Do you have a career plan?

I once read in a business magazine about a survey of 200 IT directors, which found that more than 1 in 5 private sector firms do not have a business continuity plan in place. But that got me thinking: how many individuals have career continuity plans in place?

Of course you may be content with whatever you are currently doing and if so that's great. But consider this: what you would do if your career were to be interrupted by circumstances beyond your control? If your organization decided to outsource or offshore or restructure, would you have a pla
B for continuing in your career with as little wasted time as possible and minimum distress?

The truth about working life is that no sensible person can expect to spend a lifetime in a single organization anymore. Which means you must effectively become the Chairman and CEO, Human Resources and Marketing Director of your own career. It’s up to you to set a strategy for where you want to be in the future, which may or may not be with your current organization. You are in charge of developing yourself and ensuring you have a portfolio of in-demand skills. You are responsible for marketing yourself to prospective employers to guarantee you have career options – whether you decide to jump ship or get forced to walk the plank.

OK, if I've convinced you of the importance of having a career plan, how do you start?

The most basic step to take in drawing up your career plan is to decide where you want to be in say 10 or 15 years’ time. Call it a vision of what success looks like for you. Perhaps you want to stay in your field of work (whether that's finance or teaching or law or nursing or whatever). Or maybe you want to transfer into another function, move into general management, set up your own business. Whatever your goal, you can then work backwards: What would you need in terms of skill and experience in nine years’ time, eight, seven, six, and so on? Once you get down to a timeframe of the next 12 or even six months, you can begin making concrete plans about the kind of projects to pursue, people to network with, training to complete, skills to hone, leaders to mentor you, and so on.

Also, I often say to the managers and individuals that I coach that they should work ON their careers as well as IN them. So think about working on your career as well as in it. Working in your career means getting the day-to-day stuff done and meeting the targets your organization sets for you. Working on your career means meeting your own personal targets in terms of gaining the right experience, seeking feedback from people whose opinions you trust, and keeping an eye on both pla
A and pla
B for your career.

It’s a potentially tragic mistake to assume that your organization will look after you forever. I coach job hunters all the time who are shocked to be back on the job market. Please don’t let that be the case for you.