Whether you’re a recent graduate about to start your career, an experienced professional stuck in a rut, or in a job that you love but just want a bit of clarity on where you’re headed in life, building a well-thought-out career plan is the number-one place to start.
A career plan encourages you to identify what careers are out there, what your skills are and how you’re going to get there (i.e. any professional certifications you might need or skills to work on).
Once the plan is built, you’ll then have something actionable that you can put into place, as well as something to measure your progress against to ensure you’re hitting your goals.
So, want to get that promotion of your dreams in five years’ time? Here’s where to start.
Here are five steps to creating a solid career plan.
1. Self-reflect
The best place to start is by looking inwards.
Set aside time to really reflect on what makes you happy, what your values are, what you want to achieve in life, and which type of career can best support that.
Here are some key questions to think about:
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What are my strengths?
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What’s important to me?
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What do I like to do?
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What makes me happy?
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What do I want to get out of a career?
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What do I want my life to look like in five, ten and twenty years?
Next, make a list of your qualifications and hard skills. These should include university degrees, professional certifications, and more technical skills like coding, bookkeeping or project management.
Seeing these written down in front of you, do any particular types of career jump out at you? And, if so, do these align with your values, what you like to do and what you want to get out of your career?
“Qualifications and hard skills aren’t particularly transferable.”
Qualifications and hard skills aren’t particularly transferable. So, if you’ve actually realised that they don’t really relate to the career or lifestyle you want, don’t get too bogged down by them. Focus more on your soft skills instead.
Soft skills are transferable skills that reply to all jobs as a whole, rather than one specific type of role. For example, soft skills can include things like communication, teamwork, strategic thinking, problem-solving, leadership and adaptability.
2. Decide on a career path
Once you’ve got all of the above written out in front of you (what you want to get out of your career, what you’re qualified to do and what soft skills you have) some career paths might immediately jump out at you.
If not, don’t worry. Try to use this information to come up with a list of industries or types of career that match your values, lifestyle, strengths and passions.
If you’re struggling for inspiration, it’s worth taking a look at which jobs and skills are most in-demand right now. The current UK skills shortage report finds that despite over 32 million people in the UK being employed, many professions continue to face massive shortages.
For example, the most in-demand jobs in London are in the financial sector, secondary teaching and software. Think about whether you can provide value to these high-demand sectors.
3. Research and think SMART
Now you’ve decided on a specific career, it’s all about setting goals to get you on that path and where you want to be.
Thoroughly research what you need to achieve to get you on to that path. For example, you might need a specific qualification or degree, or you might need experience in a specific role or industry.
The best way to set goals is by using the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) system.
Let’s put this into practice by using the career path of a secondary school teacher as an example:
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S – Specific – You need to do a part-time teacher training course in the evening.
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M – Measurable – You attain the qualification.
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A – Attainable – Yes, if you dedicate 15 hours a week to your studies.
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R – Realistic – Yes, providing you continue working your 9-5 job for financial support.
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T – Timely – The qualification required will take around two years to complete.
Once you’ve set your SMART goals, share them with someone you trust. This will give you a sense of accountability and will make you feel more obliged to see them through.
4. Write out your career plan
You’re 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you’ve written them down.
Once you’ve set out your SMART goals, incorporate these into a full, written career plan.
By writing out your career plan, you’ll have a clear view of your narrative and timeline, and give yourself something more tangible to work from and look back at as you go.
Whether you save it on your desktop, print it out and keep it in a file on your desk, or even hand write it out, make sure you have a copy of your plan somewhere that you can refer back to. And do regularly refer back to it to check in on your progress.
5. Continuously review your plan
Things change. People change. Circumstances change. And that’s ok.
In three years’ time, you might find that a plan you wrote out three years prior is no longer achievable or might not align with what you actually want to do.
You might hit an unexpected bump in the road and have to delay achieving some of your goals until further down the line.
“A career plan should never be set in stone.”
You might even do better than you expect and achieve that promotion way earlier than you thought you would, meaning you need to bring some of your goals forward or even create new ones.
The key here is to be flexible and open to change.
A career plan should never be set in stone. It’s a live document that you should continuously go back to and update to suit new developments and circumstances.
Let us help
Trying to map out your career path can feel like an overwhelming task. But it doesn’t have to.
Our recruitment specialists and career experts are on hand to help you figure out what your strengths and skills are and map out your path to your ideal career.
What’s more, they can take it one step further and actually identify specific roles and companies where you’d be a great fit.
Get in touch to start your journey.
Images via Pixabay and Unsplash
