300-500 word reflection on: How have your experiences at your externship affected your future plans? Have they changed? How will you ensure that you accomplish your future plans and is your current employer invested in your successful completion of that plan?

Howto Build a Personal Career Plan and Get Out of Your Dead End Job

Alan Henry for
Lifehacker

10/10/14

We’ve all heard it before: “You’re lucky to have any job.” But just because you have one doesn’t mean you have to just slog through a crappy one, or deal with the career you don’t want. You may just be looking at your position as “just a job” and you have no idea what kind of career you want. It doesn’t have to be this way.

I know a lot of people who hate their jobs, but when asked what they’d rather do, they’re already very close to doing what they’re passionate about—they just needed to stop and figure out how to get there. Here’s how you can take a good, hard look at yourself, figure out what you really want to do, and work this into a personal career plan that will help you get where you want to go, personally and professionally.

Take Stock: Evaluate Yourself

Write Down What You Do: The first thing to do if you’re going to pull yourself out of a career-related funk is to take stock of where you are professionally. Your job title and resume only say so much about what you do, so spend a few days taking good notes of what you actually do. Start with the core responsibilities of your position (things you would put on your resume), then write down everything else you spend time doing at work, even if it’s tangential to your actual “job.”

A good way to get in the habit of doing this is to keep a work diary of your successes, failures, and activities. It’s also a good opportunity to get in the habit of doing a GTD-style weekly review, where you take time each week to take stock of what you’ve accomplished and prepare for the next week. When you’re done, sort the list into things you absolutely hate doing, things you don’t mind doing and things that you love and wish you could do more of.

Write Down What You Want To Do: Once the list is sorted, it’s time to focus on the things you’d like to do more of. Build on those items and write down what you wish you could do every day. Don’t be afraid to get far-fetched; if you wish you could get paid to read blogs all day, jot that down. Some people call it “wasting time on Reddit,” but the right employer may call it research.

Now, start thinking long-term. Ask yourself, “Will I want to keep doing these things in a year? What about two, or five?” Don’t be discouraged if you’re not sure. It’s impossible to know what the future you will want, but try to write down some general thoughts.

Ask yourself these questions:

· What am I best at doing, both personally and professionally? What am I terrible at?

· Do I want to stay in this job? Or this field?

· If I want to change jobs, do I want to be promoted into a similar, more senior role?

· If I want to change jobs, would I rather manage people, or would I prefer to continue doing it all myself?

· If I want to change industries, which field am I interested in?

· What is it about that industry that excites me? Has it always interested me?

· What am I doing already that will serve me well in that field?

· What type of company would I like to work for? What about that company is most important to me?

· Would I prefer to work for myself, or become a freelancer, knowing that working for yourself isn’t always rainbows and unicorns?

· Looking at the list of things I love doing, what kind of job uses those skills? Who does those things every day?

Review Your Answers: The point of these questions is to help you evaluate your goals. They help you determine what types of jobs involve the tasks you said you enjoy doing. Pretend you land the perfect job. Now think about where you’d like to go from there. Would you like to keep doing it on a more advanced level? Perhaps you’d like to manage people who do what you do now? When you start thinking about those next steps—without the stress of the whole “where do you see yourself in one/five/ten years” kind of questions (which are largely useless anyway)—you’ll find yourself thinking in terms of the career you want, not just your “dream job.”

Once you’ve finished writing all of this down, you should have a pretty good self-evaluation. This is valuable in itself, and can help you ground yourself in your current job or negotiate with your boss on those tasks that you really hate and how you can do more of what you enjoy (and are strongly suited to.) Now you’re ready for the next step: actually building your plan.

Research the Jobs You’d Like: Now that you know what you’d like to do, it’s time to find jobs that let you do it. Here’s how:

Visit Your Local Career Center and Network with key people in the industry you are interested in: Sometimes the best way to find a job that matches up with your skills and desires is to ask a more experienced person. A chat specialist at a career center, or someone you respect in your industry will put you on the right track towards career guides and resources that can help you translate your dreams into a job title you can aim for.

Scour Job Search Sites: Most people are used to searching job sites for job titles. Try searching for a function or task that you enjoy instead. If you like spending all day on Twitter or Facebook, search for “Twitter” or “Facebook,” or better yet, search for “social networks” or “social media.” Most job search engines will match your keywords with job responsibilities as well as required skills in job listings.

