How to Evaluate a Career Plan

A career plan can help you find professional success.

Deciding on your future career is one of the most important decisions you'll ever have to make. Creating a career plan before entering college can help you stay on track and achieve your goals. However, you can develop a career plan at any stage in life. Whether you're looking to get ahead in your current career or planning on switching career paths, a career plan can help you get there. Once you have a career plan in place, you should revisit it frequently to evaluate it and make sure your plan still fits with your career goals.

Instructions

1. Look over your career goal. A career goal is part of any career plan. Your goal is where you'd like to end up after your education and training are complete. Determine whether or not your career goal still matches what you want to do.

2. Add to your career goal. As your education and training progress, you'll get a better idea of what you want to do. For example, when you first started school, your career goal may have simply stated that you want to become doctor or a teacher. You can refine that goal by being more specific, such as an orthopedic surgeon or high school algebra teacher.

3. Ask yourself if your education and training path is still relevant to the career you're pursuing. Add information where relevant. For example, your career plan might state that you plan to go to graduate school for psychology and earn a master's degree. At this state of your education, you may have narrowed your choices down to a few schools and decided to earn a master's degree in clinical psychology.

4. Create or update your list of necessary skills and personality requirements for your chosen career path. As you learn more about the field, you'll continue to learn more about the skills and personality traits that are important for success. For example, you may have known that mastering computer programs was necessary to become a graphic designer, but can now update your career plan to include the specific computer programs that you have to master.

5. Keep track of your relevant experience and add it to your career plan. For example, if you complete an internship, you should add this information to your career profile, keeping track of the skills and experience you gained. This will make writing your résumé and discussing your experience with graduate school and employers much easier.

References

• Mapping Your Future: Develop a Career Plan