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Personal Career Development Plan: Essential for Success


A personal career development plan enables you to keep track of progress in your own career. It is a reliable way to analyze your motivations, aspirations, and achievements. Several career counselors help you to create a career development plan not just to accomplish certain goals, such as a promotion or raise in the job, but also for further career advancement. Hence, it should be given much focus.

Essentials In Career Development Plan

Creating your career development plan must be done continuously, instead of focusing on specific work objectives. That way, you can easily keep track of whatever improvements you have or where there is need for one. It is not just confined to career-related documents but may also include materials that you have collected over time that reflect your motivation and aspirations when it comes to your career.

Below are few things you can do to back up your career development plan:

Update your resume – Your resume is a crucial reflection of your career path. Therefore, if you have new or existing skills, achievements in previous employment, or personal achievements, make sure to include it in your CV.

List all your job descriptions– This is essential to your career planning. By evaluating and analyzing your performance from previous jobs, you will be able to detect whether there are improvements or recognize which areas you need improve on. If you can, gather evidence of any achievements you have for they might come handy during job interviews.

Gather job advertisements – This tip is helpful even to those employed individuals. This will enable you to identify whether there are any other existing jobs that are more suitable for your qualifications and that offer self-fulfillment.

Create A Personal Vision

Some people constantly change careers not because of compensation or competition, but more often because they are not personally satisfied with their careers. Therefore, when devising your own career plan, you have to create your own personal vision.

Your career plan or objectives can be either long or short term. Hence, before you move on with your career planning, you have to determine yours first. There are a lot to consider when planning your career path, however personal considerations should be on top of the list.

What are the personal barriers that impede your progress? Are you doing this for personal satisfaction and achievement, or is this what my family desires for me? As long as you have considered factors that not only involve the people around you but also yourself, then you can remain motivated in achieving the goals you have set for yourself.

Personal Career Planning Steps
  • If you are contemplating on multiple careers, try narrowing them down so you can focus on the career most suitable for you.
  • Research about your prospect career. When you have more information and knowledge about your chosen career, you will also recognize the skills needed in order to succeed in that career.
  • If you are looking to make a transition from one career to another, identify the necessary qualifications.
  • Once you have determined the qualifications needed for your new career, compare it with your current career profile. Evaluate what skills or knowledge you need to acquire in order to match the job search. If it requires a lot of work, then you might need to reconsider whether changing careers should be an option. If you are close to the qualification, then you can move on.

For long-term career planning, you need to be more precise and specific with your guidelines. After all, you will have to be the one dealing with the consequence of your choices. When creating your personal development plan, you must consider not only career opportunities in the market but also your own skills and abilities.