Career Planning - Part 2

Are You in the Right Career?

To help determine whether you are in the right career; ask yourself 

some of the following questions:

�� Do you enjoy going to work most days?

�� Do you enjoy what you do on the job?

�� Are you motivated to seek advancement in your career?

�� Are you willing to put in the extra effort to succeed in your career?

�� Are you in a stable or growing profession?

�� Do the requirements of your career match your lifestyle?

�� Are you satisfied with the time commitment your career requires?

�� Where do you see your career taking you in the next three to five years?

If you answered “Yes” to many of these questions, you are probably in the right career.

Who should be doing Career planning and why ?

·         High School Students, to join the college that meets their interests and the requirements of the market of labor

·         Undergraduates, to join the specialization that better meets them

·         Fresh Graduates, to avoid going in circles, and wasting a lot of time trying each job then getting back to the right job, sometimes those people get too lost that they NEVER know or work in their Right Job

·         Experienced people

The reasons why we mentioned experienced people is Because, once you get your right job, you reach the end of the road, or stop planning for your careers. On the contrary, Career planning is in its midway when you are on your Right job, because Only then, you plan for the next Job in your Career Path

Example: If you discovered that your dream job is to work as an HR Specialist, and you actually worked like that, you should plan for the next steps ahead, you will be HR Supervisor, which requires some skills and certificates or whatsoever, and then to be a HR Manager you need another bulk of skills and requirements to reach that position.

So, Career Planning is all about your Dream Job, as we always dream of the best thing there is

10 False Beliefs about Career Planning :

1)      Choosing a career is simple

a.       Choosing the right career is never simple, you have  to spend a lot of time exploring yourself, skills, and interests, and on the other side, exploring industries, occupations, market trends, Labor market requirements ( Again, the longer time you spend in planning for your career, the more successful your career will be )

2)      A career counselor can tell me what career to pick

a.       Career Planning is the only thing that requires you and only YOU. To decide what career you would like to be , according to your hobbies, interests

3)      I can’t make a living from a hobby

a.       Lots of people are working and earning money  from the hobbies, for example ( Football players, Photographers, Athletes 

4)      I should choose a career from a “Best Careers” List

a.       If there’s a Best Career list, ( like when someone tells you CPAs, or CMAs, or Petroleum Engineers, are the most highly paid jobs in the market) that doesn’t mean that you will be successful in that career. You can choose another career that you like, in which there are a lot of competitors, and you can get yourself distinguished

5)      Making a lot of money will make me happy

a.       Money never makes people happy. I will tell you why, Imagine that you have some fancy job, that pays you 5000 a month as a junior, but you have no medical, social , or any kind of insurance, or you work in an intolerant environment, or where the company has no security, like you are signing a temporary contract

b.      So, jobs are not always about getting the higher amount of money, there are many other factors to consider when comparing between jobs, like environment, company name, experience, career path .. etc.

6)      Once I choose a career I will be stuck in it forever

a.          Some people actually think that if they worked as ex. Customer Service , that they will always be working in CS, the point here, is there are movements in the organizations whether vertical to up, as promotions, or horizontal, to move in the same level but in different department, in the same organization

7)      If I changed my career, my skills will go wasted

a.       We don’t lose skills when we change careers, simply because some skills are essential for all careers, like communication skills, computer skills, so, If any of us is working as Customer Service, or Sales, and then shifted to work as HR or any administrative work, they will use most of the skills they used to have, like negotiation skills, and leadership skills, or any other skills

8)      If my best friend, cousin, sister, brother, or neighbor, is happy in a particular field, this means I will be happy too

a.       People are different in every aspect. And Careers is not an exception. I may prefer security at work as the number 1 priority, someone else maybe working in the same position of mine, may prefer Money , someone may never accept an offer if it doesn’t support creativity

9)      All I have to do is to pick an occupation, and everything will take place after that

a.       Career planning is a process that should be up-front in careers, meaning we should first plan for our career then join the career; Because if you picked up a career and didn’t work for it, you will never get it

b.      Ex. If someone wanted to work as Marketing Specialist, and knew this was the right track for him, and he did absolutely nothing about it ( didn’t take a Diploma in Marketing, or anything related to this job ) surely he will never get the position

10)  There's very little I can do to learn about an occupation without actually working in it

a.       No one learns everything about a job without really working in it, and if you think you know every aspect of your job, you should reconsider, as we keep learning from our mistakes for all of our lives, that includes EVERYONE in the organization and everywhere, so, to learn about an occupation you have to do lots of efforts, surveys, information meetings, researches and maybe volunteer or have a training in that field to be able to judge if this career fits you or not

To be continued ...