WHAT is Career Planning and Development?

Career Planning | Career Development

Career Planning

Career Planning is a lifelong process, which includes such facets as:

• choice of occupation;
• job search;
• growth in the job;
• career transition (changing careers).

Career Planning answers questions such as,

• "Where do I want to go?"
• "What do I want to do?"
• "What kind of a career should I pursue in the university?"

Making the right plans for your future in the university can be difficult. Career Planning is a process that can help you decide what career path to follow and how to follow that path using your skills, competencies and abilities.

The Career Planning process consists of three phases:

• Self-assessment
  
  This phase can answer such questions as What do I like doing? What are my skills and abilities?
  
  Getting to know your competencies, values, interests, skills, developmental needs, etc. allows you to make appropriate career choices that match your abilities, competencies and preferences.

• Exploration of work choices
  
  How do I get from my present work situation to where I want to be in five years? What options are available for me to gain training and/or experience?
  
  With the Career Advisor’s assistance you can investigate possible work experience and/or training to attain your developmental goals. Alternative work possibilities could be job shadowing, job rotation, volunteer opportunities, and informational interviews. Your training needs may include language or computer skills, or may be technical training to master a specific skill. The Career Advisor’s guidance and coaching will enable you to select your career goals and match your values, abilities, competencies and skills to those goals.

• Identification of a possible career
  
  Decision-making on a career path and devising an action plan. I now know what direction I want my career to take, how do I implement my career choice?
  
  The last stage in Career Planning (although this may not be the final stage as you redefine your goals in the course of your career) is to develop the practical steps in order to reach your career goal. The Career Advisor is there to help you identify the action steps you will need to attain your career goals.

Career Development

Career Development invites you to review your work history and all the factors (psychological, sociological, economic) that influenced your career choices.

Besides looking at your work history, Career Development is also future-oriented. Knowing the different aspects of your personality, your competencies and the skills you possess provides you and the Career Advisor with a ‘roadmap,’ which indicates what career is best for you. It offers a method of setting necessary objectives and goals in order to attain your desired career path. Questions such as, Where am I going in the university? What will I be doing in the years to come? How can I become more competent in my role in the university? are questions for which you and the Career Advisor will try to find answers.

Career Development examines your present job situation and features of the job that will enable you to use your aptitudes: values, skills, competencies. Your concern may center on your present role in your job and how to improve your skills in fulfilling your role, with an eye on your future development in roles where your talents are most suited. A career plan is meant to set goals to develop the required skills that you need and will need in the future.

Your Career Development is linked to Concordia University’s future! The goal of Career Services is to create an improved approach to employee development by recognizing and responding to each individual’s need for a satisfying and rewarding career.