Talk to People about Their Careers (Informational Interviews): Sometimes word of mouth is the best way to find out how to translate your passions into a job you’ll love, as we’ve previously discussed. Ask your friends and family, even your colleagues about their previous jobs. Highlight the things that you enjoy and ask them if they’ve ever heard of a job that does those things. You’ll be surprised: often the side-responsibilities you like at your current job are primary responsibilities at another job.

For example, one of my best friends is saddled with sending dull, dry sales emails for the company she works for. It’s a long and difficult process, and she says she would like it more if she had better tools to do it. However, she really loves seeing the number of people who open those emails, who gets which flavor of message based on their purchase history, and what they click on when they open them. To her, it’s just the crap her boss doesn’t feel like doing, so she gets to do it. At my old company it’s called Campaign Analysis, and there are tools that would make her life easier (not to mention a paycheck she’d probably like as well.) When I explained this to her, she was surprised. Because she had a clear picture of the things she liked and disliked about her job, it was easy to point out that there are jobs out there that could give her an opportunity to do what she enjoys every day.

Research Where Those Jobs Lead: Once you have an idea what types of jobs you’d like to have (even if it means you’ve rediscovered how much you enjoy your current job), start thinking in terms of a long-term career. Do some research on where those jobs usually lead. A good place to start is the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the My Skills, My Future career search site.

If you’re interested in systems administration, think about what your life would be like after you get the job. After a few years, would you like to manage other administrators, or would you be happier taking on increasingly technical and challenging projects? In most technical roles, it’s one or the other. Which would you prefer if you do land that job, and what happens to other people who get it? Photo by

You’ll also want to find out whether the career you want requires education, degrees, or certifications to advance. Some organizations will only promote if you show you’re advancing your skills as well as performing well on the job, and others will only consider you for promotions if you go out and get a relevant degree, or take classes relevant to your job. Continuing education isn’t a bad thing, but you don’t want to reach for a career you want only to find that you’re stuck after taking the first step.

For example, when I was a Project Manager, eventually I learned that a promotion wouldn’t be forthcoming until I earned my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. When I started looking at other companies, I learned that having one makes you more marketable. So I went out and got it to move my career to the next level—I had the time to study and the money to put into the test. Not everyone has that, but I certainly wish I had known it would be necessary before I started out as a PM.

By the time you finish this research, you should have an idea of where the careers you’re interested in will take you, and whether you like those possible paths or not. Of course, you can’t predict everything: you may discover a love of management when you think you’re going to be an engineer forever, or invent a new application while doing software development that leads you to start a new company. The important thing is to think past the job offer you’ll hopefully get, be flexible, and start visualizing the career you’d like to have.

Take Action: Make Your Move

By now, you should have your self-evaluation finished, and a few ideal career paths all mapped out. Congratulations: you have a personalized career plan, based on your interests and your skills. Now all that’s left is the hard part: deciding which direction you’d like to take. Your career plan shouldn’t be a dead document. Keep researching jobs that match up with your goals, and keep talking to people about what opportunities they have in their organizations for people who do what you’d rather do all day.

Once you decide on a direction, you’ll have to determine whether or not the first step is something that requires education, a completely new job, or something you can start with your current gig. You may be getting valuable experience now that can lead you to the career you love, given time. Alternatively, it may be time to jump ship and work to the career you want to have, even if it feels like you have no relevant experience.

Regardless of what you choose to do, even if it’s nothing for now, there’s tremendous value in taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses and where you are professionally. You can use that information to make your current job more bearable just as easily as you can use it to find a new direction. Spending a little time making a map of how you want your career to evolve can save you weeks or even years of toiling away in a job or career that brings you no joy.

Week 4
Career planning

HOSF2064

Lesson Objectives
Assess how to be proactive in building one’s own career.
Understand what is part of a successful career plan
Recognize why a career plan is necessary for any professional
Examine the employer’s role in career development
Acknowledge goal setting as part of successful career planning and development
Analyze networking as a key component to successful career planning

Great careers don’t happen by accident.
Truly satisfying careers are the reward of talent, hard work, a bit of luck, and a strategy carefully managed and put to work.

