Here at Aston American University we believe that careers define lives. For many people, talking about their lives is inseparable from talking about their careers. A career is what everyone works to become better at and in the process move up the chain. Having a great career needs careful planning and periodic review. If you are at the starting point of your career, you could make short, medium and long term career plans defining where you are and where you are going. Making sound plans for your career will among others;
Help define goals
Few undertakings are successful without set goals. A career with set goals will help keep motivation and stay the focus. They keep you determined to stay the course and work hard. Your career plan will help think about clear goals; short, medium and long term. This will be helpful in time as you can make periodic reviews on the achievement of those goals. If by year two of your career you were to be in junior management and it does not happen in that time, you will be in a position to look at what you could have done better. Everyone likes to grow, and having a checklist of what has been achieved and what has been missed will help assess growth in career.
Define alternative career plans
Plans can always be reviewed. A career plan will help you chart other paths if the current one does not work. Maybe you thought that you would land your dream job in 10 years. In the event it does not happen, you can review your career path and make a decision whether it is time to consider an alternative career path. This always ensures that you have a fall back plan in case that the best plans go bust.
Plan for retirement
You hopefully do not want to work into your old age. The time to start planning for retirement is right at the beginning of your career. According to the career path you choose, you could make plans for investments to take care of your retirement. The advantage of getting into retirements early is that packages available are very attractive and cheap to make. You will pay cheaper premiums on your life insurance when under 30 than you would have paid for at 40 years. Also remember it is easier stashing away $50 per month over 20 years rather than $100,000 yearly for the last 5 years of your career. A career plan is a great tool to have in life as it will always steer you in the right course and help you achieve all you wanted in life and career.
