What next? What’s the dream? To coin a phrase from our colleagues at Live-n-Learn UK, ‘a dream is just a goal without a deadline’. So, how can you make your dream happen? We all need a plan, it won’t be a quick fix or an overnight success, but it will keep you focussed and will assist your longer term career planning and development.
Although we often hope that things will automatically go the way we want, coincidences (luck) isn’t always on our side – especially when it comes to careers. That’s why it’s important to effectively plan for the future.
HigherEd Partners UK and University of York have shared an in-depth guide they created about writing a Career Development Plan. The guide is called Guide to Writing a Career Development Plan and offers plenty of valuable information such as:
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Why having a Career Development Plan is important and how it can help accelerate and excel in a chosen sector.
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How to craft a Career Development Plan; setting clear objectives, improving productivity, as well as knowledge transfer and retention.
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For managers – how to talk to your employees about their career goals and find learning opportunities. This can be useful for students in understanding the world of work and the conversations they will have.
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Other useful resources, FAQs, and information that can help students create the best Career Development Plan for them.
One of the biggest things we try to do is get students to track, document and reflect on all of their achievements. What have you done and why? What went well and how could it be improved? We utilise a range of tools in school to do that and encourage students to keep their Unifrog profiles up to date. Understanding your own personal development will allow you to explore your skills and interests and your plan and goals will evolve as you grow, develop and reassess your future.
