The document discusses the importance of career planning, emphasizing proactive steps individuals should take to develop their careers, including goal setting and networking. It outlines the role of employers in facilitating employee development and highlights the necessity of having a career development plan to avoid stagnation and achieve professional growth. Key elements include understanding personal strengths and weaknesses, setting realistic goals, and creating individual development plans to guide career trajectories.

1. Week 4
Career planning
HOSF2064
Lesson Objectives
Assess how to be proactive in building one’s own career.
Understand what is part of a successful career plan
Recognize why a career plan is necessary for any professional
Examine the employer’s role in career development
Acknowledge goal setting as part of successful career planning
and development
Analyze networking as a key component to successful career
planning
Great careers don't happen by accident.
Truly satisfying careers are the reward of talent, hard work, a
bit of luck, and a strategy carefully managed and put to work.
Truly satisfying careers are the reward of talent, hard work, and
a strategy carefully managed and put to work.
True
Great careers are based on luck and usually happen by accident.
False
5 Reasons to have a Career Development Plan:
A career development plan will keep you from getting stuck in a

2. rut
A career development plan will help you take responsibility for
your weaknesses
A career development plan will help define your future career
path
A career development plan will help you to take charge of your
own advancement
A career development plan will give you the confidence you
need to succeed.
3
Employee Development and Career Planning
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All
Rights Reserved
Successful companies have learned that it is critical to assist
their employees in their career development.
Employers can support employees to find learning opportunities
and develop skills they can use in the future, and they can
ensure that employees understand company goals and have them
set their own goals for development with management.
For development to be successful, management should:
Provide a well-crafted job description, since this is the
foundation upon which employee training and development

3. activities are built.
Provide training required by employees to meet the basic
competencies for the job.
Develop an understanding of the knowledge, skills and abilities
that the organization will need in the future. Management must
decide what the long-term goals of the organization are and
what implications these goals have for employee development.
Once management has reached a conclusion, this information
should be shared with staff
Explain the employee development process and encourage staff
to develop their own individual development plans
Support staff when they identify learning activities that make
them an asset to the organization both now and in the future
CAREER PLANNING DISCUSSIONS
Discussions of career planning typically include the following:
Current job: Does the employee have the skills to meet the
responsibilities of their current job?
Gaps: Assess the person’s current levels of competency and
their future requirements. This will reveal what gaps need to be
addressed to develop their skills so they can meet future job
requirements
Future aspirations: Where does the employee see themselves in
the future? What business results do they hope to achieve?
Career plan: Develop a roadmap that enables the employee to
acquire the skill set needed for their current job and for the
future. Use a career plan template as part of the performance
review process. The template should include:
Areas of development
Development goals:
Action steps
Expected completion date
Obstacles and solutions
Evaluation criteria

4. For employee development to be a success, the individual
employee should:
Look for learning opportunities in everyday activities
Identify goals and activities for development and prepare an
individual development plan
4
Career Planning
Career planning should be considered from the perspectives of
both the organization and the employee:
Organization: What skills and knowledge do we require to
achieve our business goals?
Employee: What are the skills and knowledge I think critical to
my current and future career plans?
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All
Rights Reserved
5
Why Do I need A Career Plan?
It will keep you from getting stuck in a rut
It will make you think about how to better utilize your
strengths, talents, experience, and passion in your work
It will help you take responsibility for your weaknesses.
It will help define your future career path.
It will help you to take charge of your own advancement.
It will give you the confidence you need to succeed.

