Many of us stall career planning till the last minute or jump into our work life without a plan. Thus landing us in a soup, be it a lack of job satisfaction, or not finding a clear purpose in the job role/company.
Now for those looking to start their professional journey, check out the 7 steps for successful career planning. While for the more experienced working professionals, we have you covered.
In this piece, we will cover queries like what is career planning and tips to continue your future planning.
So, let’s begin!
What is career planning?
First things first, let's understand what is career planning. It is the process of figuring out how you want your career path to shape up.
When is the right time to start career planning?
Now, career planning is a practice usually undertaken early on, before you start your job search. But the practice should be followed even as you progress in your career.
So, to put it simply, career planning is a continuous practice to undertake throughout your career journey.
7 tips to help with career planning in your professional journey
Now that we have covered what is career planning, it is important to remember that it is a practice to continue till the finale of your work life.
In this section, we will be taking you through 7 tips you can follow for career planning at all stages of your work life.
Keep updating your resume
This is one practice every working professional should follow every 6 months. The major reason for doing so is to be ready when presented with opportunities.
Whether you are a fresher who just started working or an experienced professional, it is important to know how to write and update your resume to get noticed.
If you are still unsure, you can always try Naukri’s resume builder.
Make it a regular practice
Career planning every 6 months or 1-year interval allows you to, your performance and productivity reflect on your progress.
Here are a few things you need to ask yourself, "Are you happy with your current career trajectory?", "What could have been done better?", "What can you do to change the future?".
This will take you to the next step of your career planning ie executing the same experiment based on work
Reflect on your evolved work requirement
As important as it is to reflect on your personal life, expectations from our jobs also change.
So, list your likes and dislikes about your job and take a call after weighing your options.
Update your career goals
Here's where most of us go wrong, setting unrealistic goals. Instead, divide your goals into short-term (1-year) and long-term (4-5 years) goals.
However, in both cases follow the Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timebound (SMART) rule to set your goals. This will help you to keep track of your progress and give you a sense of accountability to see the list through.
Additionally, a list of attainable goals will help you to review and adjust them according to requirements.
List your transferable goals
There are many skills required to execute a job role. So, thinking past just your job role and evaluate how your other skills can help you in new opportunities.
Add these transferrable skills when you update your resume.
Also, research the skills required to achieving your next milestone.
Set challenges for yourself
Getting too comfortable in your career position can often dampen your chances of progressing in your career.
Try to challenge yourself by taking proactive steps in your office.
For example, if you are a content writer working on long-form content, try asking for other formats to work.
This will help you to improve your learnings and break the monotone at the work front.
Explore new training opportunities
The success mantra to progress in your career is constantly learning new skills.
Take advantage of your company's learning programs if there are any. This can help you to present your opinion regarding the same and suggest courses that can help in your upskilling.
Learnings are not just limited to courses and certifications, there's so much to learn from your colleagues, acquaintances, and peers alike.
So, never shy away to reach out to learn from others.
Conclusion
Career planning is an important part of our professional life, and also the easiest to overlook in our everyday hustle.
In this new year, let’s make an honest effort to effectively practice planning our careers and ensuring we achieve all our goals as the year closes.
We hope you found these tips useful and inspiring, wishing our readers all the luck!
