Four Steps to Executive Career Planning

October 24, 2016 Share this article:

By Alicja Jaworska, Partner at Accord Group Poland

Read the full article on the BlueSteps Executive Career Insider Blog here

Career planning is the exploration of possibilities to create the place to grow and to develop for individuals. It is an ongoing process that can help you manage your learning and development. When you plan your career, you consider many opportunities because of your age, interests, family, friends, and, importantly, how those will link back to the achievement of your core goals.

The career planning process has four steps:

Step 1: Knowing Yourself

Start by thinking about where you are now, where you want to be, and how you’re going to get there.

  • Where am I at now?
  • Where do I want to be?
  • What do I want out of a job/career?
  • What do I like to do?
  • What are my strengths?
  • What is important to me?

This introspection will provide you with a clearer idea of your work, learning and development targets and your individual preferences.

Step 2: Research

Once you have an idea of your occupational preferences you can research the specific skills and qualifications required for those.

  • How do my skills and interests match up with these occupations?
  • Where are the gaps? If any?
  • What skills do I need?
  • Where is the work?

Step 3: Decision Making

At the end of this step you will have refined your options and will have a better idea of what you need to do next to help you achieve your goals. It is worth asking yourself:

  • What are my best work/training options?
  • How do they match with my skills, interests and values?
  • How do they fit with the current labor market?
  • How do they fit with my current situation and responsibilities?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
  • What will help and what will hinder me?
  • What can I do about it?

Step 4: Taking Action

Use all you have learnt about your skills, interests and values together with the information you have gathered about the world of work to create your plan and detail the steps you need to take to put your plan into action.

  • What actions/steps will help me achieve my work, training and career goals?
  • Where can I get help?
  • Who will support me?

At the end of this step you will have either:

  1. A plan to help you explore your options further (work experience, work shadowing or more research); or
  2. A plan which sets out the steps to help you achieve the next learning or work goal.

Individual career planning is an ongoing process, but is key to successful career management. It uses all the information provided by the organization’s assessments of requirements, assessments of performance and potential, and the management succession plans; and translates it in the form of individual career development programs and general arrangements for management development, career counseling, mentoring and management training.

Click here to read part two of this article “What Is Succession Planning?”