running head: CAREER PLAN 1

Career Plan: A Look at my Future

Jesus Manuel Cortes

April 28, 2020

Arizona State University

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Intro

In this paper, I will set a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and develop a career

vision that align with my personal vision/mission statements and life themes.

Additionally, I will outline a long-term as well as a short-term strategy/plan to achieve my

vision.

o Vision Statement:

To be an influential figure of care, compassion and hospitality. To be someone who

others look up to for my will to grow as a person while maintaining my values, a healthy

lifestyle, and helping all those around me do the same.

o Mission Statement:

I will keep everything in my life taken care of to focus on being with those I love.

I will not settle, but instead I will continue to seek self-betterment and growth every day.

I will strive to be a person who others can look up to.

I will strive to be someone anyone can call a friend.

I will strive to be someone who others know they can come to for help no matter what

the situation might be.

I will strive to be someone people were glad they met.

I will do what I know is right even when the going gets tough.
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I will look back only to check my progress on my way to fulfill my vision in order to

adjust my path if necessary.

o Life Themes

I have vision for potential improvement

I enjoy socializing and being around people

I am persistent

I find hands on/ laborious work more satisfying than any other type

Family is one of the most valuable things to me

I have a very strong will

I have a code to always try to do the right thing.

I am self-confident

I can compartmentalize easily

I know how to deal with tough times

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Section 1: BHAG

 My BHAG:

To better my mental, emotional and financial statuses by taking advantage of

tools/opportunities available to me, and my support system, especially the sacrifices my

parents have done for me, to be able to surpass their life achievements and continue to

strive for generational success progression.

 My BHAG compared to my vision and mission statements:

My BHAG revolves around and goes hand in hand with my vision statement and is the

“what” I will come to by committing to my mission statement. My BHAG is closely tied to

my vision statement because they are the purpose I seek to fulfill with my life. I want to

become a better person than I was yesterday every day for the rest of my life in order to

keep my purpose relevant and stay away from mediocracy. I want to be show others

gratitude by seizing available opportunities, utilizing my support network and giving back

by striving to be someone others can follow.

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Section 2: Career Vision

 My career evolution over time:

I see myself in a career that will allow me to grow as the time goes by and as I continue

to learn more every day. When I took the “Motivational and Career Anchor Assessment”

in a previous module, my results showed that I am a person who is anchored in a

technical or functional competence and am motivated by being the best I can be within

a certain/specific field. This was one of the reasons or “supporting evidence” to me

choosing “I have vision for potential improvement” and “I find hands on/ laborious work

more satisfying than any other type” as two of my life themes. This being said, I see

myself becoming an expert or master within a field, sector or division of an organization

and then using that knowledge to teach, guide and manage others by eventually being a

leader in a managerial position. Again, going back to the “Motivational and Career

Anchor Assessment” results, it showed that individuals anchored in my competence can

potentially go on to do exactly as I mentioned, and be promoted to managerial position.

 Organizational vs Protean Career:

Looking back at the Career and Life Orientation Index exercise from module 5, I ended

up with a score of three, which means I preferred to choose a “Highly Organizational”

route for my career path vs a “Protean” route. I personal prefer an organizational path

vs a protean career because I believe that work is work and am not too concerned

about finding an exterior purpose for my life other than my BHAG, as well as my vision

statement. What I mean by this is that I do not mind being part of an organization vs
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being more independent and having a high of mobility for what I want to do next. Do not

take me wrong, I do enjoy making my own choices however, at the end of the day my

philosophy about life/work is that I work to live and not the other way around. I do find

phycological success rewarding yet prefer financial success. Additionally, even though I

do believe that my career will easily and intuitively start off more organizational that

protean, this does not mean it can not change over time as I hold more power to back

up a choice to pursue a more protean career.

 Organizational Path Progression vs Alternative Career Paths:

Comparing the option of progressing through a path within an organization vs choosing

an alternative career path and considering that “I am Persistent” was one of my life

themes, I would say I will most likely stick to one single organization for the most part for

my career. Knowing that I am persistent is relevant in making this choice because this

can help me move up the chain within a company by continue to work on my growth day

in and day out. One of the companies that has always caught my attention and interest

to work for is UPS because they heavily take company seniority into account when

choosing to promote and fill a position. This is another huge reason for my most

probable decision to stick within an organization than to switch career paths and work

for someone else.

 Alternative vs Flexible Work Options:

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When choosing a career, I think will choose one where I will have more alternative

options within that company vs one where I will have more flexibility over what I do.

Going back to the “Organizational vs Protean” section, I mentioned that I do not mind

being part of an organization vs being more independent. Again, this does not mean

that I do not enjoy some freedom to choose what I want to do next. I would like to have

some say in what I want to do and for this reason, by choosing an organization with

many alternative options for growth I can be sure I will have some sort of choice.
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Section 3: Long-Term Strategy

In order to put things into the simplest of terms, below I have added a list of

aspirations or benchmarks I hope to accomplish that I believe will guide me to ultimately

completing my BHAG. The list below is for the most part in order of what I plan to

achieve first to last. Do note that these benchmarks are guidelines and of course are

subject to change as my life progresses. Additionally, these benchmarks are anywhere

from 2-5 years apart. For each below, I will discuss how it ties up to my BHAG.

