Effective Career Planning

Career Planning is of crucial importance from the perspective of individual and organisational growth. Career Planning basically refers to a process whereby there is continuous evaluation of the preferences, skills, personality, passions and potentialities of an individual to determine the course of action to be taken so as to effect improvements in the current career or to effect changes with respect to a career shift. 

Ideally the selection of a career by an individual and selection of an individual for a particular job will be deemed successful if the talent and skills of the person are put to good use and the individual enjoys not only success in the job but a great deal of satisfaction and pride in his work. So effective career planning for an individual and also for an organisation is important so as to ensure that the best person is selected and he gets to do the job most suitable for him.  Research, self analysis and Planning as perhaps the pillars on which effective career planning exercise can be conducted. Following are some important aspects of effective career planning:

• Self Assessment: Every individual has some particular interests, talents and skills that can complement a certain career choice. Identifying these interests, skills and passions is very important so that the job to be done is completed well and the person doing it enjoys it. Self assessment allows people to understand their preferences, likes and dislikes. This in turn allows them to make career choices that match their preferences. Personality of an individual also plays an important role in his success at a particular job. Eg: A gregarious and outgoing person has a greater chance of success at a marketing career than a person who is an introvert. Self assessment tools also help individuals as well as companies identify the skills of people as well as potentialities that can be developed through training. Once these potentialities are identified proper training in that area can be given. This in itself plays a very important role in career development and succession planning within the organisation.For an individual just starting out, getting information about a particular career choice and what it involves can help in selecting the right career. Such information would include aspects such as skills required for that job, nature of the job, training and educational qualifications required for that job etc. Self assessment also helps in identifying the beliefs, values of individuals and this also plays an important role in the career choices. Work values are also important in determining whether a career choice is correct for the person. Effective career planning includes thorough self analysis so that a perfect match between person and the job is achieved.

• Assessment of career and job: While self assessment exercise allows a person to understand where he stands in terms of his skills and talents, assessment of job and career allows him to locate the jobs best suited for his skills. Job descriptions, information about companies, working conditions for particular jobs can all be obtained and this can help a person find the most appropriate job for his skills and talents. Such information can be obtained from friends, through networking and trade magazines and industry experts as well.

Effective career planning in the end can contribute a great deal to individual and organisational excellence since it can help in recruitment of the right kind of people for the correct job. This in turn can help in retention and building employee morale and contribute to general happiness and satisfaction among people. A happy and satisfied employee is also bound to be a high performer. Effective career planning also helps individuals and organisations to identify possibilities of growth and devise effective training for the same. Succession Planning eventually receives a massive boost following effective career planning exercises.