Its never too early to start planning for the new year, what better way to start thinking about the new year than to build a career plan? Rather than just saying you want a certain career, building a career plan keeps you organised and focused on the journey. It’s a very easy process and can be achieved with the easy steps outlined here!
Evaluate yourself
We don’t spend enough time critically evaluating ourselves but this is something that could potentially make building your career for 2016 a lot easier. Be honest with yourself about what you are good at, what you could add to a career and what you you’re not so good at and write everything down.
By identifying your good and bad attributes early on, you can start sharpening your good skills and working on your bad aspects now, so that in 2016, you’re ready to go!
Set some career goals
Create some career objectives that you would like to achieve. For example, do you want a job that pays a certain amount of money per year, do you want quick career progression, do you want lots of responsibility in your job, do you want a flexible career etc.? By setting some tangible goals, you can always go back to them and evaluate whether you’re achieving them in your new career.
Research
Once you’ve decided upon which career path you’d like to follow, find out everything there is to know about it! Talk to people in the industry, do some online research, look at the qualifications you need to have for that career and look at the relevant experience you need.
Work on your resume
After you’ve done some research, the next thing to do is work on the areas you are lacking. If the career needs you to be proficient with using software like Microsoft Excel for example, work on that. Be sure to prioritise what you need to do – some things will take you longer to achieve than others, some things are more important and need to be accomplished first.
Be proactive
You career will not come to you, you need to go to it! If there are recruitment fares, make sure you’re there, armed and ready! Promote yourself, make sure people in the industry know that you’d be a good asset to have. If there is an application deadline, make sure your application is sent in a few days before. If you’re offered an interview, make sure you plan your journey very early so you’re not late.
Stay motivated
It’s easy to lose motivation especially if your career goal seems unattainable. But, by making small, tangible goals, the process doesn’t seem so daunting. Always reward yourself when you meet a goal, even if it was a small goal. This will boost your motivation and keep you focused.