5. 5 Reasons Why You Need A Career Development Plan Now
Published on February 25, 2015
Joya Martin Cousin
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-reasons-why-you-need-
career-plan-now-joya-martin
1. A career development plan will keep you from getting stuck
in a rut
If you allow yourself to grow comfortable performing only the
tasks you were trained to do when you were hired, then you
might as well make up your mind to be overworked and
underpaid for the rest of your working life.
There are all types of people who get stuck in a rut at work. The
one thing they all have in common is that they’ve taken their
professional development for granted. Don’t be one of those
people.
Whether or not we’d like to admit it, everyone around us knows
exactly how well or how poorly we're doing at work. All the
little shortcomings we've minimized in our own minds are well-
known by our colleagues.
Maybe you’re slightly late for work, two or more times per
week or you don’t stay up to date on important techniques or
skills needed. Sure you get away with it now, but you’re not
fooling anyone. No matter how sweet and well-liked you are,
not addressing those little quirks now may mean career suicide
later on. The management might change. The company could
start cracking down on inefficiency. Without notice, your minor

6. shortcomings could suddenly be looked as major areas of
underperformance.
You’re probably getting defensive, and thinking: there are
things I can improve on, but I’m a not a slacker. If you are not
consistently identifying areas for improvement, and working on
getting better and better at what you do, sooner or later, you
may lose.
Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living. I say that
the unplanned career is not worth having.
In the little book “The Go-Giver”, Bob Burg presents three
universal reasons why we work: survive, save, serve. Survival
and saving have to do with meeting our basic needs and having
some time and money left over to enjoy life. Service has to do
with making a meaningful contribution to the world around us.
Most people get stuck on the first two stages, but never figure
out a way to reach a place of purpose in their work.
When we don’t develop the habit of establishing and achieving
clear goals, we miss out on the opportunity to steer our careers
along a path of significance. Would you like to wake up one day
and realize that you plodded through your days in a job you
hated, instead of making a difference? Of course you don’t.
Crafting a career development plan will give you the
opportunity to gradually assess not only the tasks you do well,
but also identify the things that bring joy and meaning to your
work.
Carving out the time, and drumming up the discipline it takes to
craft a career development plan for yourself will forces us to be
accountable. Instead of blaming external forces for every
negative turn that occurs at work, we begin to take
responsibility for our own actions and reactions.

7. Creating a career development plan will put the power back into
your own hands. Instead of excusing yourself for being late
because of traffic, you will be able to recognize that you have
stayed up too late flipping through channels on TV, and
neglected to pick out your clothes or organize your kids for the
day ahead. Instead of being passed over for a promotion because
you didn’t have the requisite skills, you get the computer
training you need by taking afternoon classes, to position
yourself for the promotion you want.
A career development plan will give you ownership over all
aspects of your career.
You will begin to know your strengths and weaknesses inside
out. You will decide on meaningful targets and set a realistic
plans to meet them. You will know what you want to
accomplish, and how far you’ve already come. You will find
yourself going to work each day with a sense of purpose.
When performance review time rolls around, you will no longer
have to struggle to list your strengths or outline your
achievements. You will be able to confidently prepare for
assessment and promotion meetings. You will be able to update
your résumé with ease, and not choke up at the thought of going
on a job interview.
6
Employee Development
Efforts made by the organization to upgrade the current
knowledge of employees, enhance their skills and encourage
them to take new courses or trainings.
Employee development plays a key role in:
Improvement - making the employee more productive by
developing all skills used in current positions - behavioural,
communication, interpersonal, operational, etc.

8. Professional growth - goals set to advance career growth
Employee development plans prepare an employee for future
assignments and improve organizational loyalty.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All
Rights Reserved
There are two types of employee development Plans:
Professional Growth
Such employee development plans are created to help
individuals in their career growth. In such a plan, a team
manager sits with his team members and designs growth plans
with specific deadlines as to when the development goals can be
accomplished. It is essential to give deadlines to employees for
them to take trainings and employee development activities
seriously. Employees are encouraged to attend training sessions,
seminars, conferences to acquire new skills and knowledge.
Improvement
Managers design a performance improvement plan also called as
PIP and create an action plan to help employees improve their
performance. Employees are trained not only for their
professional development but also for their personal growth.
Initiatives are taken to improve behavioral skills,
communication skills, interpersonal skills which would help
them in the long run.
7
Employee Development Plan
An employee development plan is prepared both by the

