Three career planning examples

Career planning is helpful for anyone in the workforce. Whether you recently graduated and are starting your career, or you've been working for years and want to pursue new interests or advance to better opportunities, a career plan can identify the steps you need to take. A career development plan provides a map of the long- and short-term objectives and breaks these down further into actionable tasks. While a career plan helps you stay on track when you're feeling unmotivated, it also provides a tool to measure your growth and success.

Other benefits of creating a career plan include:

• discovering new interests

• setting and achieving your goals

• maintaining a healthy work-life balance

• improving your skills

• gaining a better understanding of the job market

• acknowledging your own potential

• enhancing your confidence in your career choice

Win an award in your industry

If you're motivated by public recognition, a career plan to work towards is winning a prestigious award in your industry. This is often a long-term commitment and can require countless hours of work and dedication to your career. You want to first identify the awards available in your industry. You can learn this information by researching online, reading industry publications, attending conferences, and connecting with other professionals in your network.

Once you've learned about the possible awards, you also need to understand the criteria for nomination or winning. There are typically strict rules and protocols surrounding award nominations and to be eligible, you want to know precisely what the regulations are to be considered. For example, there may be certain sales quotas to meet or a length of employment before being eligible. Once you know the rules, you can create short-term goals to work towards the award.