands. But we hardly know about a few. What we do is take advice from people who may be successful in one particular field but not necessarily have the knowledge of other career fields and hence are not able to draw a comparison among various options. As a result, we get "fascinated" about a career which might not be suitable for us and we realize that this is not for me after wasting our precious time.
Steps of Career Planning
Learn about yourself & most importantly assess yourself
What we need to keep in mind is our aptitude, ability and interests because success is SUBJECTIVE and success is different for different people. I understand that many a time it is not easy to assess yourself and people get confused. A professional Career Counsellor can help you with these assessments. Career Counselling has always been necessary but only recently, got the recognition it deserves. A recent study showed that 1 in 3 students are unhappy with the course that they picked. That is nearly half a million dissatisfied university students! Such figures only point to the importance of career planning and guidance
Learn about careers
Ask and find answers to the following questions:
What are the career options available?
How to choose the right one for yourself?
What competencies do you require to identify career opportunities that suit your strengths?
Make a plan
- Find out who can guide you in choosing the best option
- Take unbiased advice from experts
- Set career goals
- Select the right combination of subjects that leads you towards your goal
A successful and happy career is a series of right decisions, and I am sure if you make informed decisions, you will be more successful and will enjoy your career rather than looking at it as a way to earn your living. I wish you have no confusion and choose a job which is rewarding financially and personally.
