You’ve been working for a few years and have probably experienced many career wins.  You may have even changed to a new role / company or received a promotion.  At this point, it’s time to take your career development seriously.  You can afford to meander a bit at the beginning of your career, but you need to start honing in on what you want to do with your career (and life).  That said, you’re not sure how to approach your career development?!

You probably have a form you fill out at your company, but you’re not sure it’s really serving you.  You write down a lot of things but do not ever take action on it.  Does anyone really look at it anyway?!

Well, if you’re serious about your career development…..

What You Need to Know About Career Development

1. Career Development is YOUR responsibility

As an employee, you own your development in the form of developing goals and a plan to achieve them.  Your manager’s job is to advise you on those goals and steps, and help you achieve them by freeing up your time to focus on building new skills, connecting you to resources, or simply by providing you feedback on what you are trying to work on.

If you feel your career isn’t going anywhere, employees sometimes blame their boss and/or their company.  That may be true, but only if you have clearly laid out what you want.  If you haven’t, then the responsibility falls on you.  Now, if you have been clear with your goals and are not receiving support, time, or resources, that is fair grounds for frustration.

2.  Your Career Development Plan should be what YOU want (not your employer)

Often I run into other managers who want their employees to apply for certain roles and try to push them in a certain direction.  Specifically, this can happen when it comes to pursuing a management position.  A leader may want their employee to pursue a management position because he or she thinks that the employee has the skills to succeed as a manager.  However, not everyone wants to be a manager…and yet, leaders push people into those roles every day.

So, your development goals should be what YOU want it to be.

That said, your goals should reasonably fall within your employer’s focus.  If, for example, you are in the marketing department at a tech company, it may not be realistic to learn about pharma R&D.

3.  Thing really long term

With your current development, you are probably focused on what your next role will be.  However, development plans should really look 2-3 positions out (i.e., 5-10 years).  Why?  Well, your next move should help you build towards the one after, etc etc.

Now, you don’t need to know the exact position/company but have a general sense (i.e., I want to be a leader in a marketing organization).  Then you determine what 2-3 roles you need to get to that long-term goal.

So, in other words, think about the long run, and work your way back to immediate actions.

4.  Think beyond your career

Your goals should certainly consider your long term interests and desires for your career.  That said, you also need to consider your personal goals.  Do you want to have children?  Do you want to increase your time spent volunteering?  Or, do you have aging parents?

If you, say, want to have children in the next 5 years, you may want to consider whether your long term goal supports the work/life balance you may need.  You may not even know what you need until you get there, but then don’t write a career development plan that is very specialized and may be hard to redirect in a few years.

5.  You should consider WHAT you want to do as well as HOW you will get there

Many employees think that the career plan is just “I want to be promoted.”  You need to have your career goal (and, yes, that could be a promotion) as well as what skills/experiences you need to get there.

So, using the example above, you can have a long-term goal of being a marketing director for a brand in your company.  In order to get there, you may need to have experience in management, sales, market analysis, and, of course, marketing.

Your development plan should include an approach to get those skills.  How do you know what skills you need to have?  Look at the job description for the role you eventually want.  It should list out Key Qualifications and/or Experiences Required.  Look at what skills you have and which ones you may need to grow more.

A development plan with a path to get there is a dream.  Make it a reality with some concrete steps to get to where you want!

Do you want an example of a Career Development Plan?

Consider answering these questions to start your career development plan (sample responses in italics):

• How would you describe what type of professional you strive to be?

Strong leader who excels at leading large teams focused on brand strategy.  Strong collaborator and communicator.

•  Where do I See myself in 5-10 years?  What might I want to do with my career and my life?

In 5-10 years, I strive to be a marketing leader, managing a large team.  I would like to have 2-3 children and be able to be an active participant in their education and activities.  I aim to have a balanced life focused on professional achievement, family, and wellness.

• What skills / experiences would I need to grow in order to fulfill that in 5-10 years?

I would need more in depth market analysis (i.e., market research, forecasting, metrics/measurement).  I would also need to learn how to manage a P&L.  Lastly, I need to continue to grow as a marketer by working on products that are in various stages of their lifecycle.

I’d need to learn how to improve my work/life balance in order to support family life, specifically learning how to “let go” and take time to myself.

• What do I aim to develop this year?  This can be a skill or experience, as well as personal goals.

This year I want to master forecasting.  I would also like to learn more about managing promotional budgets for a product.  I aim to take an international vacation to someplace I’ve never been and run a marathon before end a year.

• How will I achieve those goals this year?

To learn to forecast, I will take XYZ class in Q4.  To better understand budget management, I will shadow our Finance Manager for 1/2 day in August.  

I will schedule my vacation by March and take it in the summer.  I registered for a marathon in December and will leave work at 4 pm on Thursdays to train until then.

See how easy it is?!?

You likely already have a career development plan.  You are Type A, after all!  If you include all the key elements above, imagine how much more prepared you will be to take your dream job when the time comes!

If you liked this post, be sure to check these out:

• 5 Things No One Tells You About Being a Manager
• How to Improve the Top 4 Leadership Traits
• Why am I not getting promoted?

Still want more about Career Development?  Check out this post on Cleverism.

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