Benchmarks:

o Acquire Starting position at dream organization

o Become supervisor/ go into management

o Get married/ have kids

o Buy a house

o Invest Money

o Once old enough, begin teaching kids everything I know

 Acquire Starting position at dream organization:

The first benchmark for my BHAG is to find my dream organization and secure an entry

level job or the best position I can acquire to start with that company. The organization I

aspire to work with will also hopefully be the one I stay as my dream organization will

allow me to climb the up the organizational chart. As I mentioned before, UPS is a

company I am really interest in as their work compensation and benefits are

phenomenal, and they take seniority seriously when looking to promote. If I were to start
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off with UPS with as a sales accountant executive for example, this would be an

organization I would love to stay with. This goal is set within one to two years from now

so I can have time to get settled with life post-graduation life.

 Become supervisor/ go into management:

After I have secured a job within a company I like and am comfortable with, I will start to

show my talents in order to build a good reputation and rapport within the organizational

community. I will also start showing my interests for doing more, asking for additional

responsibilities in order to learn more about the business. This will hopefully show my

drive and commitment to the organization and help me get on the road to management.

Hopefully, after two to four years, I can secure my way into management even if I simply

start off as a supervisor of some sort. With this secured, potentially within another 2

years of supervising experience I can go up further and further increasing my salary as I

do.

 Get married/ have kids:

Another goal that I have which ties into my vision statement and BHAG, is to one day

have a family of own. I currently have a girlfriend whom I love so much and can see

myself building a future with. I do, however, want to be able to provide for my family and

be in good financial standing once I take these two big commitments. For this reason, I

have set this goal to after I have secured a well enough salary and status within my

organization. Objectively, these goals will be completed anywhere from four to six years

from now once I am sure I am ready. Some people always say you are never really
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ready to get married or have children until you do. I think that giving myself four to six

years from now will not only give me a better financial situation advantage but will also

give me time to grow more mentally and emotionally as per my BHAG.

 Buy a house:

The desire to own a house does not only come naturally to mostly everyone but is also

a wish of mine in order to be in a better shape to take care of myself and my family. I

think that owning a house is also an investment and is part of my wish to be in a better

financial standing that my parent shave been. Even though my parents do own their

house, I desire to buy a house at a younger age than them in order to get the most out

of it. For this reason, I want to accomplish this goal as soon as I can and have set this

benchmark for eight to eleven years from now.

 Invest Money:

Once I have secured my career and house, I would then like to save enough money to

invest in some sort of business. I know that investing does not necessarily have to

thousands and thousands of dollars at a time and anyone can put a couple of hundred

in stocks for example, this is not my wish. I would like to be more secure about my

money and invest in something where I will be most certain my money will work itself

and make me more money. I think that setting this goal for thirteen to fifteen years from

now will not only allow me to secure my house and save investing money, but also allow

me to think of a business I will comfortable with.

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 Once old enough, begin teaching kids everything I know:

Once I do start my family and hopefully have children, I would like to start passing down

all my knowledge, values and morals to my kids. Obviously, it is not possible to start

teaching kids values when they are babies but as they grow and become toddlers then

teens and adults, one can teach lessons that they can better understand as they grow

and have experiences of their own. I would of course teach my kids as soon as they

start learning from a young age yet once they are around 7-9 is when they can begin to

learn more complex lessons. This will hopefully be anywhere from 16 – 19 years from

now.
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Section 4: The 1-2 Year Plan

S.M.A.R.T. Goals:

 Acquire Starting position at dream organization

In order to get a job in my dream organization I need to start my search and apply to

organizations I possibly might be interested in. This will probably take the longest time

as there are so many options out there and searching through each one is time

consuming. Another part of this process once I decide on my organization will be

revising my resume to make sure it is in its best shape. Additionally, revising my cover

letter will go hand in hand with my resume as well. Lastly, I need to make sure I have

references that will speak about me with relevance to the position I will be seeking.

Once I have this down, I can apply and hope to get an interview. If I do land an interview

with one of my options, I then need to prepare for it as much as possible. Preparing for

the interview includes learning the most relevant information about the company

regarding my desired position and preparing myself to answer possible interview

questions. Some additional I will need to do to prepare for my interview can include

dressing appropriately and practicing my handshake and practicing my public speaking.

 Acquire a certificate in translation and interpretation

Another good goal I have for the future regarding my career development is getting a

certificate in translation and interpretation. I was raised with my first language being
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Spanish and can fluently speak, read and write it. My only education in it was at home

however since I never went to school in Mexico, but if I were to obtain a certification for

it, it would be official and could benefit my career. In order to get my become a

translator, I will need to get certified by the American Translators Association (ATA), or

by the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators. Both of these

require a three- hour online test which I will need to study for. Even though I am very

confident in my ability to speak, read and write Spanish, I think that preparing for these

exams will be crucial and I can do so by downloading an app, or reading a study guide

book for the test. I think that both of these options combined will the best bet. Once I

have prepared and feel confident about my ability, I will need to take the tests online

and wait a week or two for my results. If I were to for some reason fail, I can try again

until I get it as it Is free.