9. employee and the employer as to what is needed to enhance the
skills of an employee and help him grow both personally and
professionally.
In an individual development plan, the manager outlines the key
responsibility areas of an employee, specialization and areas of
interest.
Through individual development plans managers and employee
decide the career goals of the employee and make a plan for
their achievement.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All
Rights Reserved
Key Areas of Employee Development
Employee development programs fall under the following
categories:
Management Development
Personal Effectiveness: Soft skills development,
communication and conflict resolution
Technical Skills Development: increasing technical expertise
Time Management - preparing the employee to take on greater
accountability and responsibility
Effective Leadership
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All
Rights Reserved
We must be proactive when it comes to career and personal
development. We cannot simply wait around hoping someone
will recognize how great we are. If you want to develop your
leadership skills that lead to advanced career opportunities:
Serve as a mentor to other colleagues, or help to onboard new
colleagues.

10. Offer to lead a team for a new important project that you
believe in.
Assume a liaison role with HR on processes for:
Recruitment and selection, helping to fill a position in
your area
Managing people issues
and Speak at a meeting allowing your additional skills and
expertise to be recognized.
9
Career Planning Tip: Be Coachable
Show openness by being receptive to new ideas and suggestions,
by admitting to your need for improvement, and by actively
seeking your direct supervisor/manager's feedback.
Keep in mind that the end goal is your career development,
always be coachable even if it's difficult to hear constructive
criticism, this is what will help your career development the
most.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All
Rights Reserved
10
A Career Plan Maximizes Your True Potential
Having a realistic career plan is an essential part of our
personal growth and development. It’s very rare that a dream
job simply appears. For most, it takes years of planning, work
and even a little bit of luck to access the career of your dreams.
Without goals to strive for, most people find it difficult to gain
skills and opportunities which make them a more valuable
commodity in their field. By planning for the future with a

11. specific timeline for accomplishing milestones, a career plan is
an effective way to stay on track for pursuing your career goals.
By isolating exactly what you’ll need to accomplish in order to
be a candidate for the job you truly want, fulfilling the needed
tasks will become much easier and your chances of success are
much higher.
11
Pursuit of Continuous Learning
It is up to you to actively pursue your own continuous learning,
professional development and career development.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help focus your
learning goals:
• What am I curious about right now?
• What do I need to learn to keep up with the changes in my
field?
• What strengths would I like to capitalize on?
• What do I want to get better at?
• What are my career goals for the next 3-5 years?
12
Goal Setting = success
Goal-setting is essential to success in all aspects of life.
By setting clearly defined goals, you can measure your progress
and focus your efforts to progress toward the vision you have
for your ideal career and life. You will be able to see progress
in what might otherwise feel like a long, pointless grind.
By setting and taking action toward your goals, you will raise

12. your self-confidence.
13
Purpose of Goal Setting
- Drives You Forward
- Gives You Laser Focus
- Makes You Accountable
- Encourages You To Be The Best You Can Be
- Enables You To Live Your Best Life
If you want success, you need to set goals. Without goals you
lack focus and direction. Goal setting not only allows you to
take control of your life's direction; it also provides you a
benchmark for determining whether you are actually
succeeding.
15
To Set Effective Goals:
Set Goals that Motivate You
Set SMART Goals
Set Goals in Writing
Make an Action Plan
Get to work
Stick With It!

13. 16
Recall S.m.a.r.t. Goal Planning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mi9_XEXQqc
SMART Goals – How to Write a SMART Goal(2min. 38sec.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mi9_XEXQqc
17
Goal Setting: How To?
Express your goals positively, rather than in terms of what you
don't want.
Be specific in setting dates, times, and amounts so that you
know when you have achieved your goals.
Set priorities so that you know which of your goals to focus
your attention toward and helps you avoid feeling overwhelmed
by having too many goals.
Write your goals down so that you can visually be reminded of
them and so that you can craft them to be precise and clear.
Break down your goals into small, achievable tasks so that you
get frequent opportunities to accomplish them and feel
motivated to take on other goals.
Set realistic goals that you can achieve and that are in your
own control.
Once you have a sense of your development goals, think about
how you can pursue them on-the-job, through your learning
network, and in formal training and education. Meet with your
manager to create an individual development plan, and

