Success has many parents, but failure is orphan- says a popular adage. Success and failure may be judged relatively with quotients of both differing from person to person. But, going by the adage, one of the parents of success is career planning. Without ambition and career planning, life becomes direction less.
So, for a focused journey through the trial and tribulations of life, career planning is of paramount significance. You may or may not achieve your goal, but with planning being your priority, the relentless effort and hard work is bound to pay dividends in the long run.
Importance of Career Planning
No two persons are same. Consequently their levels of expectations are also bound to differ. Your expectations from life will obviously differ from mine. Career planning which is one of the essential inputs of life planning always serves to align and give a focused look to the bits and pieces of expectations no matter how trivial they may be.
So, even if your flairs are same, you are likely to differ in the way you go about reaching the same. This is what makes career planning vitally important. Life is all about giving realities to dream and aspirations.
Career planning is a small step taken in the direction of achieving dreams and aspirations. It is what we call ambition. Ambition takes the shape of dream and aspirations. As said previously, life without ambition is like a rudderless boat.To put it in plain and simple terms, career planning gives meaning and significance to this adventurous sojourn through life.It is essentially the way you seek to interact with life.
Again it is important to note that your way of interaction will be different from how your neighbor goes about the same.
What is career planning ?
It doesn’t begin and end with getting employment, but also includes the issues of growth, right moves and change. The possible avenues to be explored can also be clubbed under the same. In fact, it all begins with the sheer selection of avenues of career. In order to go downhill all the way, you need to earmark the areas of interest and that of flair.Self assessment or for that matter introspection is the bare basis of career planning. Knowledge of self, your expectations from life and career, inclinations that are going to reap dividends in the long run are to be dwelled upon with all seriousness.
Nature and kind of resources you are equipped with also merit analysis. Besides listing out the knacks and interests, you need to figure out your chosen area of environment- what kind of work environment you would like working in is going to have curious roles to play in the realm and scope of career planning. It not merely relates to earmarking the areas of passion and those of flair. Maybe you are good at something, say painting. But if at all you would like becoming a professional painter is the point of analysis. Being good at something and pursuing the same with professional commitments maybe diametrically different. There are realities to consider as well.
It is important to reflect and to consider if your goals are realistic enough to be set on course. This brings into play the issues of environment. Maybe you had always dreamt of being an administrator. But then there are realistic sides to it as well. You need to pause and ponder if you are the right one to work under an established setting, following and implementing the directives of your employer. Getting you a suitable job is not the ultimate goal of career planning. You can have a career with or without a job.
Everyone needn’t have to be employed in order to realize his/hers dreams. One of the essential facets of career planning boils down to assessing ones threshold of adjustment and that of adaptability- whether you are adjustable enough to work and deliver in a particular setting is one of its essential constituents.
Generation of alternatives
Thinking and planning ahead in time about the possible alternatives is another important aspect of career planning.It can always happen that one line of career doesn’t fit your bill. So, under such a scheme of things what your next line of options are needs to be considered as well.
For instance, with home and hearth being their first priority, many a career minded women do not mind playing second fiddle to their husbands. Keeping the priorities of family in mind, they may not prefer opting for a career involving brisk turnouts. But life with its share of uncertainties can put them in a spot of bother, in a point of quandary wherein they may have to serve as prospective bread winners.
So bearing in mind the nature of life with all its glorious uncertainties, it makes sense generating the possible alternatives. Possible generation of alternatives will also help you see through things in case you are unable to adjust to a given work scenario. So, in the middle of a career crisis, you needn’t be at your wits ends.
Education and career planning
Education which includes vocational and other lines of professional training is another of its essential constituents. The purpose and stages of education becomes smooth and hassle free if it is worked out according to the objective of career planning. Development and honing of relevant skill necessary for a line of career will be taken care of at this stage.
Stages of career planning
Bearing in mind your long term as well as short term objectives, you can chart out the phases of career planning which consists of introspection, categorization, education and generation of alternatives.
