Your Practical Guide to Successful Career Planning

Take the control of your career path with this useful career plan template.

Checking how you are progressing through your career path once in a while is healthy way to visualize if you’re heading into the right direction and if you’re succeeding at your goals.

I tend to do this twice a year, but sometimes with the appearance of new courses, frameworks or technology, I need to constantly checkup if this new knowledge aligns with the skills I need to continue progressing in my career.

Career planning puts you in control of the steering wheel of your career path.

This is a topic I like very much to write about, because career planning puts you in control of the steering wheel of your career path and bring several benefits like:

• Direction and Purpose: Provides clarity in professional goals.

• Maximizes Potential: Aligns career with strengths and interests.

• Informed Decision-Making: Enables choices based on research and introspection.

• Preparation for Opportunities: Ensures readiness for future roles or shifts.

• Financial Stability: Helps in achieving long-term financial goals.

• Increased Job Satisfaction: Leads to a more fulfilling professional life.

• Growth and Advancement: Facilitates continuous professional development.

• Reducing Uncertainty: Offers a sense of control in an unpredictable job market.

Let’s see how you can start your own career plan 👇

How can I start planning my career?

First things first, you need to dedicate an sufficient amount of time to this exercise. Career planning can be overwhelming but with this easy framework I will try to make this process less of a burden.

1. You need to perform a self-assessment or self-evaluation

2. A personal SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)

3. Set your SMART goals for the next years

4. Identify your current skills, knowledge and experience

5. Target the skills you need to develop to meet your goals

6. Finally, come up with an action plan with tasks and timeline

Start by evaluating yourself

Performing a career self-assessment is a valuable process that can help you gain clarity about your strengths, weaknesses, interests, and values, ultimately guiding your career decisions.

Here are some steps to conduct it:

1. Gather Your Information: Collect information about your education, work history, skills, achievements, and past job evaluations or performance reviews.

2. Self-Reflection: Start by asking yourself questions about your career journey:

   1. What have been my most satisfying professional experiences?

   2. What are my proudest achievements in my career so far?

   3. What skills do I excel at, and which ones do I want to develop further?

   4. What aspects of my previous roles did I enjoy the most, and which ones did I dislike?

   5. What patterns or themes do I see in my career choices and interests?

3. Interests and Passions: Consider what genuinely interests and excites you in your work and personal life. Think about hobbies, activities, or subjects that you are passionate about.

4. Values and Principles: Reflect on your core values and principles. What matters most to you in your career? Consider factors such as work-life balance, financial stability, creativity, social impact, and personal growth.

5. Target Your Limitations: What are things out of your control restraining you? Perhaps you live in a country with a difficult economic situation or English is not your native language.

Conduct a personal SWOT analysis

The acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Is a strategic planning framework used by businesses, organizations, and individuals to assess their current situation and make informed decisions about their future.

SWOT is super flexible that you can even use it to evaluate yourself! To conduct this analysis you need to go through each component:

• Identify Your Strengths

  • What are you really good at?

  • Which achievements are you most proud of? 

  • What skills do other people compliment you on?

• Consider Your Weaknesses

  • What could you do better? 

  • What tasks do you routinely avoid? 

  • What do other people see as your weaknesses?

• Look for Opportunities

  • Is your industry growing? 

  • Is a new role likely to open up? 

  • How can you extend your professional network?

• Identify Threats

  • What obstacles do you face? 

  • Is the nature of your job changing? 

  • Do your weaknesses jeopardize your position?

Establish your SMART goals for work and personal life

In this section, establishing SMART goals for both your work and personal life involves setting objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

I like to consider these 2 themes, because both play a huge part of who we are. Let me guide you through hypothetical examples of so you can set up your own:

1. Specific: Clearly define what you want to accomplish. Avoid vague goals.

   • Work: Instead of "I want to be better at my job," aim for "I want to lead three successful projects in the next year."

   • Personal: Instead of "I want to get fit," specify "I want to run a 5K in 25 minutes."

2. Measurable: Ensure you can track the progress and outcome of your goal.

   • Work: If aiming for a promotion, list down the specific metrics or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you need to hit.

   • Personal: If your goal is to read more, set a number, like "I want to read 12 books this year."

3. Achievable: Your goal should be challenging but within reach.

   • Work: While aiming for a managerial role, ensure you have or are developing the requisite skills and experiences.

   • Personal: If you're starting a fitness journey, don't immediately aim for a marathon; start with shorter races.

4. Relevant: The goal should align with broader life or career ambitions.

   • Work: If you're in data analytics but want to move into product management, a goal might be "Complete a product strategy course in the next six months."

   • Personal: If you value family time, set a goal like "Dedicate two weekends per month for family activities."

5. Time-bound: Assign a deadline to maintain focus.

   • Work: "I aim to get certified in [specific skill] by December."

