2. +
Overview of the Career
Development Process
The process can be simplified into five basic areas:
Assessing yourself
Exploring options
Making a decision
Taking action
Evaluating your decision
Important factors to consider
3. Individual Career Planning
Career Planning is now the primary
responsibility of individuals.
Individual Career Planning Process
Self-Assessment
Explore Information
Explore Opportunities
Make Decision
Action Plan
Audit Results
4. Individual Career Planning Process
Self-Assessment
Step 1: Self- Assessment
Process of gathering information about
self in order to make an informed career
decision
What are my motivating skills,
interests & values?
What new learning do I want?
What work-life role do I want?
Which work environment am I most
suited to?
5. + AssessingYourself:
Assessing your interests, values, skills, personality and
motivation helps you to answer the critical question of “who am
I?”This assessment can be done through both a formal process
such as career assessment inventories as well as an informal
process through individual career counseling and experiential
learning. During this stage, you may consider asking yourself
and exploring:
What’s important to me?
What do I like to do in my free time?
What activities make me lose track of time?
What are the most interesting jobs and careers I can think of?
If I could do anything in this world and money was no object,
what would I do?
What skills and activities come naturally to me?
6. Explore Information
Step 2: Explore Information
Process of assessing the data gathered
about self and exploring it with an open
perspective
How do I consolidate my self-
assessment information?
How do I use self-assessment data to
develop options?
Are these options compatible with my
lifestyle?
Do I have any barriers/constraints at
this point?
Individual Career Planning Process
7. +Exploring Options:
After you have assessed your interests, values and skills, there are
many different ways in which you can explore career options that
relate well to you. Some ways in which you can learn more about
different types of careers include:
Online and print publications
Professional associations
Talking with alumnae, professionals, academic advisors, professors
and the CCO staff
Participating in activities such as informational interviewing and
job shadowing
Taking a variety of courses related to your interests
8. Explore Opportunities
Step 3: Explore Opportunities
Gathering career information which
includes- employment outlook, salary,
education, training & job duties
What work-life options are available to
me?
Who can I ask for guidance?
How can I check my work-life options?
Individual Career Planning Process
9. Make Decision
Step 4: Make Decision
Process of decision-making for future
career option
Has the technique been adopted by me
for deciding on my career option a valid
one?
Who will listen to me and assist me
with my decision making ?
Individual Career Planning Process
10. +
Making a Decision:
Once you have explored your interests and have more knowledge
about your own interests and values as they relate to majors, it is
time to make a decision about your major and career aspirations. At
this stage it will be important to understand how you will evaluate
your exploration experiences and how you will make your decision,
including narrowing down career and major options. Some critical
questions to ask yourself may include:
Have I fully considered, to the best of my ability, all of my interests,
values and skills?
Have I gathered enough information to make an informed and
comfortable decision?
How much and what kind of information do I need to make my
decision?
What questions do I still have that will help me make my decision?
11. Action Plan
Step 5: Action Plan
Develop the steps needed to take in
order to reach your goals
Have I planned what I need to do now
and later?
What support is available to me to
assist me in making it happen?
How do I market myself?
What should I put in my resume?
Do my interviewing and negotiating
skills need improving?
Individual Career Planning Process
12. +
Taking Action:
This is the stage where you will take action to ensure that you
are heading on the right path towards your career. At this
stage, you may be ready to choose or clarify your major, if
you have not already done so. It is also at this stage that you
will begin to develop a career action plan about what steps
you will need to take to reach your goals. Some questions to
ask yourself include:
Do I know what majors would be most relevant to my career
goals?
Do I know the skills that are necessary in the fields I have
chosen?
How do I gain the necessary skills to be marketable to
employers and graduate schools upon graduation?
13. Audit Results
Step 6: Audit Results
By working through the earlier steps
develop a better understanding of ones
career situation and audit the results
Have my expectations been met?
Are the results beneficial to me?
What can I do to retain the benefits
What have I learnt from the transition
process?
Individual Career Planning Process
14. +
Evaluating Your Decision:
As necessary, it will be important to review and evaluate your
career decisions on a regular basis to ensure that they are
still compatible with your priorities, interests and values.
At times, you may find yourself beginning and repeating
various stages of the career development process over and
over again.
Your priorities, interests and values will shift overtime which
will affect how you view the world-of-work and your career
choices.
According to most research, approximately 85% of college
students change their major at least once during their
college career!
15. Individual Career Planning
Organizational Career Planning
Your career is not a matter of chance
- it is a matter of choice.
It is not to be waited for, but to be achieved.
16. +
The purpose of career planning is to help you identify career
fields most satisfying to you. Below, you will find a suggested
timeline for the career development process
Self Assessment Stage (early in academic program)
In general, you want to identify your interests and explore
your skills:
Discuss your goals and plan self-assessment activities.
Identify and prioritize your work-related values and interests
by using Choices,
17. +Career Exploration Stage (early to midway
through academic program)
Identify and research careers based on the results of your Choices
search
Compose a list of 15 possible career titles
Conduct informational interviews with people working in the career
fields you find interesting.
Test the waters by searching for part time, summer or internship
positions that would provide exposure to different career areas.
Attend career fairs and career planning workshops to gain exposure to
the job search process.
Write a resume and review it to see what other experiences you might
need to obtain the job of your dreams.
Review newspaper and online job ads, job information on academic
department bulletin boards and descriptions of graduate programs to
see what fields/jobs you are attracted to.
18. +Career Decision Making Stage (midway to
nearing completion of academic program)
Now is the time to be collecting as much information as
possible about possible work settings and job descriptions.
Start to reduce possible career fields or job titles to a
manageable number.
Talk with your faculty advisor about your career goals and
options for networking within your career field.
Try to find an internship or volunteer at a work site to see if
you would like to pursue that career further.
Consider whether you want to attend graduate school and
take or prepare for the appropriate entrance exams.
19. +Job Search Stage (nearing completion of
academic program)
Finding a job can take 6-9 months. It can take longer if you
are hoping to find a job in one limited geographical area.
Develop your own sense of what you would like from a job
and formulate 2, 5 & 10-year professional goals.
Attend a job search workshop and/or a resume writing
workshop.
Develop a professional resume targeted for each job type for
which you might apply. Plan to be able to update or change
each copy to only include skills or experiences being sought
by the potential employer.
Identify people who could serve as employment references
for you and ask them if they would be willing to serve as a
reference and/or write a reference letter.
20. +
Meet with a counselor to develop a job search strategy and
have your resume reviewed.
Tell everyone you know that you are looking for a job. Job
contacts exist everywhere.
Join any professional associations in your career field of
choice.They often produce publications that list jobs in that
field..
Participate in as many career fairs as possible.
Practice your job interviewing techniques. Schedule an
appointment with a career counselor to do a mock interview.
Apply for jobs. Check on-line job
21. +Important Factors to Remember
Career development is a proactive process—NOT an event
Choosing a major in college does not pre-determine your entire
professional career—there are lots of career paths that you will
have the opportunity to explore
Choosing a major in college does not mean that you have to give up
your other areas of interest—find extracurricular activities to
supplement your other interests
Your priorities, interests and skills will shift over time
Career development and decision making takes time
When developing your career action plan, keep your end goals in mind
ALL of your experiences, whether they are job-related or not, impact
your career choices
Keep an open mind and be open to opportunities that present
themselves
