People often underestimate the amount of time needed to do effective career planning. This is true whether you are just starting out with your career or in the process of changing your career direction. The development of career goals depends on input from each of the components of the wheel.
Work and Leisure Experience
Think back to jobs, volunteer experiences and other activities that you have done in the past.
Most careers these days will require some kind of post-secondary education or training that can range in duration from less than six months to over 10 years.
Whatever career decision you make now may affect the significant others (parents, partners, friends) that are currently in your life or will be in the future. What do these significant others know about you that you may not be fully aware of and could help you with your career planning? Sometimes we underestimate our key attributes that could help us in this decision-making.
No two people are exactly alike, but years of research has told us that people can more or less fit into different personality types. Scientists have also studied which personality types tend to enjoy and do well in certain work environments.
People sometimes overlook values when they are career planning, but they are very important to take into consideration. Values are things that are important to you in life in general, and at the workplace. Values can change over time and it can be difficult to find a job that will match all your values.
Most people want to head off to work looking forward to the activities they will do each day.
Uncovering one's skills and strengths is not always an easy task and many people underestimate the skills they have.
Ask two or three people who know you well where they see you shine.
If you are in the exploration phase of the career planning process, labor market information is a valuable resource. You can use it to find answers to many questions, including