Truly satisfying careers are the reward of talent, hard work, and a strategy carefully managed and put to work.
True
Great careers are based on luck and usually happen by accident.
False
5 Reasons to have a Career Development Plan:
A career development plan will keep you from getting stuck in a rut
A career development plan will help you take responsibility for your weaknesses
A career development plan will help define your future career path
A career development plan will help you to take charge of your own advancement
A career development plan will give you the confidence you need to succeed.

3

Employee Development and Career Planning
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

Successful companies have learned that it is critical to assist their employees in their career development.
Employers can support employees to find learning opportunities and develop skills they can use in the future, and they can ensure that employees understand company goals and have them set their own goals for development with management.

For development to be successful, management should:
Provide a well-crafted job description, since this is the foundation upon which employee training and development activities are built.
Provide training required by employees to meet the basic competencies for the job.
Develop an understanding of the knowledge, skills and abilities that the organization will need in the future. Management must decide what the long-term goals of the organization are and what implications these goals have for employee development. Once management has reached a conclusion, this information should be shared with staff
Explain the employee development process and encourage staff to develop their own individual development plans
Support staff when they identify learning activities that make them an asset to the organization both now and in the future
CAREER PLANNING DISCUSSIONS
Discussions of career planning typically include the following:
Current job: Does the employee have the skills to meet the responsibilities of their current job?
Gaps: Assess the person’s current levels of competency and their future requirements. This will reveal what gaps need to be addressed to develop their skills so they can meet future job requirements
Future aspirations: Where does the employee see themselves in the future?  What business results do they hope to achieve?
Career plan: Develop a roadmap that enables the employee to acquire the skill set needed for their current job and for the future. Use a career plan template as part of the performance review process. The template should include:
Areas of development
Development goals:
Action steps
Expected completion date
Obstacles and solutions
Evaluation criteria 

For employee development to be a success, the individual employee should:
Look for learning opportunities in everyday activities
Identify goals and activities for development and prepare an individual development plan
4

Career Planning
Career planning should be considered from the perspectives of both the organization and the employee:
Organization: What skills and knowledge do we require to achieve our business goals?
Employee: What are the skills and knowledge I think critical to my current and future career plans?
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

5

Why Do I need A Career Plan?
It will keep you from getting stuck in a rut
It will make you think about how to better utilize your strengths, talents, experience, and passion in your work
It will help you take responsibility for your weaknesses.
It will help define your future career path.
It will help you to take charge of your own advancement.
It will give you the confidence you need to succeed.

5 Reasons Why You Need A Career Development Plan Now
Published on February 25, 2015
Joya Martin Cousin
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-reasons-why-you-need-career-plan-now-joya-martin
1. A career development plan will keep you from getting stuck in a rut
If you allow yourself to grow comfortable performing only the tasks you were trained to do when you were hired, then you might as well make up your mind to be overworked and underpaid for the rest of your working life.
There are all types of people who get stuck in a rut at work. The one thing they all have in common is that they’ve taken their professional development for granted. Don’t be one of those people.
Whether or not we’d like to admit it, everyone around us knows exactly how well or how poorly we’re doing at work. All the little shortcomings we’ve minimized in our own minds are well-known by our colleagues.
Maybe you’re slightly late for work, two or more times per week or you don’t stay up to date on important techniques or skills needed. Sure you get away with it now, but you’re not fooling anyone. No matter how sweet and well-liked you are, not addressing those little quirks now may mean career suicide later on. The management might change. The company could start cracking down on inefficiency. Without notice, your minor shortcomings could suddenly be looked as major areas of underperformance.
You’re probably getting defensive, and thinking: there are things I can improve on, but I’m a not a slacker. If you are not consistently identifying areas for improvement, and working on getting better and better at what you do, sooner or later, you may lose.
Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living. I say that the unplanned career is not worth having.
In the little book “The Go-Giver”, Bob Burg presents three universal reasons why we work: survive, save, serve. Survival and saving have to do with meeting our basic needs and having some time and money left over to enjoy life. Service has to do with making a meaningful contribution to the world around us. Most people get stuck on the first two stages, but never figure out a way to reach a place of purpose in their work.
When we don’t develop the habit of establishing and achieving clear goals, we miss out on the opportunity to steer our careers along a path of significance. Would you like to wake up one day and realize that you plodded through your days in a job you hated, instead of making a difference? Of course you don’t.
Crafting a career development plan will give you the opportunity to gradually assess not only the tasks you do well, but also identify the things that bring joy and meaning to your work.
Carving out the time, and drumming up the discipline it takes to craft a career development plan for yourself will forces us to be accountable. Instead of blaming external forces for every negative turn that occurs at work, we begin to take responsibility for our own actions and reactions.
Creating a career development plan will put the power back into your own hands. Instead of excusing yourself for being late because of traffic, you will be able to recognize that you have stayed up too late flipping through channels on TV, and neglected to pick out your clothes or organize your kids for the day ahead. Instead of being passed over for a promotion because you didn’t have the requisite skills, you get the computer training you need by taking afternoon classes, to position yourself for the promotion you want.
A career development plan will give you ownership over all aspects of your career.
You will begin to know your strengths and weaknesses inside out. You will decide on meaningful targets and set a realistic plans to meet them. You will know what you want to accomplish, and how far you’ve already come. You will find yourself going to work each day with a sense of purpose.
When performance review time rolls around, you will no longer have to struggle to list your strengths or outline your achievements. You will be able to confidently prepare for assessment and promotion meetings. You will be able to update your résumé with ease, and not choke up at the thought of going on a job interview.
6

