| A well-formulated career development plan has one | | | | plan together. It should be written down (or typed into a |
| main purpose and that's to keep your eyes on your | | | | computer) because in doing so you reinforce each |
| career goals. Without a plan you lack focus. You have | | | | step - you put each rung on your career ladder. It fixes |
| a vague idea of where you want to go but nothing | | | | it in your mind. Also, if you write it down you won't |
| concrete, nothing to quantify or measure yourself | | | | forget any detail. You may think you have a great |
| against. Getting your career plan together gives you a | | | | memory but things slip and details are vital. You want |
| "to do" list or, if you prefer, a set up steps to take to | | | | to be able to picture things in your mind. |
| climb up your career ladder. | | | | You need to set out where you are and where you |
| Easy steps? Well nobody is suggesting that career | | | | want to go. OK, that sounds obvious but "where you |
| progression is easy, but once you have established | | | | are" includes where you are in terms of qualification as |
| your career targets and broken them down into | | | | well as job position. Where you want to get to can be |
| achievable short-term goals it's much easier to get | | | | long-term or medium-term and that tends to depend |
| motivated and it's easier to measure your progress. If | | | | on how concrete your career thinking is, or if there are |
| you can tick things off your list it's rewarding and so | | | | a number of options in the future. It may be that getting |
| the next part of your career plan becomes a positive | | | | to point A then gives you the choice of going to points |
| driving force. So yes, it becomes easier. Certainly | | | | B or C. If that's the case, your career development |
| much easier than the person who is kind of thinking | | | | path won't be as long as for someone who has a well |
| about, maybe getting something sorted out, eventually... | | | | defined single-track career goal. It's not a weakness or |
| Vague thinking like that gets you nowhere. A solid | | | | a drawback it's just a different approach. |
| career development plan gets you moving. | | | | The only wrong career development plan is the one |
| There is no specifically right or wrong way to put your | | | | that you haven't made! |