Career Planning is just a process where an individual focuses on where he/she wants to be in his life and it is also called self-evaluation. Proper planning is done by a person to have a strong career path in their life. The planning process is a continuous process. One always needs to keep planning about their career every time. They need to revise their skills, set their career goals, and search for the right career options.

Career planning is essential for every employee. Every employee should take up it at least once a year. It is not an easy job, it’s a lot more complicated to analyze as people keep changing their career in every short period.

What is Career?

The word ‘career’ basically means an individual’s professional journey for a long time through learning and experience. It can also be a sequence of jobs performed by individuals for living. It is about achieving a social status in a profession which constitutes a career. Career is a long time process.

Whereas career planning is a process of setting goals and objectives for an individual’s career and planning ways to establish these goals. Schwind Das and Wagar and Douglas T.Hall define, “Career planning is a process of enhancing an employee’s future value.” It is a systematic process of selecting career goals and enhancing ways to achieve these career goals.

What is Career planning?

Planning your Career is a systematic process of setting goals and objectives and to achieve these goals and objectives. It is essential to process once in a year for every employee because it enables them to understand what their purposes are and how you can achieve these goals.

The career planning process can be short or long, but it follows a series of steps that would lead them to develop their careers. For if an individual is planning for a career in academics, then he would plan specific steps- Master’s in 22, Ph.D. by 25, lecturer by 27, Head of the department by 32 and a Vice-Chancellor by 45 and so on.

Why is it important to plan your Career?

Every individual needs to plan a step-wise process, which will enable them to focus on where they want to be in life professionally. With the short and the long term goals in place, it can help to plan the journey in one’s professional life. Self-assessment is also necessary to understand your capabilities and drawbacks.

The different kinds of career options should be explored in detail to find a fit between one’s abilities and the opportunities provided by a career option. A person needs to have a good career planning that will help them to grow in their professional career and will also help them to grow personally.

Career Planning Process

The career planning process is a series of steps that will help you to recognize your long term and short term goals. It is time-consuming, where you’ll have to understand your career goals and ways to accomplish these goals. At times, you’ll have to analyze your steps to see your progress.

Career planning process follows specific steps:

1. Conduct a self-assessment
2.  Research potential career
3. Decide on one or more career paths
4.  Set concrete goals.

The Steps In The Career Planning Process

These are some steps that an individual needs to take when making their career plan:

1. Self Assessment: this is the first step of career planning, which is done by an individual to understand his or her skills or the areas of interest. 
2. Research on careers: in this step, you need to understand the career options, companies available, and the available growth options.
3. Setting career objectives: the next step in the career planning is to set short term as well as long term goals for oneself, and to have a clear career path to move forward in your professional life.
4. Learning and improving skills: this is the fourth step in the career planning process, which means to keep acquiring new skills and the relevant knowledge to be in line with career objectives and with the industry requirements.
5. Preparing a CV: this is the fifth step where you have to prepare your career planning in terms of CV, cover letter, recommendations, etc
6. Job Search: this step includes shortlisting of the companies where a person wants to seek a job and start applying to it.
7. Revising career goals: this is the last step in the career planning process where an individual has to continuously evaluate the career goals and once again do a self-assessment to build a strong career path.

Career Planning And Development

Career planning and development is a process of choosing career goals and setting ways to accomplish these goals by evaluating the process. It is an ongoing process that enables individuals to develop the skills required to achieve their career goals. It helps to identify the career and strength of the employee in the organization.

Career planning has few stages which will enable the employees to achieve their goals like finding opportunities for a career. It should suits your trust, assessing self and identifying areas of strength and weakness, setting goals for career, planning ways to achieve these goals and doing a periodic evaluation of the work performed.

Career Planning Importance

Career planning is essential to everyone as it helps individuals be aware of their steps and see themselves in the near future. It is necessary to know the weakness, strengths, and knowledge that you need to improve to achieve a successful career. We spend a sufficient amount of time in our jobs, so it’s important to have career planning.

Importance:

1. Helps you to develop confidence
2. To evaluate your steps
3. Helps you to leverage your strength

Objectives Of Career Planning

Career is a series of jobs performed by individuals for their living, whereas career planning is a process to set targets that will lead you to a successful career. It enables you to be aware of your strength and weakness and set goals accordingly. Objectives are the steps chosen to pursue a career in any specific field.

