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The following is just a short summary of the necessary steps to achieve job success.
A good Career Development Plan will fill in the essential details to reach the goal of fulfilling your work potential. |
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Be prepared to put in effort. |
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The first law for anyone embarking on
a new career search is that it takes effort. There is no shortcut, although
many tools can make the task easier and quicker. But the key, is to
remember there is a goal: fulfilling and rewarding work that could last
a lifetime. What is it worth to put in effort now that will pay dividends
in the years ahead? Experts say we could change our careers five times
during our working lives. Which number are you on now? If this is your
first, the second will be easier if you get the process right this time. |
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Get to know yourself. |
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We may need to take some form of aptitude test,
interest inventory, or personality test to determine our aptitudes and
abilities. These are the tools that make life much easier at this stage
of your life, although they are no substitute for the effort required
to fulfill the objective. They are a necessary part of the process.
We need to know our strengths and weaknesses, interest areas, likes
and dislikes, work environment preferences, stress factors, personality
traits, social factors (how we respond in any given work-situation),
and many more areas that can be discovered in taking an aptitude or
personality questionnaire. Getting to know yourself is vital to take
your unique personality and character, and match it up with suitable
and appropriate work. |
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| Develop a career plan. Identify your next career steps. |
To start off,
review the studies from No. 2. It is essential to know who you are,
and what sort of job you're looking for. If you don't know where you're
going, you'll end up somewhere else. Define the job objective clearly
and concisely. Do you need further education or retraining? Where will
you market yourself? Will you need to relocate to attain the job of
your choice? You will need to prepare marketing tools (resume, cover
letters, business cards); do you have a current resume that describes
all of your experience and skills?
Don't forget that you are in control now. No more drifting into whatever
comes along. You can say: "This is what I want to do, and I'll move
heaven and earth to get it!" You need to write out a plan, mapping out
logical steps leading from where you are now, to where you expect to
be in six months, a year, five years.
Another very important thing to consider at this stage, is whether you
are prepared for obstacles. Life does not consist of smooth, straight
roads devoid of bumps or corners. Get mentally prepared for the long
haul, even though we may get lucky and secure the perfect position early
on in your campaign. |
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