Working out a career plan.Introduction This checklist is designed to help those who want to start planning and managing their careers. The importance of having a career plan cannot be overstressed. A career plan is a useful monitoring tool giving you a realistic picture of your progress. Working out a career plan will ensure that you spend time understanding and organising yourself, so as to maximise your talents and abilities. Time spent on reflection is never wasted and will help you to identify your unique mix of skills, strengths and limitations and how these may change over time. Reflection leads to clarity, so that when opportunities emerge you are able to make informed choices. Often, you will find that it is those who are most skilled at managing their careers and finding opportunities who get the best jobs. Definition Career planning has traditionally been seen as the process of assessing personal strengths, values and aspirations aspirations npl → aspiraciones fpl (= ambition); ambición f aspirations npl (= hopes, ambition) → aspirations fpl ; establishing goals and objectives; and identifying the steps needed to achieve them. Rapid change in the nature of work and organisations, however, has complicated this process. Predictable career paths can no longer be relied upon and greater flexibility may be required. Action checklist 1. Who am I? The foundations of any plans for the future are based on your understanding of who you are, what is important to you, and your dreams and hopes for the future. This understanding helps you to begin a process of decision making about the future. Some simple questions can help you reflect on your career: 1. What has triggered your moves in the past? 2. What are the significant influences on your life, and how have these affected your career? 3. What are your skills? 4. What do you see as your strengths? 5. What are your limitations? 6. What have been your successes and failures? 7. What values underlie your life? 8. What are your current obligations and commitments? 9. Are there talents in you that you feel are underdeveloped un·der·de·vel·oped adj. Not adequately or normally developed; immature. ? 10. Do you feel in a rut of any kind? 11. Are your answers to the above an accurate reflection of you? 2. What do I want? Once you have completed a review of where you are you can begin to focus on the future--where you see yourself going. You should not be restricted by the normal constraints CONSTRAINTS - A language for solving constraints using value inference. ["CONSTRAINTS: A Language for Expressing Almost-Hierarchical Descriptions", G.J. Sussman et al, Artif Intell 14(1):1-39 (Aug 1980)]. of realism at this stage. Ask yourself: Where do I want to be in the short, medium and long term? 3. No change At this stage, you may decide that you don't don't 1. Contraction of do not. 2. Nonstandard Contraction of does not. n. A statement of what should not be done: a list of the dos and don'ts. wish to make any changes to your life. It could be that you feel that your current life does not need enhancing, or, after reviewing your obligations and commitments, you may decide that this is not the right time for change and that plans for the future should be deferred for a while. Whatever the reason for opting for no change, it should be a positive and conscious decision, rather than one arrived at from a feeling of having no choice 4. What change options do I have? If you decide that you want to consider the change possibilities there ae many ways of approaching this. For example you may decide to: * make a big change in one area * make a small change in one area * make several small changes * plan changes over quite a long period * make changes as soon as possible. 5. Changing your current position Within your current job, there may be ways to enhance what you are doing and so increase your job satisfaction. Here is a list of suggestions: * undertake a new project * organise a visit to another department * participate in a job swap * volunteer for new responsibilities * look for alternative ways of doing things * offer to coach new juniors * negotiate a redefinition Noun 1. redefinition - the act of giving a new definition; "words like `conservative' require periodic redefinition"; "she provided a redefinition of his duties" definition - a concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase or symbol of your job to include more stretch * shadow a colleague * investigate the options of part-time part-time adj. For or during less than the customary or standard time: a part-time job. part , job share, or flexible employment. 6. Changing yourself Changing your situation may necessitate ne·ces·si·tate tr.v. ne·ces·si·tat·ed, ne·ces·si·tat·ing, ne·ces·si·tates 1. To make necessary or unavoidable. 2. To require or compel. changing yourself by, for example, learning new skills or updating rusty rust·y adj. rust·i·er, rust·i·est 1. Covered with rust; corroded. 2. Consisting of or produced by rust. 3. Of a yellowish-red or brownish-red color. 4. ones; setting yourself more realistic expectations or more ambitious targets; or re-examining attitudes. Here are a few suggestions: * attend a course or training programme * undertake an external course of study * encourage feedback and seek advice from someone you respect * consult a careers advisor. 