Career Planning process
Career Planning is the first step to a successful career. A career plan, which is well executed can go a long way to achieving one’s career goals and help achieve success in one’s career. It helps one to develop skills that are needed for professional growth. There are several steps that form a solid career planning process.
Career planning begins with defining one’s vision of a successful career. It includes setting up of career goals and determining relevant educational and developmental activities to enhance ones progress in a company. It also entails the preparation of a suitable action plan for attaining the desired goals. The steps to career development include making the initial research on the opportunities, conducting interviews and discussions with colleagues and various experts, setting out short-term and long-term strategies for attaining the goals, identifying appropriate tools and equipment required for realizing the plans, setting out a timetable for attaining the goals, evaluating the current situation to identify any necessary changes, revising the plans, preparing for the obstacles and emergencies that might appear, creating a backup plan, and lastly, taking corrective measures and strengthening the ability to overcome obstacles.
It is important to start off by setting out the overall goals of one’s career progression. These can include promotion to an executive position, advancement in pay grade, and other loftier aspirations. The primary step in this stage is to set out the individual needs, aspirations, talents, skills, and abilities that form the basis for fulfilling the particular goal. The steps to career progression then formulate plans to meet these individual needs and aspirations.
It is also important to have a clear picture of the desired outcomes. This enables the steps to career development to be planned keeping in mind the key stakeholders, employees, resources, and timelines. When steps are well aligned, the individuals, organizations, and employers benefit as the objectives are met. Moreover, it also reduces the risk involved in implementation.
The next steps in the career plan include defining and detailing the relevant standards, measurements, goals, measures, and metrics. The steps need to focus on establishing what is to be measured, how these standards or measurements will be used, and how these standards or measurements will be applied to a specific situation. For example, if the job requirement is performance in customer service, then the steps to career goals should state what the appropriate performance standard would be for the type of customer service required. The measurement and goal creation are then based on these definitions and measurements.
In the third step towards career planning, the steps to success identify the people to become a part of the new path, the type of employees required for the new path, steps to training and induction, and finally, the training and induction programs needed for employees to take on this path. The employees identified for the path may be the permanent employees of the company, or temporary workers that are needed during the transitional phase. Once this is determined, the steps for training and induction can be formulated. These steps should include: creating a new identity, creating a new work model, communicating the employment expectations and enhancing productivity, communicating the benefits, and motivating employees.
The last stage of the career planning process is to evaluate the employees’ career aspirations and plans. In this stage, the employees’ career aspirations are analyzed to establish which career path would be more fulfilling and realistic for the employees. It is also important to look into the employees’ motivation level. In addition, when evaluating the career aspirations, it is important to consider the time factor.
Finally, the career planning process should end with steps to recruiting the appropriate number of employees and their corresponding training and induction into the organization. The recruitment steps should include: identifying appropriate candidates for the positions identified; screening the candidates; and offering suitable employment opportunities for the candidates. Once these steps are complete, the training and the induction can take place. The training and the induction can either be on-the-job training or professional development courses. The latter allows the employees to enhance their skills and knowledge in order to bring about better career opportunities.
