Whether you’re just starting out on your professional journey or looking for a change, career counselling can benefit your cause. Whichever category you fall into, what can really help is creating a career action plan, as it sets out a structure for your professional progress.
If that sounds rather complicated, don’t worry, as by reading on, we’ll be looking at five basic steps you can use to put yours together, as well as how short courses online from OCA can fill in any skill gaps that might be holding you back. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Step 1 - What Is The Importance Of Planning Your Career?
The first and perhaps most important part of your career action plan is knowing why you're putting it together. Well, the simple answer to that question is that it’s your chance to focus your ideas on a followable series of steps you can take to realise your professional objectives.
It also allows you to put a realistic timescale to things and take account of the fact that your personal situation can change.
Step 2 - Figure Out What Direction You Actually Want To Take
The answer to this question will vary from person to person, as each individual will have their own circumstances and aspirations. During this step, you should evaluate where you are now and what career counselling measures need to be taken to take you where you want to go.
Even if you already have a clear idea of what you're aiming for, it still helps to consider new ideas. It all centres around what's important to you.
Step 3 - What Steps Can I Take To Improve My Career?
As Tafe's courses on the subject show us, the next step in creating your career action plan is to decide precisely how you're going to achieve your goals. This can be broken down into specific tasks with the broad objective of getting the job you're dreaming of.
It also helps to use SMART targets, which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound, as they provide structure with regards to the pace and monitoring of your progress.
Step 4 - It’s Time To Take Action In Your Career!
The next part of your self-focused career counselling action plan is to put all of your ideas into action. Just remember that not everything will go as planned, but it’s all part of the process. As you learn more, you can adjust your goals and adapt your plans if necessary. This is why your goals need to be realistic, as you’ll need to actually carry them out!
Also, by creating your career to-do list, complete with reminders, you’ll not only stay on track but also get some motivation from ticking each task off as they're completed.
Step 5 - Review How Things Are Going In Your Career
Your action plan represents a long-term strategy, so it will need to be monitored and reviewed over time. This should be carried out on a periodic basis, as people’s lives tend to change, as do aspirations, but it’s entirely up to you how often you review things.
You shouldn’t necessarily see things that don’t go well as a problem either, rather it’s just a learning process during which you’re identifying the career change that works for you. It’s simply a matter of refining your plan accordingly.
Boost Your Career Aspirations With Short Courses Online
So, as we can see, your action plan is a great place to start when deciding how to further your career, as is professional training - which is something we can absolutely help you with OCA. Our short online courses are CPD-approved (making you more employable), created in collaboration with industry experts and cover more than 20 different industries.
To find out more about how our modular, video-based courses are not only mentally stimulating but also easy to fit around your current obligations, simply visit us today at www.onlinecoursesaustralia.edu.au. There you’ll discover details of our easy payment options that make our learning even more affordable.
If you’d like to speak with us about this or anything else, just give us a call on 1300 611 404, and we’ll be more than happy to help.
