Why use a career action plan?
A career action plan will help you to take stock, consider what is important to you and help you produce a strategy for achieving your career goals. It gives you a structured approach to career planning and can be useful when you’re starting out with your career planning.
It will help you to focus your thoughts into a series of steps to achieve your goals in a realistic timescale and it takes into account the fact that your situation can change and your plans can be reviewed and altered.
Career and skills action plan templates
We have produced two templates to help you construct your career action plan. The first is a skills development action plan which focuses on the specific skills you may want to improve during your time at Edinburgh. The second is a career action plan that allows you to set SMART targets and set deadlines.
Where to start?
1. Consider where you are now
It’s useful to take some time to think about your current situation. What are your aspirations and needs? What do you want from a career? What do you have to offer in terms of skills and experience? What are your areas for development?
2. Decide where you want to be
You might have a clear idea of where you want to be or you might be just starting out and looking for ideas. Whatever your situation the Careers Service is here to help and we have a wide range of resources and support to help you explore your options and decide what you want to do.
Some questions to consider:
- What do you need to feel fulfilled in life?
- What motivates and inspires you?
- What energises you?
- What are your priorities?
- What work would you like to do?
- What is important to you in your work and life?
- What is your preferred work environment?
- What are your options and priorities for the future?
The next step is to then create a realistic vision or goal for the future, taking into account your work and life:
- What will you do?
- What are your broad aims?
- What do you need to find out about?
If you're finding it hard to answer these questions, then we recommend using the Careers Compass from the Careers Service.
With lots of advice and suggested activities, the Careers Compass helps you to understand yourself (in terms of what you are looking for and what you have to offer). There's advice on how to build experience and where to start looking for future jobs, and advice on applications, interviews, and employer selection tests.
You might also benefit from talking through your ideas with a Careers Consultant. You can find out more about how to book an appointment with a Careers Consultant on the Careers Service website:
Moving forward
3. Plan how you will get there
This is where you develop a strategy to meet your career goals. If you want to remain focused and committed to your goals it can be helpful to identify specific tasks to achieve them. Your broad goals will set the scene and provide an overview of what you intend to do. The next stage is to break these down into step-by-step targets.
Setting SMART targets can help you to keep on track. These are clear objectives, written simply and concisely which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed (SMART). They highlight exactly what you will do, specifying a clear, tangible outcome within a set time frame. Each task needs to be something that you are willing and able to do, as well as being relevant to your goals.
How to set SMART targets
- Specific: Identify a clear outcome that you want to achieve
- Measurable: How will you know when you've done it?
- Achievable: Is it feasible within your time frame? Are you motivated to complete it?
- Relevant: Is it relevant to your career aims?
- Timed: When will you complete this by?
4. Take action
This is where you implement your plan. However, even the most well thought-out goals can sometimes be challenging. Here are some suggestions to help you stay on course:
- Assess your commitment to completing your targets: Unless you are totally committed to your targets you are unlikely to complete them. Reflect on your targets and give yourself a score of 0-10 for each one, with 0 for no commitment up to 10 for total commitment. If your score is less than 10, what would have to change to achieve a score of 10? Be sure to adapt your plans if required.
- Are your goals and targets clear and feasible?: Goals and targets need to be clearly defined and realistic if they are to be achieved. It helps if they are slightly challenging, but still within your comfort zone.
- Make lists or use reminders: Making to-do lists can be very useful, enabling you to have a real sense of progress each time you tick off an item. Alternatively, try sending yourself a reminder in the form of a text message to kick-start your momentum.
- Enlist some support: Involving others in action planning can increase the chances of successful completion: identify friends, family, or a mentor who can support you and help you stay focused.
- Brainstorm your way forward: Procrastination can get the better of us all, so if this applies to you, try brainstorming what to do next. Just write down anything and everything that comes to mind in relation to your target, without being judgemental. Then order the relevant items according to what is important. This can break the block and get you started, even if things change later on.
- Reward yourself: In order to keep motivated while completing a series of tasks, it can make a difference to reward yourself as you complete each major milestone.
5. Review progress
Situations and priorities can change so a regular review process is valuable to ensure that your targets are still appropriate and allow new ones to be added. Decide how often is best for you. If things go wrong, use the experience as a learning opportunity and revise your plan accordingly.
10 top tips for career planning
- Recognise what is important in your career and life
- Know what strengths and talents you can offer and what your development points are
- Keep up-to-date with changes in the labour market workplace and the sector you're interested in
- Identify any barriers to making progress and how you can overcome them
- Have a clear vision of your future
- Identify broad goals and SMART targets
- Find people who can support you in completing your targets
- Reward yourself for successes
- Mistakes can happen: use the experience to learn and then move on
- Be flexible, review your progress regularly and be willing to adapt and change