Career Planning and Career Awareness

Career Planning. Career planning is the process of setting individual career objectives and creatively developing activities that will achieve them.

Career planning can also be seen as a personal process, consisting of three criteria: (1) broad life planning, (2) development planning, and (3) performance planning. The HRD practitioner has an obligation to encourage as well as provide for the utilization of career planning on the part of employees. Career planning is the employee’s counterpart to the organization’s overall human resource planning activity.

Career planning plays a crucial role particularly because it can assist an individual to manage the direction he/she aspires his/her career to take, the know-how and job skills you will require and how you can achieve them. Moreover, to aid you in planning your career, you can consider self-assessment for this will assist you to understand your personal as well as your career goals, strengths and weaknesses, your preferences and interests.

Take into account your career alternatives and determining which available roles suit your abilities and interests. Decide on your career goals, improve and employ a career strategy. Then, review and modify this career strategy.

Career Awareness
• Employees are ultimately responsible for the development of their own careers.
• Employees control decisions such as whether to remain in the organization, whether to accept specific occupational assignments, whether to perform at acceptable levels, and even whether to engage in personal growth activities through training or professional continuing education.

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• The role of the HRD practitioner is to provide the means and the information to assist in personal career decision making.
• HRD practitioners must develop a climate and culture that is conducive for growth, one that encourages career development.

• Employees, in turn, should take advantage of that climate and be aware of the important components of career development.
• They need to construct plans that will enable them to accomplish their career goals, analyze potential career areas, and determine if they possess the skills, competencies, and knowledge necessary to be considered serious candidates for such positions.

In the aspect of Career awareness, it is an individual’s goal to understand how his/her value employs to opportunities inside his/her organization and the broader world of work. Enhancing your career awareness significantly pertains to obtaining more knowledge of job opportunities as well as career paths and the required qualifications and skills that will help you be outstanding in these particular positions.

Career Resource Center
Most career resource centers provide occupational guides, educational references, career planning guides, and computer programs aimed at assisting employees in determining their career interests, values, and competencies.

Career Resource Centers aim to involve employees in a synergetic career development process so to determine purpose and values and to administer attainment of employees’ professional objectives and worthwhile contributions to their communities.

These function as an exhaustive career services in order to satisfy the needs of employees and assist them in improving, assessing and carrying out important employment and career decisions.

Interests, Values, and Competencies Analysis
The Strong-Campbell Interest Inventories, the Self-Directed Search, and VISTA (ACT) are examples of interest inventories designed to provide employees with important information about their career interests, values, and competencies.

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These tests are easily administered and can provide the vital baseline data essential in career planning and career enhancement.

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For a career change, it is critical to understand your CIVs which refer to your core competencies, your interests and your values. Competencies cover an individual’s skills and experiences. Interests deal with job functions you’re most engrossed with. And, values refer to what is essential to you or what inspires or motivates you more.

Understanding one’s competencies, interests and values will allow you to best determine your target career. In the same way, this will also allow you to market yourself more proficiently and aid you with composing your resume, your so-called “30-second pitch”, market research, interviewing and networking.