Employee Development
Efforts made by the organization to upgrade the current knowledge of employees, enhance their skills and encourage them to take new courses or trainings.
Employee development plays a key role in:
Improvement – making the employee more productive by developing all skills used in current positions – behavioural, communication, interpersonal, operational, etc.
Professional growth – goals set to advance career growth
Employee development plans prepare an employee for future assignments and improve organizational loyalty.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

There are two types of employee development Plans:
Professional Growth
Such employee development plans are created to help individuals in their career growth. In such a plan, a team manager sits with his team members and designs growth plans with specific deadlines as to when the development goals can be accomplished. It is essential to give deadlines to employees for them to take trainings and employee development activities seriously. Employees are encouraged to attend training sessions, seminars, conferences to acquire new skills and knowledge.
Improvement
Managers design a performance improvement plan also called as PIP and create an action plan to help employees improve their performance. Employees are trained not only for their professional development but also for their personal growth. Initiatives are taken to improve behavioral skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills which would help them in the long run.

7

Employee Development Plan
An employee development plan is prepared both by the employee and the employer as to what is needed to enhance the skills of an employee and help him grow both personally and professionally.
In an individual development plan, the manager outlines the key responsibility areas of an employee, specialization and areas of interest.
Through individual development plans managers and employee decide the career goals of the employee and make a plan for their achievement.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

Key Areas of Employee Development
Employee development programs fall under the following categories:
Management Development
Personal Effectiveness: Soft skills development, communication and conflict resolution
Technical Skills Development: increasing technical expertise
Time Management – preparing the employee to take on greater accountability and responsibility
Effective Leadership
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

We must be proactive when it comes to career and personal development. We cannot simply wait around hoping someone will recognize how great we are. If you want to develop your leadership skills that lead to advanced career opportunities:
Serve as a mentor to other colleagues, or help to onboard new colleagues.
Offer to lead a team for a new important project that you believe in.
Assume a liaison role with HR on processes for:
Recruitment and selection, helping to fill a position in your area
Managing people issues
and Speak at a meeting allowing your additional skills and expertise to be recognized.

9

Career Planning Tip: Be Coachable
Show openness by being receptive to new ideas and suggestions, by admitting to your need for improvement, and by actively seeking your direct supervisor/manager’s feedback.
Keep in mind that the end goal is your career development, always be coachable even if it’s difficult to hear constructive criticism, this is what will help your career development the most.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

10

A Career Plan Maximizes Your True Potential
Having a realistic career plan is an essential part of our personal growth and development. It’s very rare that a dream job simply appears. For most, it takes years of planning, work and even a little bit of luck to access the career of your dreams.
Without goals to strive for, most people find it difficult to gain skills and opportunities which make them a more valuable commodity in their field. By planning for the future with a specific timeline for accomplishing milestones, a career plan is an effective way to stay on track for pursuing your career goals.
By isolating exactly what you’ll need to accomplish in order to be a candidate for the job you truly want, fulfilling the needed tasks will become much easier and your chances of success are much higher.

