01 Career planning

Career planning

A career is the chain of different jobs and working life experiences that is unique and different for all of us. Somebody’s career can be a like a train, moving in a straight line towards more and more challenging tasks within a single industry. Somebody else might advance at a slower pace or expand their competence to include other industries as well, moving from one expert position to another, perhaps even changing industries. The third person might have several employers simultaneously and be working on many different things at the same time. 

The goal of career planning is to form basic models for your potential professional futures. Your own ideas are what matter – not the choices of your family or friends, or whatever is currently hot in the media. The basic models for your career develop, change and become richer as you gain more work experience and grow professionally. The point in career planning is not to make a solid plan covering your whole working life. Instead, the models are there to give you some direction. Career planning is something that you can do constantly.

Why and how to plan your career?

Before jumping straight into the job search, take a moment to reflect on your where you want your career to go and to strengthen your self-knowledge. This will ensure that you are heading in a direction that is right and meaningful for you. By knowing what you want from your job and your professional future, you are more likely to make better choices in your job search, take decisions more easily and lay the foundation for your well-being and meaningful work. Without reflection, you may drift on the basis of external desires or your life circumstances and end up in jobs that are not suitable or motivating for you.  

You can and should start to think about your future career while you are still studying. Reflection also often helps you to make good choices in your studies. It's important to find out the fields that interest you so that you can direct your career in those areas. Gaining work experience from your own field already during your studies provides a good foundation for your ideas and planning. It is advisable to gather experience from different places, as spending two or three summers in the same job is not likely to provide you with new ideas.

However, you should not be too rigid in your plans, as you run the risk of missing out on unexpected but good job opportunities. In the right amount, it's worth letting curiosity lead the way in your career and trying different things. By keeping your mind and eyes open to different job opportunities, you'll tune your brain to spot various job opportunities and at the same time allow for chance.

So instead of rigid career planning, leave room for chance and keep an open mind to unexpected career opportunities. The key skills for finding career opportunities are curiosity, perseverance, flexibility, optimism and risk tolerance. You should openly seek opportunities to learn, experiment and expand your understanding. In the face of adversity, try to persevere. Embrace new opportunities. Seize opportunities and start somewhere, even if your destination is not clearly defined.  

Career plans tend to become clearer as you gain experience, develop your skills and learn about your work and yourself. You should start by focusing on what speaks to you in your career, what you are good at and what you are passionate about. Let your career be different from that of other people!  

Career planning is about combining all of the above – your experiences and information you have discovered yourself or heard from others, as well as your skills, interests, feelings and personal values.

They form the basis you can use in the future when you need to make choices and decisions that feel meaningful. They offer a means to discover the lifestyle and manner of working that is best for you.

Skills

We all have a unique set of skills and it's important to recognise them. Identifying your skills also helps when you are considering your career direction and thinking about the types of jobs you want to have and the knowledge and skills you want to be able to use in your work. 

Understanding your own skills is useful when you share them with others, for example at a job interview, in a salary negotiation or when introducing yourself to a new colleague. The better you know your own skills, the easier it will be to talk about them to others. It's worth practising how to articulate your skills. Sometimes it's also a good idea to plan how you will tell others about your skills, by thinking of examples or preparing your own elevator pitch, which will allow you to shortly explain the most important things about your skills and abilities. 

Identifying your skills will also boost your confidence and help you to trust the decisions you make in your career and job search. Identifying your skills is important so that you know what kind of job would be a good fit for you. 

Skills are multi-dimensional and abstract, which can make them difficult to identify. This can be made easier by looking at your skills in terms of three different areas: professional skills, general work skills and self-management skills.

Motivation

Motivation is a system of factors that prime and guide our behaviour. It's like gasoline that fires up our machinery and keeps us going. Identifying your own motivational factors and interests will help you to steer your career in the direction that suits you.

Different motivational factors are also highlighted in different life situations. As a young summer employee your main motivation can be to simply have a job that gives you your first pay check. At the beginning of a person's career money and advancement might seem the most enticing aspects, while income security and providing a livelihood for the family can be the primary motivators for someone living a family life. The drivers and motivational factors for working can differ greatly from person to person. Some of your motivators may be more permanent and related to things that are important to you, that is, your values.

Interests

Interests are related to motivation. They tell about things that excite you. Your professional interests can develop or change as you move forward in your professional working life. New experiences bring more insight into what interests you and what doesn't, which is why it's worth gathering versatile experience in different jobs and work environments in the early stages of your career. In different roles, you can evaluate which factors and themes at work inspire you and which ones don't. Professional interests can vary along a career and there can be many of them.

Values

We all have values – things we think are important. Our values are reflected in the way we live and the choices we make, both in our personal lives and in our careers. When our actions and values are in harmony, life feels good. If there is a mismatch between our actions and our values, we may feel that something is wrong.  

Identifying and being aware of your values is part of self-knowledge. Reflecting on your values is important because the more you are aware of your values, the better you will be able to make decisions and choices that are in line with them. Acting in accordance with your values increases your well-being. When you know what you value, you are better able to take up the job opportunities and chances that are fitting for you.

Opportunities

There are lots of job opportunities an options in working life. To be able to decide what you would want to do in your career, you'll need information about the opportunities and alternatives that are out there. You should familiarize yourself with the various career paths and job opportunities by seeking more information about them. You may be interested in job opportunities typical of your educational background, more different options or completely untried routes. In order to explore different options and direct your career in the direction you want, you should try to get an understanding of different possibilities and search for more information about your options.

Collecting information

Nobody has the time to try out everything in person. The next best way to get information is to find out what other people have experienced. When you meet an interesting person at your summer job, at a recruitment event, through a friend or anywhere, don’t hesitate to ask them questions about their job and competence. Asking questions actively will allow you to expand your knowledge of different jobs and workplaces. At the same time, your actions will demonstrate that you are genuinely interested in the people around you, which will help you to come across as active and make a good impression. You can also collect information in a more systematic manner by thinking about who you would specifically like to meet and what information you need,. You can also write down your findings for further reflection or approach interesting people, for example through an informational interview. 

Decision making

Many opportunities to try something new, learn things or help somebody simply pass you by during your studies, work and hobbies. You can try to pay attention to the moments of decisions. After you have done some career planning, i.e. stopped to think about your professional self, it will be easier to identify these opportunities and seize them at the right moment. You won’t have to think back and wonder why you missed your chance. You may also want to check out words as “serendipity”, “happenstance”. Those can be wonderful forces in your career and life. It is about being right place at the right time. It is about being prepared, open-minded and willing to look things from a new angle.

Decisions concerning work are always made on the basis of slightly lacking information containing plenty of assumptions, expectations and interpretations. You can never be completely certain of what the consequences of your decision will be, but in any case, you make your choices using your best judgement. For example, you don’t have to feel sorry if your choice of summer job doesn’t turn out to be the best possible – by the end of the summer, you will have learned a lot about yourself. We can never know exactly what the future will bring. You can prepare for the future by honing your skills and ensuring that you stay up-to-date with any new trends in your field.

It’s okay to change your mind. Thinking about your career and planning your professional path will almost certainly point you towards new, interesting things. Considering these things carefully can offer a good basis for new choices. You don’t have to fit a specific pattern or career type. Your career should look like you.