Planning a Career Path
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt
Creating a plan for a career path may seem intimidating. Decisions must be made and research must be done to be confident in those decisions. Wrong choices may mean lost time, effort, headway and money... so the consequences weigh heavy.
Minimizing the risk is part of the career planning process. There are specific strategies that that can be used to reduce the amount of time spent "learning things the hard way" and build in the flexibility needed to make a career plan applicable in the real world.
The most important thing to know about career development is this: it's all about the process, not the outcome. What is learned in the course of a career and life in general -- and circumstances that influence career outcomes -- cannot be fully anticipated. Focusing on the goals that are set keeps obstacles from looming large, and staying at the helm of the ship when things get rough teaches the important lessons and develops the necessary resilience.
Therefore, the key is simply to start. By spending time planning and implementing that plan (whatever that plan is at the moment), momentum is generated and opportunities reveal themselves. Choosing one "best educated guess" direction will open up paths in other directions that hadn't previously been considered. And relationships will be created that sustain the wax and wane of the career development process.
The articles in this section of the Career Planning Guide offer specific tools for effectively planning a career. Get started by reading The Career Planning Project From Start To Finish.
List of Articles about Planning A Career Path
| Article |
|---|
| The Career Planning Project From Start To Finish |
| Creating Career Stability |
| Using Custom Search Engines For Education And Career Planning |
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