7. Changing your job If you decide to look internally for opportunities within your current organisation, networking will be important. You will need to follow up useful contacts, or establish new ones in career areas you are attracted to. If you want to change your job completely it is worth examining your situation positively when making career plans, and thinking of creative solutions to ensure as close a match as possible between what you want and what is available. Consider whether, for example: * you can identify gaps in your skills * you have the time to update old skills or learn new ones * you can polish up polish up Verb 1. to make smooth and shiny by polishing 2. to improve (a skill or ability) by working at it: I'm going to evening classes to polish up my German Verb 1. your interview techniques * your CV may need revising. There is no guarantee that the right job will become available at the right time or that your application will be successful. Don't limit yourself to thinking about opportunities which offer promotion; it may be time to think about a sideways move to broaden your experience or to increase job satisfaction 8. Updating your plan As time passes you may find that you overestimated some abilities and underestimated others; or that you have discovered capacities you did not realise you had, or that circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or have made some skills redundant and others more important. Your career plan will need regular revision--you should go through the review processes outlined here regularly, and at least once every three years. How not to manage working out a career plan * Practicality: often people have unrealistic aspirations. Be sure to check your ideas out with other people, colleagues, mentors, family and friends * Limited range--it is possible to view yourself as only ever working in one type of job, this can narrow career your ambitions dramatically * Inflexibility in·flex·i·ble adj. 1. Not easily bent; stiff or rigid. 2. Incapable of being changed; unalterable. 3. Unyielding in purpose, principle, or temper; immovable. : over-detailed planning will leave little or no scope for responding to any changes in circumstances that may occur * Taking responsibility: neither depend on others to recognise your potential nor devolve devolve v. when property is automatically transferred from one party to another by operation of law, without any act required of either past or present owner. The most common example is passing of title to the natural heir of a person upon his death. responsibility for your career on to your organisation * Risk taking: guard against taking unnecessary risks--you should be making informed choices Additional Resources Books The 2006 what color is your parachute parachute, umbrellalike device designed to retard the descent of a falling body by creating drag as it passes through the air. The development of modern aircraft has led to many experiments in the aerodynamic problems of parachute design, with the result that the : a practical manual for job hunters and career changers
The Changers are a fictional group of anti-hero published by Wildstorm an imprint of DC Comics. , Richard Ri·chard , Joseph Henri Maurice Known as "Rocket." 1921-2000. Canadian hockey player. A right wing for the Montreal Canadiens (1942-1960), he led his team to eight Stanley Cup championships and was the first player to score 50 goals in a Nelson Bolles Bolles is a surname which may refer to the following people:
Berkeley Calif: Ten Speed Press, 2006 Working identity: unconventional strategies for reinventing your career Herminia Ibarra Boston Mass: Harvard Business School Harvard Business School, officially named the Harvard Business School: George F. Baker Foundation, and also known as HBS, is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. Press, 2003 It's your career: take control, Catherine B Beck Palo Alto Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. Calif: Davies Black, 2004 Take control of your career, John Lees John Lees is an English name, and is bestowed upon a number of notable people:
Maidenhead Maidenhead, city (1991 pop. 59,809), Windsor and Maidenhead, S central England, on the Thames River. It is a residential town with brewing and milling industries as well as a resort. The 13th-century stone bridge was rebuilt in the 1770s. : McGraw Hill, 2006 Capitalizing on career chaos: bringing creativity and purpose to your work and life, Helen Harkness Mountain View Calif: Davies Black, 2005 This is a selection of books available for loan to members from the Management Information Centre. More information at: www.managers.org.uk/mic Related checklists How to succeed at interviews (033) How to write your CV (055) Organisations The Chartered Management Institute Inspiring Leaders The Chartered Management Institute is a professional institution for managers, based in the United Kingdom. In addition to supporting its members, the organisation encourages management development, carries out research, produces a wide variety , Management House, Cottingham Road Corby, Northants NN17 1TT Tel: 01536 207400 www.managers.org.uk The Institute has developed a web-based career development service for members which contains tools and techniques to help you plan your career. The site is designed to support members at every stage of their career, from starting out to gaining promotions, taking a career break or changing career and planning for retirement: www.managers.org.uk/careers If you need more detailed, one-to- one career guidance, contact the Management Information Centre (MIC) for information about the Institute's commercial career guidance partners, who can provide members with further help, at reduced rates. |
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