Career Planning

Career planning is the process of deciding what industry you want to work in and what job you want to hold, and how you want to progress in both. This involves assessing your skills, experience, and career goals. A career plan can change and evolve over time, so it’s important to be flexible and to take time to reevaluate it every now and then.

A Guide To Planning and Navigating Your Career

A career counselor and client
The Career Planning Process
Frequently Asked Questions
  • Why is career planning important?

    Career planning is important because it allows you to set goals and create a strategy that will help you achieve them. Without career planning, you may not have a path to follow and it may be difficult to navigate your education, industries, and jobs. A career plan will also help you understand what skills you need and how to go about learning them.

  • What should you do first when planning your career?

    The first step in planning your career is setting goals. What do you want to achieve in the future? This can be a job title, a salary, a skill, a degree, and more. Long-term goals are usually two to 10 years long. In order to achieve long-term goals, you’ll need to set short-term goals that will help you along the way.

  • What are the basic steps in the career planning process?

    The basic steps in the career planning process include setting career goals, conducting research, determining jobs you want, building your skills and growing your experience, preparing your resume, and finally applying for jobs. After that, it’s all about continuing to develop and navigate your career through advancement, networking, and more.

  • When should a student start career planning?

    Career planning should begin before you graduate school, whether that’s in high school or college, or even earlier. Students can explore skills and industries by joining clubs, reading books, watching movies, and more. Once a student identifies an industry or job that sparks their interest, they can begin the career planning process to map out how they can get there.

Key Terms

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