14. consistently work and update your plan.
18
Trust your struggle
Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT2XlI8oeh0
Trust your struggle | Zain Asher | TEDxEuston (14:38)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT2XlI8oeh0
ZAIN ASHER was born and raised in London. She graduated
from Oxford University where she studied French and Spanish
(graduating with a distinction in oral Spanish). In 2006, she
earned an MS from Columbia University's Graduate School of
Journalism, where she focused on business and financial news.
Asher is a national business and personal finance correspondent
for CNN, where she appears across platforms covering the latest
news on money and the economy. She often reports from the
New York Stock Exchange, covering equities and IPOs and
interviewing entrepreneurs and dignitaries. In 2014, Asher was
part of a team of reporters sent to Nigeria to cover the Boko
Haram kidnappings of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria.
Asher comes to CNN from MONEY magazine where she
covered careers and investing, primarily focusing on stocks,
mutual funds, consumer tech stories and workplace advice. She
served as a contributing reporter for Forbes.com, where she
covered business trend and consumer stories. She has lived and
worked in Mexico, France and Nigeria. Asher is fluent in
French, Spanish and Igbo (her native Nigerian language).

15. 10 tips to help you achieve successful career planning
https://www.livecareer.com/quintessential/career-planning-tips
By Dr. Randall S. Hansen
1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event
Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and
do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not
career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year — more
often if you feel the need or if you’re planning a major career
change — and schedule a retreat for yourself.
By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more
secure in your career choice and direction — and you’ll be
better prepared for the many uncertainties and difficulties that
lie ahead in all of our jobs and career.
2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning
One of your first activities whenever you take on career
planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path
since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While
you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and
reflect on the will help you plan for the future.
Once you’ve mapped your past, take the time to reflect on your
course — and note why it looks the way it does. Are you happy
with your path? Could you have done things better? What might
you have done differently? What can you do differently in the
future?
3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and Wants
Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes
and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now

16. give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things
in your life — not just in your job — that you feel most
strongly about.
Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then
use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your
job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you
know you are still on the right path; however, if your job
activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to
begin examining new jobs and new careers.
Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want
or need from your work, from your career. Are you looking to
make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become
financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to
understand the motives that drive your sense of success and
happiness.
4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies
Career planning provides a great time to also examine the
activities you like doing when you’re not working. It may sound
a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career
planning, but it’s not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely
pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths.
Think you can’t make a hobby into a career? People do it all the
time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business
person who painted on the side. It actually wasn’t until he was
encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he
finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should
change careers. He was good at business, but his love was
painting.
5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments

17. Most people don’t keep a very good record of work
accomplishments and then struggle with creating a powerful
resume when it’s time to search for a new job. Making note of
your past accomplishments — keeping a record of them — is
not only useful for building your resume, it’s also useful for
career planning.
Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will reveal
forgotten successes, one or more which may trigger researching
and planning a career shift so that you can be in a job that
allows you to accomplish the types of things that make you
most happy and proud.
6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable Skills
Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they
don’t see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every
job requires a certain set of skills, and it’s much better to
categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so
myopic as to focus just on job titles.
For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish
career planning found herself stuck because she identified
herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title,
she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable
skills — such as writing, editing, researching, investigating,
interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and
deadlines, and managing time and information — skills that
could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many
different careers.
7. Review Career and Job Trends
Everyone makes his or her own job and career opportunities, so
that even if your career is shrinking, if you have excellent skills
and know how to market yourself, you should be able to find a

18. new job. However, having information about career trends is
vital to long-term career planning success.
A career path that is expanding today could easily shrink
tomorrow — or next year. It’s important to see where job
growth is expected, especially in the career fields that most
interest you. Besides knowledge of these trends, the other
advantage of conducting this research is the power it gives you
to adjust and strengthen your position, your unique selling
proposition. One of the keys to job and career success is having
a unique set of accomplishments, skills, and education that
make you better than all others in your career.
8. Set Career and Job Goals
Develop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be
successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can
you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most
research says yes.
A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in
the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job
goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of
career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as
your career plans progress or change – and developing new
goals once you accomplish your previous goals.
9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities
It’s somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to
power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow
more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is
going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to
finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career.
Take the time to contemplate what types of educational

19. experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look
within your company, your professional association, your local
universities and community colleges, as well as online distance
learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing
opportunities — and then find a way achieve them.
10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement Opportunities
One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is picturing
yourself in the future. Where will you be in a year? In five
years? A key component to developing multiple scenarios of
that future is researching career paths.
Of course, if you’re in what you consider a dead-end job, this
activity becomes even more essential to you, but all job-seekers
should take the time to research various career paths — and
then develop scenarios for seeing one or more of these visions
become reality. Look within your current employer and current
career field, but again, as with all aspects of career planning, do
not be afraid to look beyond to other possible careers.
Final Thoughts on Career Planning
Don’t wait too long between career planning sessions. Career
planning can have multiple benefits, from goal-setting to career
change, to a more successful life. Once you begin regularly
reviewing and planning your career using the tips provided in
this article, you’ll find yourself better prepared for whatever
lies ahead in your career — and in your life.
19
"It's not what you know, but who you know."
Develop a network of friendly people who share information to
help each other.
Networking is a strategy for opening the hidden job market.
Because most jobs are not advertised, it is essential that you

20. develop friendly relationships with people who can tip you off
to job openings -- even introduce you to the person who is
doing the hiring.
Networking is a planned, and ongoing effort. You set goals,
develop strategies for achieving them, take action, evaluate how
well your plan is working, and make changes as necessary.
Networking is something that you continue throughout your
career.
https://www.careerkey.org/choose-a-
career/networking.html#.WXQACRXyvIU
20
Networking and Career Development
Why is networking sometimes uncomfortable?
For many people, it’s the expectation and pressure of ‘pushing’
your message. If you’re basically a shy person, this doesn’t
come naturally.
Effective, engaging and enjoyable networking is an important
part of your career development. But it’s a strategy that is NOT
about using people for your gain. Rather, it IS about a win/win
exchange of contacts, information, referrals, and tips that are
mutually beneficial.
21
Evaluate your network
Examine three factors: the size, the diversity, and the strength

21. of your contacts:
List the key people in your career world inside and outsideof
your company. The greater the size or number, the more access
you have to information and support.
Review that list and write down what they do and who they
work for.
Are most of your contacts in your functional area or
profession? Assess the quality of those relationships. Are they
strong or weak? How can you develop them?
One way to decide strength is: How soon will they return your
phone call or email, if at all? The stronger the ties, the more
you can go to the well for water – the more you can ask for their
time and contacts.
http://managementhelp.org/careers/networking.htm
http://managementhelp.org/careers/networking.htm
Marcia Zidle
22
How to Build a Personal Career Plan
Read the article on Career Planning
http://lifehacker.com/5852033/how-to-build-a-personal-career-
plan-and-plot-a-course-out-of-your-dead-end-job
http://lifehacker.com/5852033/how-to-build-a-personal-career-
plan-and-plot-a-course-out-of-your-dead-end-job
Step 1:
Write down your primary career interest.

22. Tip: A primary career interest is usually described in terms of a
general vocation. For example, "My primary career interest is
marketing within the automobile industry."
Step 2:
Identify long-term professional goals (including positions
desired within the company).
Tip: Long term professional goals are often conveyed in terms
of specific positions ("become a regional sales manager") or
major accomplishments ("write a book").
Tip: List any lateral moves or promotions that will help you
meet your long-term professional goals. For example, "I want to
move from sales associate to sales manager, and finally to
regional sales manager."
Step 3:
Identify the short-term goals that contribute to long-term
interests and the challenges that must be overcome in order to
reach these goals.
Tip: Identify barriers, both personal and external, that prevent
you from accomplishing your short-term goals, then create ways
to overcome them. For example, "My short-term goal is to
acquire advanced computer skills. The barrier is the time
constraints on my job in mechanical engineering which leave
me little or no time to receive the additional training I need.
The way I could overcome this barrier is to find more efficient
ways to complete my tasks or to delegate them to others while I
attend the August training sessions."
Step 4:

