Why is Having a Career Development Plan Important?
- You take charge of your life's direction
- You align your career with your values
- You set yourself up to earn more money
How To Develop a 5-Year Career Plan
- Define Your Goals
- First, think about the big goal! What do you want to do and be in 5 years?
- Ask yourself these questions:
- What type of organization would have this role?
- Where would you live?
- What kind of work environment?
- Are you going to be an entrepreneur?
- Add all the details most important to you.
- Once the big picture is defined, work on short-term goals
- Start by looking at job descriptions for that role.
- See how closely you match the skills and requirements.
- Make a note of commonalities.
- Using this information, you can create short-term goals to build certain skills, obtain advanced education, and plan networking efforts.
- Identify Milestones
- For every goal you have, identify key actions and a timeline to achieve it.
- It will help you hold yourself accountable
- Find Mentors
- Mentors are great at building our strengths and identifying areas of development.
- Pursue Professional Training
- To be successful in any career, you never stop learning and growing.
- Here are some resources to help you get started with training in your field
- Coursera
- LinkedIn Learning
- Industry Association
Recap:
How to Develop a 5-Year Career Plan:
- Define your goals
- Identify milestones to achieve those goals
- Find Mentors to help guide your journey
- Pursue Professional Training to acquire the Skills