11

Pursuit of Continuous Learning
It is up to you to actively pursue your own continuous learning, professional development and career development.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help focus your learning goals:
• What am I curious about right now?
• What do I need to learn to keep up with the changes in my field?
• What strengths would I like to capitalize on?
• What do I want to get better at?
• What are my career goals for the next 3-5 years?

12

Goal Setting = success
Goal-setting is essential to success in all aspects of life.
By setting clearly defined goals, you can measure your progress and focus your efforts to progress toward the vision you have for your ideal career and life. You will be able to see progress in what might otherwise feel like a long, pointless grind.
By setting and taking action toward your goals, you will raise your self-confidence.

13

Purpose of Goal Setting
– Drives You Forward
– Gives You Laser Focus
– Makes You Accountable
– Encourages You To Be The Best You Can Be
– Enables You To Live Your Best Life
If you want success, you need to set goals. Without goals you lack focus and direction. Goal setting not only allows you to take control of your life’s direction; it also provides you a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding.

15

To Set Effective Goals:
Set Goals that Motivate You
Set SMART Goals
Set Goals in Writing
Make an Action Plan
Get to work
Stick With It!

16

Recall S.m.a.r.t. Goal Planning

SMART Goals – How to Write a SMART Goal(2min. 38sec.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mi9_XEXQqc
17

Goal Setting: How To?
Express your goals positively, rather than in terms of what you don’t want.
Be specific in setting dates, times, and amounts so that you know when you have achieved your goals.
Set priorities so that you know which of your goals to focus your attention toward and helps you avoid feeling overwhelmed by having too many goals.
Write your goals down so that you can visually be reminded of them and so that you can craft them to be precise and clear.
Break down your goals into small, achievable tasks so that you get frequent opportunities to accomplish them and feel motivated to take on other goals.
Set realistic goals that you can achieve and that are in your own control.
Once you have a sense of your development goals, think about how you can pursue them on-the-job, through your learning network, and in formal training and education. Meet with your manager to create an individual development plan, and consistently work and update your plan.

18

Trust your struggle

Watch the video

Trust your struggle | Zain Asher | TEDxEuston (14:38)

ZAIN ASHER was born and raised in London. She graduated from Oxford University where she studied French and Spanish (graduating with a distinction in oral Spanish). In 2006, she earned an MS from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she focused on business and financial news. Asher is a national business and personal finance correspondent for CNN, where she appears across platforms covering the latest news on money and the economy. She often reports from the New York Stock Exchange, covering equities and IPOs and interviewing entrepreneurs and dignitaries. In 2014, Asher was part of a team of reporters sent to Nigeria to cover the Boko Haram kidnappings of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria. Asher comes to CNN from MONEY magazine where she covered careers and investing, primarily focusing on stocks, mutual funds, consumer tech stories and workplace advice. She served as a contributing reporter for Forbes.com, where she covered business trend and consumer stories. She has lived and worked in Mexico, France and Nigeria. Asher is fluent in French, Spanish and Igbo (her native Nigerian language).