23. List 2-3 activities that will help you reach each goal. Be sure to
specify how you will accomplish the activity, including any
resources you might need, and when you will start and finish it.
(Resources may include other people's time/expertise, funds for
training materials and activities,or time away from your other
responsibilities).
Tip: Common Development Activities
Identify and cultivate a relationship with a mentor/role model.
Read relevant material.
Engage in training and education.
Keep a journal.
Attend appropriate seminars.
Take on special job assignments or job rotation.
Receive coaching from a skilled co-worker.
Increase customer contact.
Incorporate activities into ongoing work assignments.
Step 5:
Describe tasks in your current job that are contributing to long
term goals and that you would like to emphasize or perform
more frequently.
Step 6:
Describe tasks in your current job that are not contributing to
your long-term goals. Suggest ways to minimize, remove, or
delegate them to others.
Step 7:
Write down any additional skills, knowledge or experience you
would like to acquire that may directly or indirectly help you in

24. your current job or future positions.
Step 8:
Describe when and how progress checkpoints will occur (e.g.,
memos, phone calls, meetings) and what developmental
activities will be completed or discussed at these times.
Part 2: Manager Review
Questions to ask....
1. Are you aware of your employee's career interests and
values? Do you know which of your employee's strengths
contribute to these career goals and what areas need to be
developed?
2. Do you feel that the short-term goals your employee has
suggested are unrealistic, given the employee's abilities or other
external factors? Is there anything standing in the way of the
desired goals?
Tip: Convey what you know about organizational realities to
help the employee set short-term goals. If you think there are
outside barriers which will inhibit the attainment of their goals,
describe them and help the employee work around them.
3. Do you know of other activities that would help the employee
reach the developmental goals? What has helped you in the past
in this area?
Tip: Help the employee select at least one development activity
for each short-term goal. Scan the Employee Appraiser
Coaching Advisor for action suggestions.
4. Are there people you know who could help your employee
meet their career development goals? Can you provide the

25. resources identified?
Tip: Help the employee meet their goals by offering your ideas,
contacts with people, and resources. Think of at least one
person who could help the employee in a mentor or advisor role.
5. Can you make changes to the employee's job to replace
routine tasks with new work that is more closely aligned with
the employee's goals?
Tip: If you agree with the employee's suggestions for expanding
their responsibilities, work with them to define any additional
knowledge or experience they will need to meet the new set of
expectations. Also take a close look at how their workload will
be affected, and discuss any responsibilities they will need to
give up.
Tip: When employees mention tasks they no longer want to be
involved with, ask them for specific suggestions on how to get
the same result without their involvement, e.g. delegate,
eliminate, or find more efficient ways of accomplishing the
tasks.
6. Have you and the employee agreed on dates for progress
checkpoints and what will be measured at each one?
23
Networking Suggestions
Canadian Culinary Federation: http://ccfcc.ca/
Toronto Networking Events:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/d/ontario--toronto/networking/
George Brown Chef School Alumni:
http://www.georgebrown.ca/chefschool/alumni/
Terroir Symposium: http://www.terroirsymposium.com/

26. Toronto Culinary Events (this is for 2017 but most are annual):
http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2017/05/toronto-food-events-
culinary-ontario-festival/
Toronto Taste – and Toronto Taste Chef Challenge:
http://www.torontotaste.ca/chef-challenge
Hawksworth Young Chef Foundation:
http://hawksworthscholarship.com/about/
Here are a few, but go out and find more opportunities to
network.
In conclusion
Honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses – use your
performance feedback
Evaluate your interests and passions
Set SMART goals for your life and career
Work with your employer to build a plan
Network to build important relationships to help you on your
career path.
“It’s not what you know but who you know.”
Be proactive – don’t be passive; make your career happen
Be prepared –
“Most people wait until they get the call for a job interview,
before they begin to prepare; but those who succeed prepare
well before getting that call.”
~ Zain Asher
25
How to Build a Personal Career Plan and Get Out of Your Dead

