Career Plan Template

Career Plan Name: Current Position: Date: STEP 1: Knowing Yourself The first step in planning your career involves evaluating and understanding your aspirations; strengths; interests; values and personal influences. Complete a self-assessment (consult a career advisor or complete an on-line assessment) and record your strengths, interests, and competencies. My Strengths: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ My Skills and Competencies: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ My Interests: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ My Values: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Discuss your skills and strengths with friends, a career guidance advisor at the careers office or with a mentor to gain a better understanding of all the personal factors that influence your career options and write down additional information that may be important. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ STEP 2: Gather information about the career options in your field of specialisation Look at job advertisements in your field and record the minimum and ideal job requirements and compare these requirements with your qualifications, skill set, and attributes. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ STEP 3: Plan your future skills development Write down which skills or areas of knowledge you need to develop to comply with the job requirements of your chosen career or with different options in your field of study. Training and Development Opportunities: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Option 1: (Eg., Postdoctoral fellowship or assistant researcher ) ______________________________________________________________ Prerequisites and requirements to qualify for this option: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ STEP 4: Making Choices Consider the suitability of each option and decide (with the assistance of an advisor or mentor) which one is the best match to your aspirations and career goals. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Based on the choices you have made, and the development opportunities you have identified now write your goal(s) for the short and medium term. Aim to make each goal as specific as you can. Goal 1 ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Write down what you need to do to achieve this career goal: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Goal 2 ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Write down what you need to do to achieve this career goal: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ STEP 5: Make it Happen To achieve your goals, you need to have an agreed course of action. You (and your advisor/mentor) need to have a clear understanding of what steps you will be taking, the commitment required by you and relevant time frames. You are now ready to detail what you have to do to make things happen. Agreed course of action/action plan Start date Completion date Skill, experience, knowledge to be gained How will this be gained? (e.g., on the job experience, formal/informal seminars/courses, coaching/mentoring, etc.) Provider (e.g., workplace educator, university, coach/mentor, etc. STEP 6: Assess your career plan Assessing the effectiveness of the action plan Specify how to assess the extent to which the agreed course of action has achieved the stated goals Date:…………………………………………………………………………..... Signature:…………..………………………………………………………….. See the example of a career plan.