Career Planning: 10 Practical Steps for Those Too Busy to Plan

By Sarah Banda Purvis, Ph.D.

Career planning seems to be one of those often dreaded tasks that everyone knows makes sense and provides value, but few, including numerous working women, find time to complete.

The concept of career planning has been in vogue for several years now. Numerous books and articles have been written and various seminars have been marketed to share tips and techniques. Such offerings, though, tend to showcase rather comprehensive planning initiatives that may prove unrealistic for women who are juggling a plethora of workplace and personal responsibilities. Should these overtaxed females forget about career strategizing and leave their professional lives to chance? Absolutely not!

Given the short-term focus of most contemporary business organizations, workforce development, long considered an important element to the managerial process, seems to have become increasingly displaced by less costly, quick-fix initiatives intended to immediately enhance the bottom line. As such, a woman, probably more than ever before, needs to be proactive in mapping out a route through her working years. The alternative is to proceed along an ill-defined course, which will be influenced and impacted by arbitrary decisions or actions of executives in power, more than likely leading to a series of undesirable or dead-end settings.

The following excerpt from "The Illusion of Inclusion, Myths & Misconceptions Every Working Woman Needs to Know" presents a layman's approach to career planning particularly geared to the woman who typically deals with a full schedule. These 10 practical steps can be revisited and reapplied periodically throughout the length of a career.

ASSESS YOUR CURRENT SITUATION
Step #1
Review current personal situation and identify priorities. For example, priorities may include but not be limited to:
  • Income
  • Benefits (e.g., health care, retirement, etc.)
  • Child care or eldercare responsibilities
  • Geographic location
  • Work hours
Step #2
Evaluate current work situation. For instance, examine:
  • Financial opportunities and rewards
  • Benefits packages and programs
  • Career growth opportunities
  • "Perks" and bonus plans
  • Workplace culture (i.e., treatment of minorities, use of tokenism, promotion practices, etc.)
  • Work locale and hours
IDENTIFY CAREER INTERESTS
Step #3
Develop a profile of your career preferences. Ask and answer relevant questions related to both your personal and professional life. Extrapolate from the two sets of answers a profile of the employment situation or work setting that may best meet your comprehensive needs.

Examples of Personal Life Questions:

  • Which of your personal priorities are being neglected or subjugated as a result of your current work situation?
  • What amount of time can you make available and do you want to commit to a career (i.e., a part-time or full-time commitment)?
  • What amount of your personal time (i.e., time outside of the office) are you willing or able to commit to your career (e.g., self-training, reading industry materials, attending career seminars, etc.)
  • Do you have any physical limitations or health considerations to factor into your career choices?
  • Do you have any geographical restrictions?
  • What sort of personal life do you want to lead (e.g., how much commute time do you want to factor into your day)?
  • What sort of career wardrobe can you afford or do you want to maintain?
Examples of Professional Life Questions:
  • What sort of work interests you? What sort of work do you enjoy?
  • What industry or profession interests you?
  • Is there a specific employer or position that interests you?
  • What are your income needs? What kind of work will afford this income to you?
  • Is self-employment your goal? If so, what sort of self-employment situation interests you? Consulting? A business outside the home? A home-based business? Freelancing? Internet-based business?
DETERMINE SKILLS AND COSTS RELATED TO INTERESTS
Step #4
Conduct a skills assessment:
  • Identify current skill set
  • Given your career preferences, identify skill deficiencies
  • Identify additional educational or training needs to address any of these skill deficiencies
Step #5
Develop cost estimates:
  • What will be your real and estimated costs for making a career change or adjustment?
  • Will you need to adjust your savings and spending habits? If so, how? If necessary, immediately begin to develop new savings and spending habits.
DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A WRITTEN ACTION PLAN
Step #6
Create a customized plan by listing, in an organized manner, actions that will enable you to meet your career preferences as well as permit you to address your personal priorities. Factor in additional education/training needs, preparations to meet real and estimated costs, etc.

Step #7
Set a realistic time line to implement your individualized action plan.

Step #8
Along the path of implementation, try not to measure your career success or progress against other people's standards. By profiling your career preferences, you have defined your unique aspirations, so set a pace for reaching your targets that works for you.

MONITOR AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS
Step #9
Routinely monitor your progress in implementing your action plan and modify the plan as well as time line when necessary.

Step #10
Periodically repeat Steps #1 through #9. This planning checklist can be adapted and shaped as needed to address current situations or unexpected developments.

Also see:
• Negotiating for a raise
• Searchable Salary Database
• Ask Career Coach Kathleen Wells your questions

Portions of the above have been excerpted from "The Illusion of Inclusion, Myths & Misconceptions Every Working Woman Needs to Know" (picture is right). Additional excerpts are available at http://www.insiderviews.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Sarah Banda Purvis' credentials include two decades of managerial experience with two different Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the United States. The author has been recognized for her professional abilities and contributions to the business world. While working in Corporate America, Dr. Purvis also completed her doctoral research, which focused on the interaction of individuals in a conflict setting. Dr. Purvis can be contacted through e-mail at mail2sbp@aol.com. Her Web site, Insider Views on Workplace Issues, is at http://www.insiderviews.com