The main objectives of career planning are as follows:

1. To train employees towards team-building skills
2. Creating ways to deal with emotions, conflict, and situation
3. To respect the feeling of other employees
4. To provide guidance and encouragement for individuals

Steps In Career Planning

Career planning is a process to analyze your strengths and weaknesses and set up goals accordingly, which will lead you towards a successful career. It is a short or long term process that follows a series of steps. These steps lead individuals towards a successful career.

You can follow these steps many times to evaluate your progress. 

• Final planning and action
• Job search and acceptance
• Decision making and career selection 
• Exploration and experimentation
• Career research

Career Planning Examples

A systematic process of setting goals and objectives which ensures a successful career. Career planning must be processed at least once every year to ensure that your goals are leading you towards a bright career. It follows a series of steps that can be reused to evaluate your goals. Few significant examples of career planning are:

Example 1

Academic goals

• Ph.D. in 25
• Join as a lecturer in 27
• Write books and articles
• A vice-chancellor in 35
• Chancellor in 42

Example 2

Dancer

• Take part in college dance fest 
• Take part inter-college fest
• Join a dance academy by 20
• Take part in the competition
• Win reality shows

Example 3

Author

• Complete master’s in literature by 22
• Write articles by 24
• Work with the author by 26
• Write a book by 28

Example 4

IT employee

• To take up science stream by 16
• Prepare for competitive exams
• Join a reputed engineering college by 18
• Prepare for interviews
• Join a reputed IT organization

Example 5

Police officer

• Complete degree by 20
• Maintain fitness
• Prepare for competitive exam
• Apply for a police post by 21
• Join as police by 24

Advantages of Career planning

Career planning is a systematic process of setting goals and objectives that help you analyze your successful career. It can be a short or long term process that follows a series of steps. Career planning has many advantages for individuals. It is organized and is set on the individual’s strengths and weaknesses.

Few significant benefits of career planning are:

• To be aware of career opportunities and priorities
• To choose a career preferable for their durability, lifestyle
• Helps the organization identify the individual’s strength
• Increased job satisfaction

The need for career planning

Career planning follows a series of steps to achieve a bright career. It has satisfied various requirements in our life. There is a need for career planning to be aware of our goals and what we have achieved through these goals. It is needed to have a check on our strengths and weakness.

Career Planning In HRM

Career planning in Human resources management is a process of estimating the need and availability of the organization’s employees. It is based on the performance of the employee towards the organization. Their plan is more organized, which holds a record of employees’ performance and strength.

The Difference In Career Planning And Succession Planning

Career planning is a systematic process of setting goals and objectives and planning accordingly based on individual strengths and knowledge. Career planning is done to ensure a bright career, whereas succession planning is a process of identifying and training new leaders who can replace the old ones who leave or retire.

The significant difference between them is shown below.

1. Career planning
2. Succession planning
3. Individual’s planning
4. Organization strategy
5. Based on individuals performance for a successful career
6. Based on identifying successful employee for critical positions
7. One employee holds different positions in career
8. Different successful employees hold one position
9. Career management
10. Succession management

Career Planning Benefits

Every individual has some plans towards their career and future. It is possible to achieve these plans through a process called career planning. It makes it easier to plan accordingly based on specific steps and goals to achieve a successful career. Career planning has various benefits for the profession of individuals. Few such benefits are mentioned below:

Benefits:

• Helps you grow
• To schedule your goals
• Achieving your career
• To plan your retirement

Career Planning After 10th

It is essential to have career planning after the 10th because it’s the initial stage of an individual’s life. Plan regarding which stream to choose, what are the job opportunities in a stream, trash courses, and job opportunities. This planning regarding ‘what next’ is based on job opportunities, strengths, knowledge, interest, and weakness.

Career Planning After 12th

Career planning after 12th is the most critical and career-defining decision. Most students don’t plan earlier and end up choosing steps that don’t suit their strengths. It’s essential to have career planning from initial stages by analyzing the job opportunities and the future of the job.

Tips For Successful Career Planning

Career is a series of jobs performed for a living, whereas career planning is a process of setting objectives and leading the path towards a successful career. It is essential for every individual at least once a year. Career planning can be a long term or a short term process that involves a series of steps.

To have a successful career, you can follow the tips given below:

• Take a look at your hobbies and interests
• Have a note of your accomplishments
• Plan according to your interest and accomplishments
• Set a time to achieve
• Plan your career annually
• Research for future job opportunities

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