Career Planning

Are you a high school or college student who just isn’t sure what you want to do with you career path? Don’t fret because career planning can be one of the most overwhelming situations in your life. It’s never too early to begin career planning, but it can also be mind-boggling if you don’t have a specific job in mind that you’ll want to do and where you want your life to finally end up. But don’t worry; there are resources and help that are at your disposal which you absolutely should take advantage of when it comes to planning your career.

The first place you need to look at is inside yourself. When we’re little, we all have dreams about what we want to be when we grow up. While some of us never really want to grow up, the reality is that we will eventually have to earn a paycheck. Unless you’re Donald Trump’s child, you won’t be able to survive in the world without a job. So why should you spend so much time working at a job you’re not happy with? That’s why career planning is so very important ? even in high school.

After you’ve identified a career path you think you might want to pursue, it might be a good idea to find out if you’re on the right track by taking a career interest test. These tests are available in many places online and take about twenty minutes to complete. Based on the answers you gave, you will be given a list of possible careers that will fit you and your personality as well as your abilities and talents. You should then take a good look at this list and find a career path that appeals to you. That’s when you can begin your career planning in earnest.

When beginning career planning, you need to set short-term as well as long-term goals. A short-term goal in career planning might be to get a job in the music industry. A long-term goals would be to own your own recording studio. Goal setting ? just like with many different things in life ? can help keep you focused and realize what you need to accomplish in order to achieve your goals. Without goals, you are just wandering aimlessly, and that won’t get you anywhere in life except down the wrong road.

After you have set your goals, the next step in career planning is to set about getting the training you need that will get you into the career you have chosen. That usually means education and/or training. For most jobs, you will need to have some type of education and/or training. You should immediately figure out whether or not you need to have a degree to work in the career field you have chosen or whether an internship will give you the experience you need. Then you need to register for the classes and get top grades which can make the ultimate difference in your first job.

Of course, career planning has many more steps, but the above advice should get you well on your way!