Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Tips on Career Planning

There are some specific actions which you can take to begin building a positive attitude and a healthy view of yourself:
1) Evaluate and accept: Review your strengths and weaknesses. Congratulate yourself for the things you like and ignore those that you do not.2) Examine your beliefs: Do you have clear cut values and principles that you always live by? If not, you may be too easily swayed by the opinion of others. Make sure your foundation is strong.3) Take appropriate risks: Minimize risk by evaluating the alternatives carefully, but do not be afraid to try something new when the odds of success are in your favor.4) Choose positive influences: Do not spend your time with people who belittle and depress you. Get out of a destructive relationship. If you would like to improve your opinion bout yourself, tell yourself that you can develop a positive opinion and you will. It is all there up in your mind, it does what we tell it to do.5) Demand respect: If you do not like the way others treat you, tell them so. Let your friends, family and co-workers know that you expect them to accord you the same courtesy and consideration that you give to them. Respect is seldom given freely. It must be earned. When others learn that they can no longer push you around, they will stop trying.
Developing a Career Plan:
An individual aspiring a top managerial position should plan his career with the help of Career management helps to achieve a proper balance between the individual needs and the demands of his life. This will benefit both the individual and the enterprise.
Making a Personal SWOT analysis:
The making of a personal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis, the identification of the strengths and the weaknesses of an individual is the starting point or the base on which a sound career plan is to be built. The personal strategy should be designed to utilize strengths and minimize the weaknesses. In order to take advantage of career opportunities an individual has to concentrate to make hi strengths as his core competencies rather than wasting time and energy on eliminating or overcoming his weaknesses.
Preparation of a Personal Profile: One of the most difficult tasks is gaining insight into oneself, yet this is an essential first step in developing a career plan. An individual should ask himself. Am I an introvert or an extrovert? What are my attitudes toward time, achievement, work, material things and change? Some similar questions and the answers to these and a clarification of values will help in determining the direction of the professional career.
Development of Long Range Personal and Professionals goals: No airplane would take off without a flight plan including a destination. Yet, how learn are individuals about the direction of their lives? People often resist career planning because it involves making decisions. They also resist goal setting because uncertainties in the environment cause concern about making commitments. Furthermore, there is the fear of failing to achieve goals, because the non-achievement of objectives is a blow to one’s ego.
A complete understanding of the factors that inhibit goal setting, one can take steps to increase his/her commitment. First, when the setting of performance goals becomes a part of the appraisal process, identifying career goals is easier. Moreover, one does not set career goals all at once. Rather, goal setting is a continuous process that allows flexibility; professional goals can be revised in the light of changing circumstances. Another factor that reduces resistance to goal setting is the integration of long term aims with the more immediate requirement for action. For example, the aim of becoming a doctor makes it easier to study those subjects that are necessary for the medical degree.
How far in advance should one plan? A plan should include a period of time necessary for the fulfillment of commitments involved in the decision made today. Therefore, the time frame for career planning will differ with the circumstances. For example, if a person wants to become a professor, it is necessary to plan for university studies of 7 to 9 years. On the other hand, if the career goal is to become a clerk, the time span is much shorter. At any rate, the long term aim has to be translated in to short term objectives.

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