What do you feel is the first most important step in personal career management? Why?
The first and most important step in personal career management is to internalize career goals with interests, values, and skill level. Otherwise, the individual pursuit lacks motivation and direction with potentially detrimental outcomes.
Without individual interest and values there is no passion to pursue career goals because there is no importance established. Therefore, there is no decisive direction or reason to achieve those goals.
In addition, without a self-assessment, an aimless pursuit of career goals could result in a poor fit of a new position, which could be damaging to one's career. For example, skill level must be enough to have the potential to succeed as well as the desire to meet and exceed expectations.
In order to create a plan to achieve career goals, an individual must first know what is important and what they bring to the table. Once established, a plan for obtaining those goals has the greatest opportunity for success.
I agree & I would encourage all of us to help others in this process. I have found that some people are more naturally introspective, whereas others could use some assistance in really thinking through these areas.
Ryan
Agreed and also a position that will cause you to develop those strengths even further & push yourself beyond your comfort zone. You want to be successful but you also want to continually improve.
Ryan
I feel the most important step in personal career management is understanding your strenghts and weaknesses. If you understand your strengths and weaknesses you will know which career choice will best fit your skills. This will allow you to enjoy your career choice based on your decision.
I agree Dana. In order to be successful, you must know yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses because you would want a position that is tailored to your strengths.
Self-assessment because you want to do what interests you or motivates you. You want to have a ful-filling career and in order to do that, you must know your strengths, skills and your weaknesses.
I believe the first step in personal career management is knowing yourself. You have to be able to see yourself doing something and see yourself somewhere, before you can set the steps in motion to get you there. You need to know what you like, what you are good at and enjoy doing before you take the next step in career management.
Very true & often it's a great idea to explore the formal organizational networks that exist within your organization. In this way you can identify other areas or departments that might be of interest to you & then you can learn more about them to help develop your plan.
Ryan
In order to manage your career and your future professional growth it is essential to know who you are, what you want and how are you going to get it. You must be comfortable with who you are and be able to objectively analize your strengths and weaknesses. At this point you can utilize this information to move forward.
This is a great idea & reminds of an activity done during the Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People class. In that class you write a personal mission statement that helps you focus on what you really want to be & do. Also, Covey's principle of "begin with the end in mind" is seen here. Great.
Ryan
Amanda,
Great idea regarding asking others their perceptions. And yes, time is probably the greatest hurdle. The best suggestion I can give in regard to this is try to network as much as possible with others in departments in which you have an interest.
Ryan
As others have mentioned, I, too, believe that the most important step in personal career management is knowing yourself. I teach a Senior Portfolio Class and my typical first day assignment is to have the students write their own obituary. They struggle with the formalities in the beginning and once they get over the initial shock of 'Why is this assignment important?' I am able to help them 'see' things (possibly alternative career paths within their field of study) that can tie together their field of study and their passions, if different. Many will write about the awards they'd like to have received and it will open discussion about what it would take to receive that honor. Some of the students decide that maybe their personality type is not that type and we discuss alternatives. There is a great book "Do What You Are" that helps many people look into careers that are suitable for their personality types. I wish I would have read / had personality tests when I was in high school - I might have saved some money by not changing majors! :)
Rick,
Great point about thinking about values that are important to you when looking at career planning. If we don't take the time to think about these, we may find that dream career has become a nightmare.
Ryan
The first step in managing your career is getting to know yourself. Often times it helps to ask others what they think your skills and values are since it is often hard to recognize your own. My greatest challenge is finding the time to even think about what advancements and career opportunities are out there with my current workload. I feel I need to take the time to decide what career path within the company is of interest to me and try to learn as much as I can about other employees jobs.
The first step is writing down a list of things you enjoy doing that could relate to a career. Then list values that are important to you, such as time on the job vs family time, salary, advancement, etc. Then determine which ones fit in line with those values and which ones you have the necessary skills to do the job.
Absolutely. The key for anyone looking to advance & further develop within their career is to have your head up & be looking around. Look around to see what else you can potentially do, to see what other opportunities are out there & also your head up to see how your current role fits in with the big picture.
Ryan
Carl,
Great point. I think the key thing is to not let anyone or anything constrain you in a narrow definition of what you can/can't do. As you pointed out a person may have gone into accounting because they loved numbers or working with programs & they love training. Others might say they have to be an accountant, but we must never let others dictate for us. Own your career.
Ryan
I think that identifying and aligning ones skills and work values is the foundation to moving ahead with career development. As the course points out, actively knowing how one is postioned in their current or potential position can potentially lead to opportunities. Any time an employee can clarify and define anything (strategy, work expectation etc...)in the workplace - career advancement included - they can work to forward their position.
Recognizing what you are good at and enjoying doing. This can come from a variety of tasks or interactions with clients and colleagues. For example, an Accountant may be good at Accounting but not really like it after a while. On the other hand, that person may enjoy being a Quickbooks trainer/instructor and be really good at it because he/she is a good Accountant.
Yes, & I would add to that you areas of interest & desired future state. When you can combine this picture of your ideal future with a strong assessment of your strengths & skills you have a powerful combination.
Ryan
