Career planning

Career planning is an individuals lifelong process of establishing personal career objectives and
acting in a manner intended to bring them about.
Career Management

Career Management Introduction

Career Management Best Practices

Career planning
o Elements of Career Planning Programs

Career Paths

Career Development

Meeting the Challenges of Effective Career Development

Are you not satisfied with the way your career is moving? Don't know in which way you should
direct your career? Long past are the days of lifetime employment and now you need to plan
careers as how to shift from one organization to another for gaining maximum industry
experience. The task of career planning is quite a laborious one and it requires systematic
planning of every step and a calculated execution. Take the onus of planning your own career.
The Concept of Career
The tern 'career denotes all the jobs that are held during one's working life. It is viewed as a
sequence of positions held by an individual during the course of his lifetime. Edwin B. Flippo
defined a career as a sequence of separate but related work activities that provide continuity,
order and meaning in a person's life. This is the objective career. A career may be viewed as
amalgam of the changes in values, attitudes and motivation that occurs as a person grows older.
This is a subjective element in the concept of a career.
Career Planning Introduction
In each of us rests the power to shape our future and it will be shaped by our action or inactionKate weldelton
you should control your career for your own advantages. for controlling your career, you make

effective planning for your future and implementation it practically. because you are the only one
who has the right about your decision of future planning, before you start your career planning,
first ask yourself:

Who are you?

Where are you now?

what do you want? (Develop your 1-2-3-5-10....year vision)

How can you get there?

Nature of Career Planning

The following are the salient features of career planning:

A Process: Career planning is a process of developing human

resources rather than an event.

Upward movement: It involve upward movement in the

organisational hierarchy, or special assignments, project work which
require abilities to handle recurring problems, human relations issued
and so on.

Mutuality of Interest: The individual's interest is served as his needs

and aspirations are met to a great extent and the organisation's
interest is served as each of its human resources is provided an
opportunity to develop and contribute to the organisational goals and
objectives to the optimum of its ability and confidence.

Dynamic: Career planning is dynamic in nature due to an ever

changing environment.

Objectives of Career Planning

Career Planning seeks to meet the following objectives:

To provide and maintain appropriate manpower resources in the

organisation by offering careers, not jobs.

To provide environment for the effectiveness, efficiency and growth of

its employees and motivating them to contribute effectively towards
achieving the objectives of the organisation.

To map out careers of various categories of employees suitable to their

ability, and their willingness to be 'trained and developed for higher
positions.

To have a stable workforce by reducing absenteeism and employee turnover.

To cater to the immediate and future human resourcesss need of the organisation on a
timely basis.

To increase the utilisation of managerial reserves within organisation.

Nature of Career Planning

The following are the salient features of career planning:

A Process: Career planning is a process of developing human

resources rather than an event.

Upward movement: It involve upward movement in the

organisational hierarchy, or special assignments, project work which
require abilities to handle recurring problems, human relations issued
and so on.

Mutuality of Interest: The individual's interest is served as his needs

and aspirations are met to a great extent and the organisation's
interest is served as each of its human resources is provided an
opportunity to develop and contribute to the organisational goals and
objectives to the optimum of its ability and confidence.

Dynamic: Career planning is dynamic in nature due to an ever

changing environment.

Objectives of Career Planning

Career Planning seeks to meet the following objectives:

To provide and maintain appropriate manpower resources in the

organisation by offering careers, not jobs.

To provide environment for the effectiveness, efficiency and growth of

its employees and motivating them to contribute effectively towards
achieving the objectives of the organisation.

To map out careers of various categories of employees suitable to their

ability, and their willingness to be 'trained and developed for higher
positions.

To have a stable workforce by reducing absenteeism and employee turnover.

To cater to the immediate and future human resourcesss need of the organisation on a
timely basis.

To increase the utilisation of managerial reserves within organisation.

Steps in Career Planning Process

Step 1: Self-Assessment The first and foremost step in career planning is to know and assess
yourself. You need to collect information about yourself while deciding about a particular career
option. You must analyse your interests, abilities, aptitudes, desired lifestyle, and personal traits
and then study the relationship between the career opted for and self.
Step 2: Goal Setting Set your goals according to your academic qualification, work experience,
priorities and expectations in life. Once your goal is identified, then you determine the feasible
ways and objectives how to realize it.
Step 3: Academic/Career Options Narrow your general occupational direction to a particular one
by an informatory decision making process. Analyse the career option by keeping in mind your
present educational qualification and what more academic degrees you need to acquire for it.
Step 4: Plan of Action Recognize those industries and particular companies where you want to
get into. Make the plan a detailed one so that you can determine for how many years you are
going to work in a company in order to achieve maximum success, and then switch to another.
Decide where you would like to see yourself after five years and in which position.
Step 5: Catch Hold of Opportunities Opportunity comes but once. So, whenever you get any
opportunity to prove yourself and get into your desired career, try to convert it in every way for
suiting your purpose. Remember, a successful professional is also quite opportunistic in his
moves, examining every opening to turn to his favour.
Advice on Career Planning
1. Try not to waste much time and wait too long between career planning sessions.
2. Don't ever judge and analyse yourself, like your likes and dislikes, abilities, etc. by
listening to what people around you say. Be your best judge.

