Career Management

Many times in our careers we will face challenges that later become some of our defining moments at work.  Our boss gives us a tough project, impossible deadlines and goals that stretch our abilities.  But career management is more than just what happens in the workplace.

That's because outside of the workplace we can face similar challenges.  Trips to the emergency room, the addition of a new family member - these events often mirror what happens to us at work.  In fact, throughout our careers we are forced to strike a balance between work and family life.  Inevitably, career management and work life balance are important for both our physical health and a healthy relationship with our family.

Managing Career and Family

So just how do we juggle all of the responsibilities our careers and families manage to send our way?  We can do this by keeping things in perspective, remembering what is truly important in our lives and working as efficiently as possible.

The first step in career management is to take charge of your destiny.  If you are floating through your career like a rudderless ship, then it will only be by good fortune that you get everything you can from your job.  You need to take control of your fate and map out a course.

Planning Your Career

Now some of you might think that it is ridiculous to create a detailed career plan when so much of your success depends on factors beyond your control.  But we're not speaking about writing down your career plan once and sticking to that plan no matter what happens.

We're talking about visioning where you want to be and what you want to do.  That physical document and / or your mindset have to evolve and change as circumstances change.  We are talking about actively managing your career, and that is not a one-time event.

That being said, we start down this road to planning a career by first looking inward and asking some questions. Assess you basic skills, figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are at work.  Take aptitude test if you need some help.  Try to figure out what the ideal job is for you.

Assessing Your Job Skills

As you assess your job skills you will likely be faced with some tough decisions.  For example, you might be very good with numbers and remembering the details behind all those numbers.  The problem is that you might also hate to keep track of all those details.  Fortunately, maybe you've also done some strategic work that you liked.  This allows you to  decide which road you want to go down.  You need to decide what you really like to do versus the skills you have learned thus far in your career.

Finding the Ideal Job

The next step is to evaluate your past experience against the ideal job.  Take a close look at the skills you've acquired during your career and what skills are needed to move ahead.

Resume Writing to Find Jobs

One way to do this is to prepare your resume and then find an ideal job posting or two somewhere.  Read the requirements of those jobs to get a sense of the skills and experiences required and then look back at your resume.  Being as objective as possible start to make a list of the experience and skills you need to gain or strengthen to be a viable candidate.

Career Management Plan

Now that we've figured out whom we are and where we'd like to go, we need a career management plan to help us get there.  So you need to itemize the skills and experience gaps and figure out how to get them added to your portfolio.  Here too you have choices on how to move down the road:

1. Stretch Yourself - Look for or accept assignments that give you the experience you want.  You can talk to you manager and simply tell them you are interested in a certain assignment or opportunity.  A good manager will help you and be on the look-out for opportunities if they know your feelings ahead of time.  But be prepared to work harder because chances are this assignment will be merely added to your existing workload.
2. Volunteer - Look outside of work for the experience.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with volunteering in your community and adding that new found skill to your resume.  In fact, it also creates a great impression on others when they see that you give back to the community in which you live.
3. Get Trained - Sign up for career training opportunities.  These can be at work, at a community college over even over the Internet.  You'd be surprised at what you can find just by seeking it out.  It is possible to find free online courses that will help advance your career.  You can learn how to create large databases, manipulate digital images; the list goes on and on.

Bringing the Plan Together

So to summarize, we've assessed our own skills, found the skills of the ideal job and conducted a gap analysis.  Next we've mapped out a plan to help us acquire the needed skills over time.
Guess what you've got?  You've the beginnings of a career management plan.  It's really that simple and you should try creating your own plan before spending money on a career management consultant.

Even if you're not satisfied with the outcome of this particular exercise, the fact that you took the time to think about these facts will make you that much more effective if you decide that you'd still like to hire a consultant.

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