How To Plan For Your Career; A Step By Step Guide

By Perminus Wainaina

A career plan helps determine your interests and skills, the kind of career you should pursue and any training and skills you need to add in order to succeed in your chosen career.

Developing a career plan will help you focus on what you already want to do and determine how you will get there. And then when you are ready to write a professional CV, you will have a better understanding of the skills you have and experience to talk about with a potential employer.

Succeeding in your chosen career requires you to have the right mindset. Career planning is basically a continuous process that will not happen overnight. Through it all, you will have to ask yourself what you can do now to maximize your success in the future.

Here is a step by step guide on how to plan your career.

1. Identify what you love or would love to do

Growing your career will not take a day or a week but it’s a gradual process that requires your time and dedication. A career interest is basically a career path you would like to pursue.

If you meet with a career coach, they would be in a position to conduct a thorough assessment and determine which career path you can take. This is dependent on your interests, strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and skills.

A major career interest would be for example sales and marketing in the FMCG industry. This highlights your interest as well as the industry where you would like to practice your trade. It should be realistic and achievable within your specified time.

Suggested Read >>> 8 Strategies To Build a Succesful Career 

2. Conduct a thorough self-assessment

The journey to creating the career you want begins with knowing yourself. What do you have already in terms of skills, expertise, and knowledge? Use your CV, transcripts and work experience to identify the areas that you are already good at.

A personality test will help you understand your own personality better and determine the way forward.

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