Now that you have a good idea of where you stand and where you want to end up with your career, you can create a general career map. This document can stay with you for many years, adapting and evolving as you learn more about yourself and your sector.
A good plan will also be useful to take with you to your conversations with your specialist recruiter. They'll be able to see your long-term and short-term goals and guide you towards opportunities that will deliver the right results long-term.
To create your career development plan:
1. Create long-term and short-term goals
Your career is a life-long concept that will evolve and transform with you over many years. With that in mind, it's important not to focus all of your attention on long-term goals.
Start with a general idea of where you'd like to end up one day. Maybe you want to manage your own [sector] team or run your own business. The chances are you'll have a lot of smaller milestones you'll need to reach along the way before you get to that point.
Plan out the smaller short-term goals between where you are now and where you want to be five or ten years in the future.
For instance, if you want to be a manager in the industry, but you're currently working in an entry-level field, you may need to start by increasing the amount of responsibility you take on for your current employer and upgrading your knowledge in your specific area of interest.
2. Pinpoint Your Next Step
With your short and long-term goals mapped out, determine what your "next step" is likely to be. An experienced recruitment consultant can help you with this as they will have worked with many employees before to help them map out logical and workable next steps.
3. Implement Time Frames into Your Goals
Though it's difficult to predict exactly when you're going to reach certain points in your intended career path, you should have a general idea of how long certain things should take. For instance, if you need a new certification and it takes a year to complete, you know you will need a year before starting to look for roles that demand this certification with your recruiter.
Applying general time frames to each of your "next steps" will ensure you don't lose track.
It's too easy to tell yourself you're having a challenging time at work, so you'll take on studying for a new qualification "next month" instead. Specific time frames help to hold you accountable and improve your chances of reaching your goals faster.
4. Be Open to Changing Your Plan
Your career plan is there to give you a compass to guide you through the process of pursuing your career. However, it shouldn't restrict you from new opportunities.
Think of your plan as a living and breathing document that grows and changes with you. As you spend more time in your role, learn what you're good at, develop new skills, and network with new people, keep checking back on your career plan.
You might decide that you want to go in a different direction with your skills once you've acquired them. Or your recruitment partner might suggest an avenue for your career you haven't considered yourself. Being open to change will ensure you don't miss out on the best opportunities.
We have templates you can use.
Reach out to us.
Can We Help?
Here at Lucy Walker Recruitment we have been helping firms with their talent acquisition, and job seekers find their ideal roles for over 30 years. We have placed thousands of candidates and filled thousands of roles for our clients; if you want to find out how we can help you call us on 0113 367 2880 or email us here.
