Activity: Career Planning

Introduction

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"
- Eleanor Roosevelt 

This is a multi-page guide to help you in your career planning. You can navigate through the pages using the Table of Contents on the right of your screen (you may need to scroll down to the bottom if you are on a mobile device). You can also advance through the pages using the 'next' and 'previous' buttons at the top and bottom of each page.

Note: Career planning and exploration can be challenging because it requires deep reflecting, which can be difficult for some. 

It is worth the effort and time! Ensuring that you have support to discuss, bounce ideas, debrief, and provide some objectivity will certainly help you move through this module.

Download the Career Planning Worksheet 

This worksheet has four components:

1. Clarify your vision.
2. Evaluate personal assets and external factors to inform your career direction and decision-making.
3. Review two strategies to manoeuver through uncertainty (scenario thinking and freelance/contract work).
4. Establish current and not-too-distant goals.

1. Clarify Your Vision

How would you like your career story to unfold and evolve?

Whether this is your first time to develop a vision, or you have not reviewed and honed your career objectives for a few years, we invite you to answer the following questions, which can help you clarify your career and life vision. 

Think of visioning as a dreaming activity. 

• How would you love to live in all areas of life, such as relationships and activities—imagining that your life was free of any challenges.
  
• What would your lifestyle look like?

Capture your thoughts in the downloadable Career Planning Worksheet, or in your own journal.

"Interests are preferences for activities that are expressed as likes or dislikes. These could include activities, hobbies and subjects or topics. Some examples include: sports, music, art, and topics like science or fashion, etc.”
(CERIC, 2004-2012)

Interests can change over time. Sometimes interests can become part of or your sole career focus. For example, an interest in social justice could evolve into a career in social enterprise.

Now, proceed to the next page in this book for some strategies for creating your vision.

Strategies For Creating Your Vision

There is still hope if you still do not see a clear vision or direction! Here are a few strategies that can help (click to expand or collapse each topic):

These are a few ideas that you can start immediately to help you towards determining a direction.

Career Change? Evaluate Your Options

For those making a career change, take the time to evaluate your circumstances and options before taking the leap. Here are some questions to ponder:

• What is prompting this need to make a change? 
• Have you considered that your current employer or organization could be contributing to your discontentment, not your current occupation?
• Have you been self employed and you want to shift the weight of responsibilities?
• Are you feeling bored and unfulfilled with your current role and/or duties?
• Is this time - manageable - to make a change?
• Can you make a small change now?
• Can you manage financially while you acquire new knowledge, experience, and skills?
• Can you accept working for someone younger than you?
• Are you energized by working with or for people who are different than you?

Sometimes it can be that slight shift to another industry or a new organization is needed. Sometimes learning new skill sets can make a difference. One of the strategies that will be proposed later in this module is the notion of freelance work, which could be another option to ponder.

Next, choose a vision or a 'now' direction (which can evolve as you go) that you would like to cultivate and write it in the worksheet in the following section.

Note: If you do not have a vision or direction, please review the Strategies For Creating Your Vision preceding this page. 

Remember, realizing your vision and career is a continual process that takes patience and perseverance. Discovering what you dislike is crucial information as well. You need to keep moving forward, keep trying, and keep reevaluating.

2. Evaluate Personal Assets & External Factors

Evaluate personal assets and external factors to inform your career direction and decision-making

Drawing from the information you gathered in the Personal Assets and External Influences modules is important! You need the information you have collected as a reference for the next part of this worksheet. If you have not completed these modules, consider doing so now.

Your values are running in the background whether you are conscious about this or not. They influence your decisions in multiple areas of your life, from the clothes you buy, to the people with whom you choose to associate. 

Review your list of values that you identified from the Uncovering Personal Assets Worksheet and add these values to the Values area on the Career Planning Worksheet. 

Also, if there are values you feel that are the most intrinsic or core to who you are, then list them as well in the Values area. 

Continue with this process with the skills you enjoy, the skills you want to develop, interests (from the Personal Assets Inventory Workbook), and your personal factors. Enter them in the spaces provided - follow the prompts on the worksheet, or write them in your personal journal.

Next, carry on with the same process from your External Influences Worksheet and enter what you identified in the spaces provided. These external influences can provide direction. Perhaps, you found the healthcare industry of interest, this is a clue for further investigation.

