Career Development Plan
Equals Effective Job Hunting

When I was searching for a new employment opportunity I was eager to get started, but not really sure where to begin. I made a few mistakes along the way, but eventually made it.

One of the biggest mistakes I made was not career planning ahead of time.

What I mean by this, is coming up with a game plan for my job hunting adventure.

I would have saved myself a lot of headaches and time if I had made career planning part of my employment search.

So I will save you some headaches and time and offer my advice on getting started.

It all begins with career planning. Try this out. Write down what it is you are actually looking for. Yeah, I know, it's a pain in the neck. I didn't want to do it either. But I found myself coming back to it often. It assisted me in keeping focused on my career goals.

For example, are you a student looking for recent graduate type work? Or maybe you are a seasoned professional with a ton of experience. Either way, you should consider performing a self-assessment. This is nothing more than a list of things that you are interested in and have experience and skill at.

Are you familiar with computers? Are you familiar with Information Technology? Are you looking for an engineering job, sales job, finance position or maybe an art job? It doesn't matter exactly what it is you are looking for. It's all about finding out what "makes you tick".

Part of the career planning process involves deciding what career education you might need.

• By assessing yourself, it may become obvious that you require addition career training...or you might find that you are ready for a complete career change. If this is the case, a career transition plan from one job to another will be part of the process as well.

• Assess your skills and desires. Jot them down. This will help you get started and will help guide you through the rest of the job hunting process.

• Coming up with a career development plan will help you during such activities as:
  
• Determining a good job search strategy
• Dealing with headhunters and recruiters
• Preparing your resume and cover letter

I guess the overall theme is...you should have at least a basic idea of your own skills and abilities as well as what you are looking for.

You may find that you need very little support. Or you may realize that you need some outside help such as a personal finance advisor to help you calculate the costs associated with you new career potential.

It helps me to look at things in steps. This may help you as well.

• First, figure out what it is you would like to do. This might be easy for some of you. For others, you may need a career advisor.

• Second, figure out what your current skills and abilities are. Do they match up with what you want to do?

• Third, figure out a plan to get from where you are to where you want to be. This is the tricky part. This could involve job search strategies and potential professional help such as headhunters, recruiters, employment agencies, career education, training, etc.

By figuring out these steps, you have laid out a good framework for your career development plan and career transition.

Key Career Development Advice and Tips:

• Determine what it is you are actually looking for.
• Assess your knowledge, skills and abilities.
• Consider if additional training or education is needed.
• Start making a list of potential employment resources available to you.
• Research your areas of interest to help narrow down your choices.

If you are stuck on a creating a career development path for yourself, begin with a simple list of what your interests are and where you want to go. This will help you focus other job hunting strategies later down the road.

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