The Ultimate Guide to Career Development Plans

What is a Career Development Plan?

A career development plan is where you organise your goals to chart a clear career path. As your career is constantly progressing, there is no limit to when you can make a career development plan – get one done now and you can put it into effect immediately!

They are often used as a resource for businesses to guide and encourage employees on their career trajectory. However, there is no reason why you cannot create one independently to work on as a personal goal.

How to Create an Effective Career Development Plan

A career development plan can be written at any time in your career path and at any professional level. It requires some thought and most likely some research, as you need to make an assessment of your skills as well as determine how you can develop them.

Here are 4 key elements you should include in your career development plan:

Your Current Role

When writing your career development plan it helps to start at your current position. What is your role and, more specifically, what is it about your responsibilities that makes you feel satisfied?

If you are not happy in your current role, now it an excellent time to start a career development plan so that you can take action to find something else!

You Career Goals

This part is important. To have a plan you need to have a goal; without something to work towards, the plan will have no direction.

If you haven’t got a clear idea already, this may take a little time, but it’s worth thinking it through to figure out what role would make you happy.

It may help to consider the following questions:

• What are you skilled at?
• What tasks and responsibilities do you want to do more of every day?
• What would your dream role be?

Assess Your Skillset

Once you have your goal in mind you need to consider what skills you already have, and what skills and experience you need to gain that would make you qualified for your desired job position.

If you’re not sure on this, you may need to do a little research (don’t worry – this part’s relatively simple). All you need to do is search for job postings for that role and see what those companies are looking for in a candidate.

By the end of this section, you should have a clear list of qualifications, experience and qualities you will require to make you the perfect candidate.

Make an Action Plan

Now that you’re aware of the skills and qualifications you need to reach your goal, you can start working towards them.

It can help to create a timeline so that you can tackle each step one by one. Don’t forget to be realistic; each step will take hard work and time, and adding pressure to complete them in an unrealistic timeframe may demotivate you.

You may want to consider where you can get support for your goals. If your dream role is at the company you currently work for, they may have the resources to help. For example, there may be training programmes available that will give you the experience and qualifications you need.

Start Working Towards Your Goals

When you have finished writing your plan you should be able to see your starting point, your end goal, and several actions you can take to bridge the gap between them. 

You will need to consistently reflect on your career development plan to measure your progress and update it when necessary. But remember, however many steps it takes, each day you will be growing closer to your ultimate goal.

It may take some hard work; that’s why we think it’s valuable to recognise and celebrate when you reach your milestones – stick with it and you’ll get there eventually. Good luck!