Another area to give some attention to is, why do you work? What does work mean to you and what is its purpose in your life? Is it for: 

• financial stability, 
• higher income,
• ambition,
• reputation or status,
• sense of identity, 
• intellectual pursuit, or 
• purpose and meaning? 

Here are a few additional ideas: 

• “to make a difference..., 
• for a cause you feel deeply about,
• to leave a legacy,
• to create a better future.”

(Say, 2006)

Now, move to the next page to reflect on this important information!

Reflect on Your Discoveries

This is a pivotal moment! What you have identified in the previous step is a summation of all the information that you have ascertained about yourself. With curiosity and objectivity, reflect on your unique composition.

• What insights can you glean from this summary of details that is a reflection of you?
• What is it telling you?
• Are there any surprises?
• Is there anything that you would like to investigate further or take action on?

If you want to debrief all of your findings and someone to bounce ideas with or you are struggling to make sense of your summary, please book an appointment with a Career Advisor in Career Services at libcal.

3. Two Strategies to Manoeuvre Through Uncertainty

Many of us strive for “security,” as in, the full-time, permanent position. Some say, this type of security is becoming more of an illusion. There are no guarantees and we never know what the future will hold or how it will unfold. 

We advocate to empower yourself by taking charge over what you do have control over, and adopt and integrate an adaptable mindset.

Adaptability and positive outlook are covered in the Demonstrating Skills unit.

1. Scenario thinking

One way of manoeuvring uncertainty is to use scenario thinking. This is an approach to envision a few ways that the future could evolve and to think through different routes to move closer to your vision no matter what might happen. 

With a direction or vision in mind (for now—it does not have to be your ‘forever’ vision), imagine and develop three scenarios:

• a realistic scenario based on what is happening today, 
• a best-case scenario, and 
• a worst-case scenario.

Think of a couple of potential obstacles or challenges. 

Next, think of contingency ideas for each of those challenges in each scenario. Try not to get mired down on detailed descriptions of these scenarios. By doing so, this is another way to navigate ambiguity.

What steps would you take to still move towards your “vision”? These steps are a contingency plan.

Write down your scenarios in the Career Planning Worksheet, or jot them down in your own journal. (**Example below)

Most people still think of Plan A and B. Plan B is a back up if Plan A does not materialize. If you use scenario thinking, you can always move yourself toward YOUR own version of your future, not Plan B, which you were not excited about in the first place.

2. Freelance/contract work

A second way to manoeuvre uncertainty is to consider the pursuit of freelance or contract work. This can be advantageous for a number of reasons, 

• Flexibility,
• Work in diverse settings,
• Develop skills, experience, and knowledge in various areas,
• Foster the development of a portfolio of skill sets, which opens opportunities and expands your labour market,
• Demonstrate adaptability,
• Reduce the dependency on one income stream, if you are solely employed by one employer, changes occur with your position and your income drops to zero.

The primary benefit—especially in an unpredictable climate—is to be as agile and portable as possible.

There is a downside, there may be more instability, continual career search, and quite possibly no benefits or paid holidays.

This approach follows the Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC) (Bright, 2013) as a way of navigating the unknown, mentioned in the unit introduction. In uncertain times, this strategy could be a potential solution for the short-term and for those who value freedom and autonomy, this could be a long-term career trajectory. Furthermore, by working within different settings, you increase the possibilities of chance events and opportunities—a central premise of The Happenstance Learning Theory (Krumboltz, 2009).

4. Establish Near And Not Too Distant Goals

It is still useful to identify goals even when the ground is unstable. These goals need to fall out of your big picture direction, or vision. The key is to have an adaptable mindset and be unattached to the outcomes.

Answer these questions in the Career Planning Worksheet, or in your own journal.

• Based on your vision or 'now' direction, what are 4-5 concrete, actionable steps that you can accomplish in the near future—with specific timelines?
  
• Additionally, what are 4-5 concrete, actionable steps that you can accomplish in the not too distant future—with specific timelines?
  
• If the pursuit of freelance/contract work is a conceivable option, what would you need to do to move this forward? Follow the steps above to create actionable steps.

At this point, any of the following units could be beneficial to help you achieve your goals.

Tip: Click exit book below to go back to the main page, or take this shortcut to move directly to the module summary.