Career Planning

Career planning is a lifelong process, which includes choosing a profession, acquiring a job and then growing in it, switching careers, and eventually retiring. Career planning is comprised of four basic modules or sections, which are:

Each of the following steps explores one aspect of Career Planning.

Step 1:  Self-Assessment
Self-assessment is all about knowing who you are, what you desire and how you prepare yourself to achieve your objectives. It is also about making the right decisions at the right time and then properly executing them. Self-assessment can be performed by seeking advice from counselors and professionals about which career path to choose to better your prospects.

Step Two:  Academic/Career Options
The second step is to evaluate the career you have decided to excel in. It is very important that the career you are choosing offers vast opportunities to progress further in the future. You should assess the prospects of your chosen career with in your country. This is very important because different countries have different demands for skilled labor. In Australia, the demand of nurses is much more than the demand of nurses existing in Egypt. Also, the demand of musicians is more in U.S. than in Canada. It is wise if you choose a career that promises to give you a successful professional life in the coming years. Also, degree plays an important role in making you a successful professional. So make sure there are universities in your country that are offering courses related to your field. If there are none in your region, you can always move abroad to study. You can also consider the option of studying online. Online universities offer programs in diversified fields, thus helping individuals graduate in the field of their own choice.

Step Three:  Relevant/Practical Experience
Now that you are sure that your desired field will offer you financial security in the future, you can move towards attaining practical experience in that particular field. This can be attained either through a part time job or an internship. Internship will again act as a self assessment act for you as it will help you analyzing your potential further. At the end of the internship, you will be able to judge if this is the career you want to excel in or not.

The experience you acquire will also later help you build a better future for yourself. In this context, internship will immensely help you broaden your horizons and provide a panoramic view to grasp things in a practical way.

Step Four:  Job Search/Graduate School Preparation
Now that you are sure that you have made the right career choice you can move towards attaining academic qualification. You can enroll yourself in a school to further specialize in your chosen field. Once you finish with your education, you can get a job either with the help of your university's career placement program or by applying in organizations yourself.

These are the four steps that will help you decide on a career of your choice.

This article described career planning and the necessary steps.