10 tips to help you achieve successful career planning
https://www.livecareer.com/quintessential/career-planning-tips
By Dr. Randall S. Hansen
1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event
Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year — more often if you feel the need or if you’re planning a major career change — and schedule a retreat for yourself.
By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more secure in your career choice and direction — and you’ll be better prepared for the many uncertainties and difficulties that lie ahead in all of our jobs and career.
2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning
One of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the will help you plan for the future.
Once you’ve mapped your past, take the time to reflect on your course — and note why it looks the way it does. Are you happy with your path? Could you have done things better? What might you have done differently? What can you do differently in the future?
3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and Wants
Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life — not just in your job — that you feel most strongly about.
Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.
Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want or need from your work, from your career. Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.
4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies
Career planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you’re not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it’s not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths.
Think you can’t make a hobby into a career? People do it all the time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn’t until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.
5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments
Most people don’t keep a very good record of work accomplishments and then struggle with creating a powerful resume when it’s time to search for a new job. Making note of your past accomplishments — keeping a record of them — is not only useful for building your resume, it’s also useful for career planning.
Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will reveal forgotten successes, one or more which may trigger researching and planning a career shift so that you can be in a job that allows you to accomplish the types of things that make you most happy and proud.
6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable Skills
Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don’t see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it’s much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles.
For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills — such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information — skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.
7. Review Career and Job Trends
Everyone makes his or her own job and career opportunities, so that even if your career is shrinking, if you have excellent skills and know how to market yourself, you should be able to find a new job. However, having information about career trends is vital to long-term career planning success.
A career path that is expanding today could easily shrink tomorrow — or next year. It’s important to see where job growth is expected, especially in the career fields that most interest you. Besides knowledge of these trends, the other advantage of conducting this research is the power it gives you to adjust and strengthen your position, your unique selling proposition. One of the keys to job and career success is having a unique set of accomplishments, skills, and education that make you better than all others in your career.
8. Set Career and Job Goals
Develop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes.
A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change – and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.
9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities
It’s somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career.
Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities — and then find a way achieve them.
10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement Opportunities
One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is picturing yourself in the future. Where will you be in a year? In five years? A key component to developing multiple scenarios of that future is researching career paths.
Of course, if you’re in what you consider a dead-end job, this activity becomes even more essential to you, but all job-seekers should take the time to research various career paths — and then develop scenarios for seeing one or more of these visions become reality. Look within your current employer and current career field, but again, as with all aspects of career planning, do not be afraid to look beyond to other possible careers.
Final Thoughts on Career Planning
Don’t wait too long between career planning sessions. Career planning can have multiple benefits, from goal-setting to career change, to a more successful life. Once you begin regularly reviewing and planning your career using the tips provided in this article, you’ll find yourself better prepared for whatever lies ahead in your career — and in your life.
19

“It’s not what you know, but who you know.”
Develop a network of friendly people who share information to help each other.
Networking is a strategy for opening the hidden job market.
Because most jobs are not advertised, it is essential that you develop friendly relationships with people who can tip you off to job openings — even introduce you to the person who is doing the hiring.
Networking is a planned, and ongoing effort. You set goals, develop strategies for achieving them, take action, evaluate how well your plan is working, and make changes as necessary.
Networking is something that you continue throughout your career.

https://www.careerkey.org/choose-a-career/networking.html#.WXQACRXyvIU

20

Networking and Career Development
Why is networking sometimes uncomfortable?
For many people, it’s the expectation and pressure of ‘pushing’ your message. If you’re basically a shy person, this doesn’t come naturally.
Effective, engaging and enjoyable networking is an important part of your career development. But it’s a strategy that is NOT about using people for your gain. Rather, it IS about a win/win exchange of contacts, information, referrals, and tips that are mutually beneficial.

21

Evaluate your network
Examine three factors: the size, the diversity, and the strength of your contacts:
List the key people in your career world inside and outsideof your company. The greater the size or number, the more access you have to information and support.
Review that list and write down what they do and who they work for.
Are most of your contacts in your functional area or profession? Assess the quality of those relationships. Are they strong or weak? How can you develop them?
One way to decide strength is: How soon will they return your phone call or email, if at all? The stronger the ties, the more you can go to the well for water – the more you can ask for their time and contacts.
http://managementhelp.org/careers/networking.htm

http://managementhelp.org/careers/networking.htm
Marcia Zidle
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How to Build a Personal Career Plan
Read the article on Career Planning
http://lifehacker.com/5852033/how-to-build-a-personal-career-plan-and-plot-a-course-out-of-your-dead-end-job

