Creating a Career Plan That Works – Part 2
Completing your Professional Vision Statement is only the beginning. Once you have finished defining your dream job, you are ready to move on to your Professional Mission Statement . First, break down your career plans into two segments: short-term professional goals that will be completed within the next three years, and long-term professional goals that you plan to complete beyond 3 years. Be sure to include educational and skills development, internships, experience requirements, and personal goals that effect your career in this plan. The benefit of creating discreet milestones is that you will find it easy to establish priorities, assess your progress, and be prepared to seize an opportunity when it is presented to you. Remember, successful people are not just lucky. It's preparation meeting opportunity. (Read this article and others by selecting the Kelley's article tab on the Home Page.)
Second, be realistic and do your research. For any plan to work, it must be rooted in reality. Know what experience, education, and skills are essential for success. If you are too optimistic with your timelines, you will never enjoy success in achieving your goals. You will miss your key milestones and begin to believe that this plan will never work. And you'd be right...at least with overly aggressive timelines. On the other hand, don't be too generous with your timelines either. Resist the urge to move what you can accomplish in the short-term to your long-term timeframe.
Let me say a bit about the exactness required for planning purposes. I strongly urge you to do a sufficient amount of research, direct and indirect, to fully understand the requirements for success in your chosen career. However, precision is extremely important for the short-term goals, especially those goals that are will be completed in the coming 12 to 18 months. Long-term goals only need to be "directionally right" – in other words, moving you in the right direction. Why? It's simply a matter of time – for as time moves by, your long-term goals will become your short-term goals and you will establish new long-term professional goals. As you regularly review your career plan, you will reassess the exactness of each long-term milestone and make needed adjustments as technology or other market pressures change what is required for success in your chosen career. So focus on being as precise as possible when writing your short-term professional goals, and focus on being directionally right when setting your long-term professional goals.
Building your unique professional brand starts with a robust and thorough career plan. The harsh reality is that time marches on and you will be older in two years. So why not be two years closer to achieving your goals? Begin today on writing career plan that works for you.
1 A New Brand You Workbook – ForProfessional Brand and Career Maintenance, page 24~25 |