27. End Job
Alan Henry for Lifehacker
10/10/14
We've all heard it before: "You're lucky to have any job." But
just because you have one doesn't mean you have to just slog
through a crappy one, or deal with the career you don't want.
You may just be looking at your position as "just a job" and you
have no idea what kind of career you want. It doesn't have to be
this way.
I know a lot of people who hate their jobs, but when asked what
they'd rather do, they're already very close to doing what they're
passionate about—they just needed to stop and figure out how
to get there. Here's how you can take a good, hard look at
yourself, figure out what you really want to do, and work this
into a personal career plan that will help you get where you
want to go, personally and professionally.
Take Stock: Evaluate Yourself
Write Down What You Do: The first thing to do if you're going
to pull yourself out of a career-related funk is to take stock of
where you are professionally. Your job title and resume only
say so much about what you do, so spend a few days taking
good notes of what you actually do. Start with the core
responsibilities of your position (things you would put on your
resume), then write down everything else you spend time doing
at work, even if it's tangential to your actual "job."
A good way to get in the habit of doing this is to keep a work
diary of your successes, failures, and activities. It's also a good
opportunity to get in the habit of doing a GTD-style weekly
review, where you take time each week to take stock of what
you've accomplished and prepare for the next week. When
you're done, sort the list into things you absolutely hate doing,
things you don't mind doing and things that you love and wish
you could do more of.

28. Write Down What You Want To Do: Once the list is sorted, it's
time to focus on the things you'd like to do more of. Build on
those items and write down what you wish you could do every
day. Don't be afraid to get far-fetched; if you wish you could
get paid to read blogs all day, jot that down. Some people call it
"wasting time on Reddit," but the right employer may call it
research.
Now, start thinking long-term. Ask yourself, "Will I want to
keep doing these things in a year? What about two, or five?"
Don't be discouraged if you're not sure. It's impossible to know
what the future you will want, but try to write down some
general thoughts.
Ask yourself these questions:
· What am I best at doing, both personally and professionally?
What am I terrible at?
· Do I want to stay in this job? Or this field?
· If I want to change jobs, do I want to be promoted into a
similar, more senior role?
· If I want to change jobs, would I rather manage people, or
would I prefer to continue doing it all myself?
· If I want to change industries, which field am I interested in?
· What is it about that industry that excites me? Has it always
interested me?
· What am I doing already that will serve me well in that field?
· What type of company would I like to work for? What about
that company is most important to me?
· Would I prefer to work for myself, or become a freelancer,
knowing that working for yourself isn't always rainbows and
unicorns?
· Looking at the list of things I love doing, what kind of job
uses those skills? Who does those things every day?
Review Your Answers: The point of these questions is to help
you evaluate your goals. They help you determine what types of

29. jobs involve the tasks you said you enjoy doing. Pretend you
land the perfect job. Now think about where you'd like to go
from there. Would you like to keep doing it on a more advanced
level? Perhaps you'd like to manage people who do what you do
now? When you start thinking about those next steps—without
the stress of the whole "where do you see yourself in
one/five/ten years" kind of questions (which are largely useless
anyway)—you'll find yourself thinking in terms of the career
you want, not just your "dream job."
Once you've finished writing all of this down, you should have
a pretty good self-evaluation. This is valuable in itself, and can
help you ground yourself in your current job or negotiate with
your boss on those tasks that you really hate and how you can
do more of what you enjoy (and are strongly suited to.) Now
you're ready for the next step: actually building your plan.
Research the Jobs You'd Like: Now that you know what you'd
like to do, it's time to find jobs that let you do it. Here's how:
Visit Your Local Career Center and Network with key people in
the industry you are interested in: Sometimes the best way to
find a job that matches up with your skills and desires is to ask
a more experienced person. A chat specialist at a career center,
or someone you respect in your industry will put you on the
right track towards career guides and resources that can help
you translate your dreams into a job title you can aim for.
Scour Job Search Sites: Most people are used to searching job
sites for job titles. Try searching for a function or task that you
enjoy instead. If you like spending all day on Twitter or
Facebook, search for "Twitter" or "Facebook," or better yet,
search for "social networks" or "social media." Most job search
engines will match your keywords with job responsibilities as
well as required skills in job listings.
Talk to People about Their Careers (Informational Interviews):
Sometimes word of mouth is the best way to find out how to
translate your passions into a job you'll love, as we've
previously discussed. Ask your friends and family, even your
colleagues about their previous jobs. Highlight the things that