http://lifehacker.com/5852033/how-to-build-a-personal-career-plan-and-plot-a-course-out-of-your-dead-end-job
Step 1:
Write down your primary career interest.
Tip: A primary career interest is usually described in terms of a general vocation. For example, “My primary career interest is marketing within the automobile industry.”
Step 2:
Identify long-term professional goals (including positions desired within the company).
Tip: Long term professional goals are often conveyed in terms of specific positions (“become a regional sales manager”) or major accomplishments (“write a book”).
Tip: List any lateral moves or promotions that will help you meet your long-term professional goals. For example, “I want to move from sales associate to sales manager, and finally to regional sales manager.”
Step 3:
Identify the short-term goals that contribute to long-term interests and the challenges that must be overcome in order to reach these goals.
Tip: Identify barriers, both personal and external, that prevent you from accomplishing your short-term goals, then create ways to overcome them. For example, “My short-term goal is to acquire advanced computer skills. The barrier is the time constraints on my job in mechanical engineering which leave me little or no time to receive the additional training I need. The way I could overcome this barrier is to find more efficient ways to complete my tasks or to delegate them to others while I attend the August training sessions.”
Step 4:
List 2-3 activities that will help you reach each goal. Be sure to specify how you will accomplish the activity, including any resources you might need, and when you will start and finish it. (Resources may include other people’s time/expertise, funds for training materials and activities,or time away from your other responsibilities).
Tip: Common Development Activities
Identify and cultivate a relationship with a mentor/role model.
Read relevant material.
Engage in training and education.
Keep a journal.
Attend appropriate seminars.
Take on special job assignments or job rotation.
Receive coaching from a skilled co-worker.
Increase customer contact.
Incorporate activities into ongoing work assignments.
Step 5:
Describe tasks in your current job that are contributing to long term goals and that you would like to emphasize or perform more frequently.

Step 6:
Describe tasks in your current job that are not contributing to your long-term goals. Suggest ways to minimize, remove, or delegate them to others.
Step 7:
Write down any additional skills, knowledge or experience you would like to acquire that may directly or indirectly help you in your current job or future positions.
Step 8:
Describe when and how progress checkpoints will occur (e.g., memos, phone calls, meetings) and what developmental activities will be completed or discussed at these times.
Part 2: Manager Review
Questions to ask….
1. Are you aware of your employee’s career interests and values? Do you know which of your employee’s strengths contribute to these career goals and what areas need to be developed?
2. Do you feel that the short-term goals your employee has suggested are unrealistic, given the employee’s abilities or other external factors? Is there anything standing in the way of the desired goals?
Tip: Convey what you know about organizational realities to help the employee set short-term goals. If you think there are outside barriers which will inhibit the attainment of their goals, describe them and help the employee work around them.
3. Do you know of other activities that would help the employee reach the developmental goals? What has helped you in the past in this area?
Tip: Help the employee select at least one development activity for each short-term goal. Scan the Employee Appraiser Coaching Advisor for action suggestions.
4. Are there people you know who could help your employee meet their career development goals? Can you provide the resources identified?
Tip: Help the employee meet their goals by offering your ideas, contacts with people, and resources. Think of at least one person who could help the employee in a mentor or advisor role.
5. Can you make changes to the employee’s job to replace routine tasks with new work that is more closely aligned with the employee’s goals?
Tip: If you agree with the employee’s suggestions for expanding their responsibilities, work with them to define any additional knowledge or experience they will need to meet the new set of expectations. Also take a close look at how their workload will be affected, and discuss any responsibilities they will need to give up.
Tip: When employees mention tasks they no longer want to be involved with, ask them for specific suggestions on how to get the same result without their involvement, e.g. delegate, eliminate, or find more efficient ways of accomplishing the tasks.
6. Have you and the employee agreed on dates for progress checkpoints and what will be measured at each one?

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Networking Suggestions
Canadian Culinary Federation: http://ccfcc.ca/
Toronto Networking Events: https://www.eventbrite.ca/d/ontario–toronto/networking/
George Brown Chef School Alumni: http://www.georgebrown.ca/chefschool/alumni/
Terroir Symposium: http://www.terroirsymposium.com/
Toronto Culinary Events (this is for 2017 but most are annual): http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2017/05/toronto-food-events-culinary-ontario-festival/
Toronto Taste – and Toronto Taste Chef Challenge: http://www.torontotaste.ca/chef-challenge
Hawksworth Young Chef Foundation: http://hawksworthscholarship.com/about/

Here are a few, but go out and find more opportunities to network.

In conclusion
Honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses – use your performance feedback
Evaluate your interests and passions
Set SMART goals for your life and career
Work with your employer to build a plan
Network to build important relationships to help you on your career path.
“It’s not what you know but who you know.”
Be proactive – don’t be passive; make your career happen
Be prepared –
“Most people wait until they get the call for a job interview, before they begin to prepare; but those who succeed prepare well before getting that call.”
~ Zain Asher

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