3. Be open to constructive criticisms.

Career planning is a very important step that needs to be considered in totality. If need be, you
should not be hesitant to take the help of professional guidance and find out the best career
planning for yourself.
Different phases in the career of an employee:
Most working people go through career stages and it has been found that
individuals needs and expectations change as the individual moves through
these stages.
1. Exploration Stage: This is the stage where an individual builds
expectations about his career. Some of them are realistic and some are
not. But the fact is that these could be a result of the individual's
ambitions.
2. Establishment Stage: This could be at the stage where the individual
gets his first job, gets accepted by his peers, learns in this job, and
also gains the first tangible evidence of success or failure. The
establishment/advancement stage tends to occur between ages 25 and
44. In this stage, the individual has made his or her career choice and
is concerned with achievement, performance, and advancement. This
stage is marked by high employee productivity and career growth, as
the individual is motivated to succeed in the organization and in his or
her chosen occupation. Opportunities for job challenge and use of
special competencies are desired in this stage. The employee strives
for creativity and innovation through new job assignments. Employees
also need a certain degree of autonomy in this stage so that they can
experience feelings of individual achievement and personal success.
3. Mid-Career Stage: The individual's performance levels either
continue to improve, or levels, or even deteriorates.
4. Late Career: This is regarded as a pleasant phase, where one is
allowed to relax and play the role of an elderly statesman in the
organization.
5. Decline: The stage, where the individual is heading towards
retirement.

Steps in Career Planning Process

Step 1: Self-Assessment The first and foremost step in career planning is to know and assess
yourself. You need to collect information about yourself while deciding about a particular career
option. You must analyse your interests, abilities, aptitudes, desired lifestyle, and personal traits
and then study the relationship between the career opted for and self.
Step 2: Goal Setting Set your goals according to your academic qualification, work experience,
priorities and expectations in life. Once your goal is identified, then you determine the feasible
ways and objectives how to realize it.
Step 3: Academic/Career Options Narrow your general occupational direction to a particular one
by an informatory decision making process. Analyse the career option by keeping in mind your
present educational qualification and what more academic degrees you need to acquire for it.
Step 4: Plan of Action Recognize those industries and particular companies where you want to
get into. Make the plan a detailed one so that you can determine for how many years you are
going to work in a company in order to achieve maximum success, and then switch to another.
Decide where you would like to see yourself after five years and in which position.
Step 5: Catch Hold of Opportunities Opportunity comes but once. So, whenever you get any
opportunity to prove yourself and get into your desired career, try to convert it in every way for
suiting your purpose. Remember, a successful professional is also quite opportunistic in his
moves, examining every opening to turn to his favour.
Advice on Career Planning
1. Try not to waste much time and wait too long between career planning sessions.
2. Don't ever judge and analyse yourself, like your likes and dislikes, abilities, etc. by
listening to what people around you say. Be your best judge.
3. Be open to constructive criticisms.
Career planning is a very important step that needs to be considered in totality. If need be, you
should not be hesitant to take the help of professional guidance and find out the best career
planning for yourself.
Different phases in the career of an employee:
Most working people go through career stages and it has been found that
individuals needs and expectations change as the individual moves through
these stages.
1. Exploration Stage: This is the stage where an individual builds
expectations about his career. Some of them are realistic and some are

not. But the fact is that these could be a result of the individual's
ambitions.
2. Establishment Stage: This could be at the stage where the individual
gets his first job, gets accepted by his peers, learns in this job, and
also gains the first tangible evidence of success or failure. The
establishment/advancement stage tends to occur between ages 25 and
44. In this stage, the individual has made his or her career choice and
is concerned with achievement, performance, and advancement. This
stage is marked by high employee productivity and career growth, as
the individual is motivated to succeed in the organization and in his or
her chosen occupation. Opportunities for job challenge and use of
special competencies are desired in this stage. The employee strives
for creativity and innovation through new job assignments. Employees
also need a certain degree of autonomy in this stage so that they can
experience feelings of individual achievement and personal success.
3. Mid-Career Stage: The individual's performance levels either
continue to improve, or levels, or even deteriorates.
4. Late Career: This is regarded as a pleasant phase, where one is
allowed to relax and play the role of an elderly statesman in the
organization.
5. Decline: The stage, where the individual is heading towards
retirement.