How to make a career plan and why you need it

January is the month when we actively make plans for the year in various areas: health, relationships, self-realization. But many, alas, do not approach career planning so carefully and choose to go with the flow. A career plan will help you avoid this. What is it and how to make it? Let's talk with an expert.

What is a career plan

This is a kind of strategy, a "road map", which helps us to be realized in the profession. “In most cases, people associate a career with vertical growth,” explains Anastasia Zhurova, career consultant . - In fact, this is not so, careers can be different. A brief definition of a career is how a person organizes his professional life to achieve professional, official or social status; what contributes to the realization of a person in life.

A career plan helps you move towards your goals smoothly and efficiently, reduces stress, and allows you to focus on the activities that are important for professional growth. “A career plan is a list of actions, structured steps that help achieve career goals. Career management means taking conscious, purposeful actions in the profession to develop skills, knowledge and experience, set career goals and choose the way to achieve them,” explains Anastasia Zhurova.

You can create this roadmap with the help of a career consultant or on your own.

How to make a career plan

Set a goal. A career plan always starts with a goal. “She can be different. For example, at this stage, a person wants a promotion and thinks to become a leader after a certain period of time - this is vertical growth, - says Anastasia Zhurova. -Another option - a career goal could be: moving to a new field. Then the plan of action will be different. The third option is professional growth: for example, a person wants to develop expertise and reach a certain status, position or income level. There can be many career development vectors, everything is individual.

It is important to allocate time and think about your goal, check its truth (whether you want this or you succumb to the persuasion of loved ones, repeat the script of your friend, etc.). Another fundamental point: a career goal should be measurable, clear and relevant. Set a date for when this goal will be achieved. Be sure to mark the criteria by which you will understand that the goal has been achieved. And be aware of how the goal is achievable within the specified time frame and taking into account your current situation.

As a result, the formulated goal may sound something like this: “By February 2023, I became the head of the operations department with X number of subordinates with a salary of Y”

Determine the starting point. When the goal is set, it's time to find out what resources you already have to achieve it. “The starting point includes the situation in which a person is, what is happening to him now - in life, in relationships with colleagues, at work; what he had before,” adds Anastasia Zhurova. - All this is necessary so that a person understands why he will push off. Here we need to check what resources we have in terms of professional life, career orientations, those values that are important to us. This will help a person to understand whether this is the goal, and whether he really wants to go there. To what extent the resource allows him to move there (strength, health, finances).

Your task at this moment is to conduct a kind of revision of all the opportunities and supports that you have in this period of time. “A person must evaluate his strengths, what he can do now: competencies, skills, abilities that he shows at work. Usually, if a person is employed, then one way or another, he can do it with a leader discuss. If an employee is not sure about this, a career consultant can help: evaluate competencies, experience, adds Anastasia Zhurova. “A person should also understand what kind of help he needs: from relatives, from the leadership, that is, to look around as much as possible, what kind of support is there.”

When analyzing the starting point, it is also important to accept your limitations, stoppers - obstacles that can interfere with career growth. “It can be emotional or psychological difficulties, external circumstances, relationships in the team,” says Anastasia Zhurova. “For example, a person wants to build a career, but understands that the company culture does not suit him, this can also be his stopper.”

After such a “revision”, you can proceed to drawing up a career development strategy.

Make a plan of action. Alas, someone will not be able to “write off” it: a career plan is an individual thing, it must take into account your competencies, experience and situation. Therefore, you will have to develop it based on yourself. “If we have certain stoppers, there should be a strategy in the action plan - how I will bypass or solve them. If a person realizes that their values do not match those of the company, then they will probably have to change companies. This is one of the options,” says Anastasia Zhurova. - And sometimes one of the steps in building a career plan and achieving a goal will simply be a statement of your intentions to the company's management and close people, so that there is some support. We just plan a meeting with the leader, think about what we want to say to him and act.”

Also, the career plan should include a “resources” section. Do you feel that you don’t have the strength to change jobs or functions in the company right now? Perhaps you are close to burnout? Then you should focus on restoring the resource: plan rest, stick to the daily routine, improve sleep, add sports, etc. Plan a pause of 1-3 months to gain strength, and after that, start taking active steps to achieve the goal.

Separately, it is worth touching on the topic of experience and competencies. “If you want to go somewhere, get a certain position, it is important to understand and accept what you already have and what you lack,” notes Anastasia Zhurova. “Then you can include the study of this position in your career plan, understanding what competencies are needed there, what requirements, what responsibilities. Assess your current suitability for the position/profession on a scale from 1 to 10. Where necessary, prescribe actions for your development in order to achieve a mark of 8-10.

You may need additional training (do not ignore free courses), networking, internships. Don't give up on all of this. “I recommend using the 70/20/10 strategy here,” explains Anastasia Zhurova. - Where 10% is training, attending conferences and thematic forums, reading, 20% is learning when communicating with management and colleagues (mentoring, mentoring, etc.). And 70% is practice, the application of acquired knowledge. You need to learn, communicate with people, but it is even more important to practice, use knowledge, build up experience, and do.”

Sometimes you can gain experience and practice at your current job. “Here a person must understand how he can apply it at work. Here you can agree on an additional project where he can pump it. This is also included in the career plan,” says Anastasia Zhurova.

Build your personal brand and communicate. Work on it can also be prescribed in a career plan. “Be sure to build communications and networking, participate, if possible, in cross-functional projects,” explains Anastasia Zhurova. - Creating a career in most cases - interaction with people, understanding how we can help them, how they can support you. Think about and fix in your career plan who you should meet and start interacting with.”

To sum up, the career plan and goal should be flexible: periodically it is important to check with your values, needs, current situation and find out if you are moving in the right direction. If something has changed, feel free to correct it.