Do you have the career you’ve always envisioned having? Creating specific and measurable career development goals will help you advance in your career and achieve the position you’ve dreamed of. Creating these plans takes work, but they provide specific goals and milestones to help you on your path to success.
Career development plans are also important if you’re unsure where you want to go in your career because they’ll help you identify your professional goal. In this guide, we’ll be taking a closer look at the five steps you can take to create an effective career development plan.
If you haven’t created a career development plan, you may be unsure of your career goals or how to reach them. Creating a job development plan may even seem like a daunting task, but its payoff is well worth it and is easier than you might think.
To determine your career development goals, consider questions like:
- What professional tasks do you enjoy?
- What professional tasks do you dislike?
- What are the skills you excel in?
- What makes you feel motivated at work?
- Do you prefer to work alone, work among your peers, or lead a group?
- Is there any career you’ve been interested in?
- What’s most important to you in a career?
- Where do you see yourself in five to ten years?
- Do you want to stay with your current company or get a job with another company?
Take the time to think about these questions and jot down your answers. If you’re unsure what you’d like to do in life, consider visiting a career development center or taking a career aptitude test.
Take the time to consider where you’d like to be in your career in two, five, and ten years. Doing so will help you create goals, steps, and milestones towards advancement. Once you’ve gained a better idea of your career goals, it’s time to get started on the next step of creating a professional development plan.
A crucial step in creating an employee development plan is to determine the gap between where you are and where you’d like to be in your career. Doing so will help you set goals over the next two, five, and ten years.
Are there any skills, experience, certifications, or education that you will need to gain to reach your professional goals? Make a list of the qualifications that you may be lacking. Take the time to consult a professional at a career development center to discuss your goals and determine if there are any qualifications that you may have missed. Additionally, you may be able to learn more about the day-to-day tasks that come with the position you are seeking. If you intend to remain with the same company, talk with your management team about your career goals and let them know how you hope to advance in your career. Your supervisors may be able to help you along the way or offer insight into goals you should include in your professional development plan.
After you’ve identified the skills, experience, education, and certifications you will need to succeed, write them down and rate your current status against the required qualifications. You can use a simple 1-5 system with 1 to help you determine how much of a gap there is between where you are and where you’ll need to be. The lower your rating on a particular gap, the more time you’ll need to invest to improve. Additionally, look for common education, certifications, and experiences that you may be able to complete with one or two steps. For example, completing additional education may provide skills and experience needed for a professional role.
Now that you know where you’re going and what you need to get there, the next step in creating a professional development plan is to create goals and milestones that will help you advance in your career.
Start by setting small, task-oriented goals to reach the skills, education, certifications, and experience you’ll need to succeed. For example, if you need to learn more about a particular software or machine, sign up for a class to learn more about it or gain experience from your management team or coworkers. Organize your goals in a timeline-format. When creating a timeline, it’s best to start with the simple tasks before moving onto long-term goals, such as completing a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
When setting a professional goal, do your best to create realistic timelines. For example, if you need to go back to school, is taking classes full-time while maintaining your employment feasible? If it isn’t, you’ll need to adjust your timeline for the additional amount of time that it will take to earn your degree. Create a deadline for each of your tasks. Try and determine a start by date and when you would like to complete a task by.
Even the most effective career development plan may run into trouble along the way. Unexpected changes in your personal and professional life may impact your timeline or goals. For example, if you start a family, you may have less time to dedicate to your career. Additionally, periodically measuring your progress and the milestones you have achieved will help you stay on track and hold yourself accountable to your professional goals.
If you do run into a snag in your career development plan, don’t be afraid to re-evaluate and make necessary changes. It’s alright to stay flexible and change directions if necessary. The most effective career development plans are not designed to be complete, and keeping an open mind and remaining flexible will help your morale when faced with setbacks. It’s recommended that you check your progress every six months so that you can perform any adjustments to your plan in a timely manner. Doing so will help you advance more effectively and more quickly within your career.