Career Planning
Having an effective solid career plan is crucial to achieving your ambitions. Elsewhere on this section of the EET site we have offered advice on making the best career choice, Having identified your best career option you now need to put a plan together to make it happen.
There are several planning models that you may find useful in formulating a career plan.
SMART
This is a well known planning model that can easily be adapted to fit career planning. SMART stands for:
- Specific – what is your specific goal , in this case career goal?
- Measurable – what are the measurable steps you need to take to achieve this e.g. education, training, work experience?
- Achievable: are the above steps achievable e.g. can you afford the cost of education
- Realistic: are your goals realistic e.g. are you focusing on a career where there are few openings and you lack the essential requirements?
- Timebound: you need to give yourself specific deadlines to achieve the various stages involved in achieving your goal
GROW
The GROW model is similar – again focusing on identifying a career goal and identifying the best ways of achieving it:
- Goal – what do you want to achieve?
- Reality - what is the current context?
- Options - what could you do?
- Will – what will you do to move forward?
Perhaps the simplest planning model of all is to ask yourself the following questions:
- How do I get from where I am today into the career I want?
- What do I need to do?
- What Skills do I need to develop?
- What knowledge do I need?
- How can I do these things?
- What barriers are in the way and can I get around them?
- Who can help me?
EET has designed its own career planning template based on the above model. Click here to view a sample career plan and click here to download a blank template for you to complete your own.
