Career Planning

DISCOVER YOUR CAREER…

Teacher, minister, doctor, real estate, computer programmer,

banker, coach, accountant, lawyer, etc.

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 What is “Career Planning”? 

 What is “Career  Career Planning is about: 

Planning”?  Information & Knowledge
  about
 Distilled into big questions…  Yourself

 Who are you?  The labour market

 Where are you now? Opportunities

 What do you want?  Finding the right match for
(Develop your 1-2-3-5-10 you
…year vision)  Being pro-active
 How can you get there?  Making it happen!
  
 
 
 
 
  

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 What is Career Planning?
 According to the Thorndike dictionary
 "A goal that you desire to achieve in a
selected field or occupation with a well-
thought out plan, to get you there is called
Career Planning.

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 Career planning process
 "Career planning is a lifelong process,
which includes choosing an occupation,
getting a job, growing in our job, possibly
changing careers, and eventually retiring.

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 “Effective Career Planning  
 is about finding a job that works for you,
matching who you are to the life you are
going to lead.” (John Lees)

 
 

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KNOW HOW TO SURVIVE IN A
CHANGING ECONOMY
• Individuals are responsible for
their career path.
• A college degree does NOT
guarantee employment, but it
sure helps give options.
• Individuals must accept risks
that accompany employment
and plan for the future.
• Commitment to lifelong
learning will help keep an
individual employable.

. . . learning has just begun!

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Two Models of Career Planning
process
Four Step Process:
•Explore self
•Explore the work world
•Make decisions & set goals
•Action

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 1
Become
7 awa re of ne ed
to make car eer 2
Impleme nt decisions Le arn
a voca tional about and/or
re eva luate
choic e
self

Resources
6 (w ebsites, 3
Ma ke databases,
Identify
educ ational print mater ials,
occupational
choic es sof twar e) alter na tives

5 4
Ma ke Obtain
tentative information
choic es f rom about ide ntif ied
among a vaila ble alterna tives
occupations

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 Explore self

 Where are you now ?

  Draw a symbol or picture  
 A symbol or picture which represents
where you are with your career right now

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 Explore self

 Gather information about yourself (

self assessment)
 Interests
 Values
 Roles
 Skills/Aptitudes
 Preferred Environments
 Developmental Needs
 Your realities

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 SIX EASY WORDS TO HELP YOU
NAVIGATE FOR CAREER SUCCESS
The knowledge to manage your career comes from
you (why, who, how) and from an understanding of
the career you wish to enter (what, where, when):
Why? … identify your goals
Who? … network with people
How? … learn the skills necessary
What? … understand requirements
Where? … find out points of entry
When? … know when to start looking

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CHOOSING A CAREER
• Individual counseling
• Advisors, professionals, etc.
• Career Resource Center
• Attend Career & Job Fairs
• Register for the Career & Life
Exploration Class

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Exploring Occupations

Gathering career information is

an important part of the
career planning process.
This information includes
employment outlook, salary,
related occupations,
education and training, and
job duties.
Find what you need in these
articles, descriptions, and
interviews.
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Make decisions & set goals

During this phase of the process, you will:

 Identify possible occupations

 Evaluate these occupations

 Explore alternatives

 Choose both a short term and a long term

option

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 Action

 You will develop the steps you need to take in

order to reach your goal, for example:
 Investigating sources of additional
training and education, if needed
 Developing a job search strategy
 Writing your resume
 Composing cover letters
 Gathering company information
 Preparing for job interviews
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JOB SEARCH SKILLS

•Resume writing

•Effective interviewing

•Job search strategies

•Negotiating

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 RESUMES & COVER LETTERS
 Resumes develop first impression.
 A sales brochure, a marketing tool, a 30-second
commercial advertising a specific product. That
product is YOU!
 Resume and cover letter help designed to sell
you, in 10-15 seconds, to a potential employer.
 In today's competitive job market, your resume
and cover letter must convince a potential
employer that you have the right qualifications
and skills to warrant calling you for an interview.
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 Conti…
 Resumes summarize skills, education, experience and
abilities.
 Resumes are NOT an autobiography, telling your whole
life story on a piece of paper.
 Cover Letters serve as an introduction and should be
company specific if possible. Make a connection and grab
the attention of the reader.
 Resumes and cover letters should not be focused on you!!!
 They should be focused on the employer's needs. Your
resume and cover letter should show an employer how
you will bring value and fill a need for them.
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 PARTS OF A RESUME
 Heading Identification
 Name, address, phone number and email address
 Objective or Summary Statement
 Summary of employment desired
 Education
 Name of school, type of degree, year of graduation as well as majors and
minors
 Experience
 List your experience in reverse chronological order— list most recent
experience and work backwards. Identify duties and accomplishments.
Use ACTION verbs to describe duties and accomplishments.
 Skills
 Things you can do that makes you special—using the computer, speaking
a foreign language, etc. The skills you list will change depending on job.
Key words are important.
 Activities / Awards / Interests
 Clubs, volunteer experience, sports . . . things that show community
involvement and leadership skills.

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 EXAMPLES OF ACTION VERBS

 Accomplished  Enhanced
 Analyzed  Established
 Achieved  Formulated
 Coordinated  Generated
 Contributed  Implemented
 Delegated  Supervised
 Designed  Trained
 Devised  Researched
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A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER...
 There is no ONE “right
way” to write a RESUME
— everyone is unique.
 Proofread your resume
very carefully for
grammar, punctuation,
and spelling. You do not
want ANY mistakes in
your resume. Have
someone review your
resume for mistakes.

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 Conti…
 Get feedback from other people.
Make sure that your resume looks
good, is easy to understand, and says
what you want it to say!
 Resume is the marketing tool to get
the interview!
 Career Services will be happy to
critique your resume.

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 Identifying Career Options

 Internet
 Contacts and
Networks
 Newspapers and
journals
 Professional
Associations
 Careers Centre -
career assessment;
occupational library;
counselling; Internet
contacts

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 Networking
 An essential ingredient of career
success
 Identify people within your network
 Continually develop and maintain
relationships, informally and formally
with these people
 Build your networks particularly in
relation to your career goals

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CAREER FAIRS

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 Career Development
 Career development involves managing your
career either within or between organizations. It
also includes learning new skills, and making
improvements to help you in your career. Career
development is an ongoing, lifelong process to
help you learn and achieve more in your career.
 Whether you are looking at making a career
change, or moving up within a company,
planning your own career development will help
you succeed

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 References
 http://www.freeresumesamples.org/
 http://careerplanning.about.com/cs
/choosingacareer/a/cp_process.htm
 http://www.shintonconsulting.com/
downloads/0610/NWO_Masterclass_
Care_ED8AC9.ppt

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