Addresses specific questions on career planning for young graduates and people who are starting their careers.

1. Kwame Owusu-Ansah Owusu Afram
Ghana Communication Technology University

2. Students should be able to:
 Understand the meaning of a career
 Understanding the career planning process
 Understand the importance of career planning
 Use the step-by-step process to plan for their career
 Know the do’s and don’t when planning for their career
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3.  Career includes all of the work, learning, and leisure activities
that you are involved in throughout your life.
 Career planning is a lifelong process that focuses on making
choices to help you manage your work and personal life. Good
career planning requires information about you, the world of
work and commitment.
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4. Overcoming your barriers to career advancement begins with a
career plan.
Choosing a career path is one of the most significant decisions
you’ll make in your lifetime, and it can be challenging to decide
exactly what you want to do from a professional standpoint.
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5. The career planning process is comprised of four step:
 Self-assessment
 Career exploration
 Match
 Take Action
Note: the career planning process is a circular one, which may
be done more than once.
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6. During the first step, you will use a variety of tools to gather
information about yourself. You will learn about your:
 Interests
 Work-related values
 Personality type
 Aptitudes
 Preferred environments
 Development needs
 realities
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7.  Explore the occupations that appear to be good fit based on the
results of your self assessment.
 Explore other occupations that interest you
 Research the industries in which you would like to work
 Research the labour market
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8. After your preliminary research, you can start eliminating
occupations that don’t appeal to you and get more information
on those that do.
 Job shadowing
 Part time work, internships, or volunteer
 Identify changes in the Industry
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9. During this phase you will decide which occupation is
the best fit for you based on self-assessment and career
exploration.
 Identify occupations that you have qualifications, knowledge,
skills for
 Identify the occupation in which you are most interested in
 Give serious thought to how you will prepare to enter your chosen
career, the costs, barriers, etc
 Go back to the prior phase if you find you need to explore your
options further before making a decision
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10. Its time to put together a plan to reach your goals and start
moving forward.
Write a career action plan
 Identify your long-term and short-term goals
 Apply for a training program, if necessary
 Develop a job search strategy
 Write your resume
 Identify and learn about potential employers
 Compose cover letters
 Prepare for job interviews
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11. Career planning can help you to prepare to:
 Enter the workforce
 Plan for education
 Deal with changing workplace demands
 Anticipate trends or changes
 Plan to upgrade or maintain your skills
 Plan for career advancement
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12.  Listening to people who tell you that you should, or should not,
do something
 Following in someone else’s footsteps
 Not doing your homework
 Not talking to those in the know
 Going for the money, Honey
 Ignoring who you are
 Not considering location
 Not looking beyond a “Best Careers” list
 Ignoring the future
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13.  Getting information from the Labour market
 Are you willing to relocate for your career?
 What does the future hold in store?
 The informational interview
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14.  Thank You
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15.  Antoniu, E., 2010. Career planning process and its role in
human resource development. Annals of the university of
petroşani, economics, 10(2), pp.13-22.
 Lent, R.W., 2013. Career‐life preparedness: Revisiting career
planning and adjustment in the new workplace. The Career
Development Quarterly, 61(1), pp.2-14.
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