30. you enjoy and ask them if they've ever heard of a job that does
those things. You'll be surprised: often the side-responsibilities
you like at your current job are primary responsibilities at
another job.
For example, one of my best friends is saddled with sending
dull, dry sales emails for the company she works for. It's a long
and difficult process, and she says she would like it more if she
had better tools to do it. However, she really loves seeing the
number of people who open those emails, who gets which flavor
of message based on their purchase history, and what they click
on when they open them. To her, it's just the crap her boss
doesn't feel like doing, so she gets to do it. At my old company
it's called Campaign Analysis, and there are tools that would
make her life easier (not to mention a paycheck she'd probably
like as well.) When I explained this to her, she was surprised.
Because she had a clear picture of the things she liked and
disliked about her job, it was easy to point out that there are
jobs out there that could give her an opportunity to do what she
enjoys every day.
Research Where Those Jobs Lead: Once you have an idea what
types of jobs you'd like to have (even if it means you've
rediscovered how much you enjoy your current job), start
thinking in terms of a long-term career. Do some research on
where those jobs usually lead. A good place to start is the
Occupational Outlook Handbook from the US Department of
Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the My Skills, My
Future career search site.
If you're interested in systems administration, think about what
your life would be like after you get the job. After a few years,
would you like to manage other administrators, or would you be
happier taking on increasingly technical and challenging
projects? In most technical roles, it's one or the other. Which
would you prefer if you do land that job, and what happens to
other people who get it? Photo by
You'll also want to find out whether the career you want

31. requires education, degrees, or certifications to advance. Some
organizations will only promote if you show you're advancing
your skills as well as performing well on the job, and others
will only consider you for promotions if you go out and get a
relevant degree, or take classes relevant to your job. Continuing
education isn't a bad thing, but you don't want to reach for a
career you want only to find that you're stuck after taking the
first step.
For example, when I was a Project Manager, eventually I
learned that a promotion wouldn't be forthcoming until I earned
my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. When
I started looking at other companies, I learned that having one
makes you more marketable. So I went out and got it to move
my career to the next level—I had the time to study and the
money to put into the test. Not everyone has that, but I certainly
wish I had known it would be necessary before I started out as a
PM.
By the time you finish this research, you should have an idea of
where the careers you're interested in will take you, and whether
you like those possible paths or not. Of course, you can't predict
everything: you may discover a love of management when you
think you're going to be an engineer forever, or invent a new
application while doing software development that leads you to
start a new company. The important thing is to think past the
job offer you'll hopefully get, be flexible, and start visualizing
the career you'd like to have.
Take Action: Make Your Move
By now, you should have your self-evaluation finished, and a
few ideal career paths all mapped out. Congratulations: you
have a personalized career plan, based on your interests and
your skills. Now all that's left is the hard part: deciding which
direction you'd like to take. Your career plan shouldn't be a
dead document. Keep researching jobs that match up with your
goals, and keep talking to people about what opportunities they
have in their organizations for people who do what you'd rather

32. do all day.
Once you decide on a direction, you'll have to determine
whether or not the first step is something that requires
education, a completely new job, or something you can start
with your current gig. You may be getting valuable experience
now that can lead you to the career you love, given time.
Alternatively, it may be time to jump ship and work to the
career you want to have, even if it feels like you have no
relevant experience.
Regardless of what you choose to do, even if it's nothing for
now, there's tremendous value in taking stock of your strengths
and weaknesses and where you are professionally. You can use
that information to make your current job more bearable just as
easily as you can use it to find a new direction. Spending a little
time making a map of how you want your career to evolve can
save you weeks or even years of toiling away in a job or career
that brings you no joy.