Career Plan

Career planning is a lifelong process. It involves a series of decisions repeated over time as your priorities and opportunities change.

DOTS: a career-planning model

Although called DOTS, the steps are done in the following order:

Self awareness

To develop self awareness, consider the following questions. Your answers could come from your experiences in education, employment, voluntary and community activities, hobbies, sport and recreation.

Opportunity awareness

You need relevant and accurate information, and you need to assess it well.

1. Be clear about what you need to know

Develop a list of questions. Consider:

• job characteristics
• education and training
• the labour market
• career pathways.

Relate these back to your answers to the self awareness questions.

2. Find relevant, credible information

Use a range of sources including:

• career publications
• career websites
• industry and professional associations
• employers
• course providers
• professional placements (eg Work Integrated Learning)
• careers fairs and events
• newspapers, magazines, TV, radio
• friends and family.

Assess the credibility of the information by thinking about the:

• author: are they an expert on the subject?
• purpose: is it marketing or more objective?
• accuracy: can you check the information?
• content: is it general or detailed? Are all the important issues covered?
• currency: is it up to date?

3. Consider the information you have collected

What do you think about the information you have collected? What are the key points? Can you see any clear or strong opportunities here?

Decision making and planning

Make a decision

Consider your options carefully. You could prioritise or come up with a shortlist. From there, your decision could be based on one or more of these:

• intuition - what feels right
• careful thought
• pros and cons - weighing up the 'for' and 'against'
• advice - talking to others to help you see things clearly
• testing ideas - trying out your decision before committing to it.

Remember, some risk and compromise will be involved in your decision. No one decision can meet all your needs for the rest of your career.

Develop an action plan

Develop a set of goals. They need to be specific and manageable. Break them into short and long-term goals.

Short-term goals are quick, simple activities to get you started. They could include:

• talking to someone about holiday employment in your chosen industry
• joining a professional or industry association as a student member
• going to networking events
• considering postgraduate courses.

Long-term goals are your ultimate career goals - to become a business consultant, a research scientist or a journalist, for instance.

Act on the plan

Start now - do not wait until you finish your course. Use a systematic approach.

Review your plan over time

Over time, things may change. Your interests and values may change. Your chosen field or industry may change.

Most people will go through the career planning and review cycle many times in their lives.

Transition learning

To move into a career of your choice you will need to develop your job application skills, including:

Job Search

Use online sources, family, friends, networks and newspapers to find out where the jobs are

Resume and cover letter

Write a targeted resume and cover letter for each job you are applying to, complete application forms, respond to key selection criteria.

Job Interviews

Be prepared, research the organisation and practice different interview questions

Network

Using your contacts (family, friends, former colleagues or employers), talk to people who work in an occupation of interest to you, cold call - in person or by phone

Mentor/Coach

Find a mentor/coach who can use their experience to guide you towards your career goals

Join a professional association

Keep up to date with what's happening in your industry (this can help with applications and interviews) and develop your skills by attending seminars and conferences and make professional connections to extend your network.

Re-evaluate

Career planning is a never ending process and in order to succeed you should always be re-evaluating your current situation and circumstances.

Careers education

You can make an appointment with a careers education consultant if you need help developing your career plan.