Career Planning

  • What is Career Planning?

    Career planning is a lifelong process, which includes choosing an occupation, interviewing for jobs,landing your job, advancing in your job, possibly changing careers, and eventually retiring. The Guidance Center can provide you with links to articles providing information in all of these areas.

     

    This page will focus on career choice and the process you follow in selecting an occupation. This may happen once in our lifetimes, but it is more likely to happen several times as we first define and then redefine ourselves and our goals.

    Career Planning: A Four Step Process

    The career planning process is comprised of four steps. You may consider seeking the services of a career development professional to help facilitate your journey through this process. Whether or not you choose to work with a professional, or work through the process on your own is less important than the amount of thought and energy you put into choosing a career.

     

    Self

    Gather information about yourself (self assessment)

    • Interests
    • Values
    • Roles
    • Skills/Aptitudes
    • Preferred Environments
    • Developmental Needs
    • Your realities

    Options

    • Explore the occupations in which you are interested
    • Research the industries in which you would like to work
    • Research the Labor Market

    Get more specific information after you narrow down your options by:

    Match

    During this phase of the process, you will:

    • Identify possible occupations
    • Evaluate these occupations
    • Explore alternatives
    • Choose both a short term and a long term option

    Action

    You will develop the steps you need to take in order to reach your goal, for example:

    Source: http://careerplanning.about.com/cs/choosingacareer/a/cp_process.htm

    Career Advice: First Impressions