Published on November 17, 2021
Ambition and motivation are the foundation stones of any successful career.
But this is not always enough, especially in our time when everything changes rapidly. Over a long period of time, there are always detours, but also advances followed by setbacks, periods of acceleration and slowing down, or even on the spot!
Having a clear vision of your career plan is essential to progress in the long term. For example, the fruits of this reflection will be very useful for you to have a well-informed conversation following the phone call of a headhunter. He will be able to better define your profile and your professional aspirations.
Why not take advantage of a moment of pause to see a little more clearly and then project yourself into the future? Today, there are many ways to enrich your career path.
A well-thought-out career plan goes far beyond work opportunities to a more lucrative or interesting activity in a competing company, or in a new line of business. A personalized career plan is based on values that are unique to you and allows you to acquire a better knowledge of yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. The goal is to try to reconcile what you do with who you are. So what is it?
To make a career plan, you have to start from yourself and your current situation. It is a document that encompasses professional life, personal aspirations, family life if this is the case, your projects and dreams. This is not trivial. We talk about an “agile plan” that also leaves some room for opportunity and the unexpected, because no one knows exactly what will happen in 5 or 10 years.
A career plan is simply one more tool to help you be more satisfied in your work and in your life. Here are three essential questions to define a set of goals and concrete actions that will help you achieve your professional or even personal goals.
A career plan answers three key questions:
1. Where are you?
2. Where do you want to go?
3. Which path to take?
1. Where do you stand?
You know those cards that show you an X and tell you, “You’re here.” It’s kind of the same principle. If a GPS easily tells you where you are on a screen, it’s because it uses your geolocation coordinates. It stores continuous information about your travels. To know where you are in your career, you will need to make a general inventory from “your professional location data”. The goal is to identify what distinguishes you from other people in the exercise of your work, and to better know your value on the job market. During a possible negotiation with a new employer, this can be very important.
Conduct a self-assessment of your professional situation: personality, preferences, skills, experience and values. Here are some questions to help you complete your self-assessment:
- What motivates me? What do I like to do?
- What are my soft skills?
- What level of professional constraints am I willing to accept?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses?
- What do I need to thrive?
Here’s how. Start from your past work experiences. Think about the responsibilities you’ve taken on, the teams, and the people you’ve worked with. Think about how you felt in these situations. Take stock. Year by year. Project by project. Most. The least. Summarize your thoughts.
2. Where do you want to go?
With this “geo-professional” data in hand , now formulate your ideas on the type of position and sector you are interested in. Write down all the ideas that go through your head! Be creative, but realistic. It is also necessary that the sector or position you are looking for offers solid long-term prospects for the future.
Maybe you’ve thought about going abroad for experience, working internationally, in a different culture, learning another language? The remuneration can be more interesting and the living environment more stimulating. It is an issue where staff and professional can feed each other.
It’s possible that your career goals can only be achieved outside of the company where you work. Obstacles of all kinds and perhaps insoluble at this level. You will need to consider leaving the ship.
It may happen that after this serious brainstorming you come to the conclusion that a professional reorientation is necessary. It’s never too late for a new and challenging career. Even retirees make career plans.
3. Which path to take?
Now that you’ve set a goal, now you need to chart the path to get to the right destination.
New knowledge or specific experience may be needed to achieve this. It is also necessary to divide your new professional itinerary into different stages in time. Set a number of tags and make a list of the new tools you’ll need. For example, would training be helpful to you?
Proceeding step by step will allow you not to be too scared by the task. You will be able to focus on your goals, one goal at a time, and achieve them one by one. It’s a way to not be discouraged. And then, in the meantime, there could be all kinds of opportunities to be seized. For example, during a future job interview, this could be useful. You will be able to show how you take care to constantly improve your skills.
You might wonder:
- What will I have to do for the next 6 months?
- How long could this training that would be so useful to me take?
- Where should I go to acquire a new skill, whether it’s mastery of a language, or a degree, or anything else?
- Can I use my network to help me with various aspects of this process?
When you have determined: 1) where you stand, 2) your goals and 3) the way to reach them, you will see more clearly. It is very important that you follow the evolution of your career plan and stay on track. But your career plan must also be able to adapt according to the personal and professional circumstances that are yours. The momentum you have given it from the start will remain the foundation on which you will build your future.
Today, executives face all kinds of challenges. They must demonstrate skills at several levels, both in terms of technical skills and soft skills. Different opportunities that will arise in life can allow you to progress in one or the other of these areas. Don’t miss them.
In short, a career plan is useful for making choices at different times in life. Make one as soon as possible. By reflecting on your strengths and weaknesses, you will be able to better steer yourself in the right direction.
By analogy, if ambition and motivation are the engine of the boat (or the wind!), the career plan is the rudder that will allow you to arrive safely. Stay the course!
Read our next blog: Soft skills