   • Personal: "I want to visit three new countries in the next two years."

Easy, isn't it? Now you can set a a goal for each time interval:

Identifying skills, knowledge and experience

This is an introspective process that can be aided by structured methods and feedback from colleagues, mentors, managers, and more. Consider using self-assessment tools, which can help you evaluate these aspects. You can use the help of tools like StrengthsFinder, Myers-Briggs Personality Test, or DISC assessments.

Apart from using assessment tools, you can also try this:

• Create a Skills Inventory: Make a list of skills you believe you possess. These can be technical (e.g., coding, data analysis), soft (e.g., communication, leadership), or domain-specific (e.g., marketing, finance).

• Review Your Resume and CV: Your resume or curriculum vitae (CV) can provide a structured overview of your educational background, work experience, and the skills you've used in your various roles.

• Consult Past Job Descriptions: Review the job descriptions of your past positions. These documents often outline the skills and qualifications required for each role, and you can use them to identify the skills you used on the job.

• Assess Your Achievements: Consider your accomplishments in each job or project. What did you achieve, and what skills and knowledge did you apply to make those achievements?

• Soft Skills and Personal Attributes: Evaluate your soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, adaptability, and problem-solving. These are essential in many roles! Reflect on your personal attributes like your work ethic, creativity, and emotional intelligence.

• Ask for Feedback: Seek feedback from colleagues, supervisors, or mentors. They can provide insights into your strengths and areas for development.

• Online Skills and LinkedIn: Check your LinkedIn profile, which often includes endorsements for your skills. You can also use LinkedIn to identify skills and expertise in your network for inspiration.

Target the skills you need to develop to meet your goals

Guess what? At identifying what are you good at you may have noticed what you need to improve and what you need to learn. Here, the comments received, the information from the self-assessment tools and the thorough analysis you've made of your CV, LinkedIn and past jobs; might point what you need to start developing.

However, make sure that the list of these missing or unknown skills are aligned to how you visualize yourself in the future of your career. Just because you’re lacking some topics, doesn’t mean that you need to learn all of them at once.

That can become frustrating! Instead, pick those ones will contribute you achieve your goals. Some actions you can take:

• Define Your Desired Position: Clearly outline where you want to be. Whether it's a specific job title, role, or personal milestone, having clarity about your goal is essential.

• Search Job Descriptions and Role Requirements: If you're aiming for a particular job or role, study multiple job descriptions for that position. These descriptions often list both required and preferred skills.

• Conduct Informational Interviews: Talk to people currently in the role or field you're targeting. Ask them about the skills they use daily, the challenges they face, and what they wish they'd known or learned earlier.

• Industry Research: Stay updated with industry news and trends. Industries evolve, and new skills can become vital over time.

• Professional Development Opportunities: Attend seminars, workshops, and conferences related to your goal. They can provide insights into the most sought-after skills.

• Mentorship: If possible, find a mentor in the field or area you're aiming for. They can provide guidance based on their experience and observations.

• Competency Frameworks: Some professions have frameworks that define the competencies and skills needed at various levels of expertise. Check if such a framework exists for your target.

Now, it’s time to create your action plan

After identifying the skills you need, the next step is creating a plan to acquire or strengthen them. This might involve formal education, online courses, practical experience, or a combination of these.

Creating an action plan is a structured way to move from where you currently are to where you want to be. Pretty much as a Product manager does, after the preliminary steps you've got through, now it’s time to decide what pieces in the chessboard should move.

Creating a plan will help you to:

1. Prioritize Tasks: Determine which tasks or steps are most crucial to your immediate progress. Prioritizing ensures that you're focusing on what's most important first.

2. Set Deadlines: Assign a specific deadline to each task. Deadlines create a sense of urgency and commitment, ensuring you remain on track.

3. Identify Resources: List the resources you'll need to accomplish each task. This could include books, courses, mentors, financial resources, or tools.

4. Allocate Time: Set aside dedicated time in your schedule to work on your tasks. This might mean blocking off certain hours each day or dedicating specific days to focus on your career goals.

5. Stay Flexible: Recognize that not everything will go according to plan. Be prepared to adjust your action plan based on new information, unexpected challenges, or changing priorities.

6. Monitor Progress: Regularly review your action plan to assess your progress. Celebrate small victories to maintain motivation, but also identify areas where you might be lagging.

7. Stay Accountable: Share your goals and action plan with someone you trust, like a friend, family member, or mentor. Regular check-ins with this person can help maintain your accountability.

Let’s say if your main goal is to become a manager in the next 5 five years, then you may address leadership skills in the short time, like this:

Now it’s your turn! Are you ready to take the control of your career? Download the template right here 👇

Career Plan Template

1.32MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

🔒Premium: Duplicate the template right in Whimsical 👉