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How to Road Map Career Success for Improving Purposeful Life? Grow Your Talents in Suitable Paths with Proven Strategies. 130 Tips and Ways to Make a Great Career!

Abstract:

There are certain career tips that every young person needs to know. This essence of knowledge helps them to fulfill career opportunities and lead to job satisfaction. 

Career guidance is a formal way for people to receive advice on their career at different stages. Along with this advice, this process often involves formal programs that help people both plan and execute any decisions they make in their career.

Similarly, a career strategy is any behavior, activity, or experience designed to help a person meet career goals. A career strategy represents a conscious choice by an individual as to the type of investment he or she is willing to make in attempting to reach career objectives.

How you may learn by participating in experiences (experiential learning)
  1. Volunteer to do work in your area of interest. ...
  2. "Job Shadow." Follow and observe a person as he or she works. ...
  3. Participate in internship or cooperative education programs through your school or college.
  4. Take on a part-time or temporary job in your area of interest.
Here are the top tips and tricks career success secrets on how to excel at work.
  • Take initiative.
  • Be your own evaluator.
  • Be ready to learn.
  • Anticipate needs.
  • Communicate well.
  • Set goals to achieve.
  • Show, don't tell.
  • Gain trust.

In general, Career advice for young people ( not in sequence) may be as follows, but remember that the initiative may be different from person to person, environment to environment, level to level etc

Ask questions

Get a mentor

Career ideas

Set SMART goals

Speak Up

Always be learning

Build productive daily habits

Celebrate your soft skills

Commit mistakes

Embrace failure

Embrace feedback

Get a job and work hard

Have realistic expectations of career growth

Learn from your mistakes

Learn when to say no

Out of your comfort zone

Skills

Take feedback constructively

Take risk in life

Understand your weaknesses

Work experience


Keywords 

Career advice, career management, career strategy, counseling, success factors, work, skills, communication 


Learning Outcomes

After undergoing this article you will be able to understand the following

1. What's exactly a career planning and management?

2. How to identify your career interests? What processes and skills are needed for evaluation?

3. How to set goals and target for a career as per interest?

3. How you can plan your career according to your targets?

4. What factors must be ensured in a career according to benchmark available in the choosen field of interest?

5. How to identify that you are are in right path of your career?

6. What are the advantages of early-stage career planning?

8. What are the advantages of mid-stage career planning and management?

9. How senior level career planning and management could be effective?

10. What are the limitations of career planning?

11. Some tips, tricks and strategies for career planning and management.

12. Conclusions

13. FAQs

References


1. What's exactly a career planning and management?

Career management is the combination of structured planning and the active management choice of one's own professional career. Career Management is an umbrella term that covers Career Planning & Career Development on an individual level or at an organizational level. 

So a career management covers

1. Career planning

2. Career development 

2. How to identify your career interests? What processes and skills are needed for evaluation?

Unveiling your ideal career path involves recognizing your broader interests. Begin by identifying your non-professional hobbies and how you spend your leisure time. Reflect upon your favorite subjects from your school days. Additionally, consider any internships or projects that evoked a sense of fulfillment.

The influencing factors play a major role in career planning and management.There are many things that may influence your career path or journey. 

These include:

1. Your interest 

What interests you, because we are often told to follow our dreams, turn a passion into a job, or do what interests us most.

The kind of lifestyle you want, because this influences what work is possible and desirable. There is growing understanding of the importance of a good work–life balance, but this is still harder to achieve in many areas of work than others. It is also more possible to work flexibly in some locations and jobs than in others.

2. Where you want to live. 

This may affect what jobs are available to you. Even with the rise of working from home, not all jobs can be done remotely.

3. What you want to earn. Obviously, not all types of work are paid the same—and you may find that you cannot afford to do the work that you wish. You may, for example, find that you cannot afford the training, or that the income from the work is simply not enough to sustain your preferred lifestyle

4. What's your career path

There are four types of career paths—knowledge-based, skill-based, entrepreneur-based, and freelance. Every kind of career path caters to a specific set of qualifications that help you perform your job. Knowledge-based career paths allow you to use the knowledge you acquired over time to do your job.

The process of identify right career

The following Top 7 Steps to Decide the Right Career Path are to be exercised for determining what exactly you want to do in your life
  • Begin by determining what you like to do. 
  • Carry out a SWOT analysis. 
  • Carry out a thorough market research. 
  • Choose the prospective fields and industry for work. 
  • Carry your skills with experience.
  • Get required trainings and education in the career of your choice. 
  • Be optimistic.

3. How to set goals and target for a career as per interest?

A career goal is a clear statement that defines the ultimate job you aspire to throughout the course of your career. Provided it is realistic, a clear career goal allows you to then set yourself an action plan, or personal development plan, to work towards to achieve your professional ambitions.

As it is said that discovering the goal leads to discover future.

So, You may Set your Career Goals with adopting S-M-A-R-T techniques.
  1. Specific. When setting goals, an individual shouldn't just focus on being successful. ...
  2. Measurable. As one sets his or her career goals, they should ensure that they also come up with a way to measure their outcome. ...
  3. Avoid negativity. 
  4. Realistic.
  5. Tie actions to each goal.

Now how to set the targets

Follow these steps

  1. Think about the results you want to see. Before making a goal, take a closer look at what you're trying to achieve and ask yourself the following questions: ...
  2. Create SMART goals.
  3. Write your goals down.
  4. Create an action plan.
  5. Create a timeline.
  6. Take action.
  7. Re-evaluate and assess your progress.

3. How you can plan your career according to your targets?

Start with your long-term goal and work backward. If you set a target to become a CTO in 10 years, think about what hard and soft skills you need to succeed in that role, what experience you must have and what kind of company you want to lead. Then identify where you need to be in five years to reach your goal.

Plan for Career Planning 
  1. Step 1: Explore Career Options. ...
  2. Step 2: Conduct Field Research. ...
  3. Step 3: Determine Your Job Target. ...
  4. Step 4: Build Your Credentials and Resume. ...
  5. Step 5: Prepare for Your Job Search. ...
  6. Step 6: Launch Your Job Search.

4. What factors must be ensured in a career according to benchmark available in the choosen field of interest?

Aligning your career with your interests presents several benefits, including the following:

  • Job satisfaction: When you align your career with your interests, you essentially increase your job satisfaction. In other words, you'll find more enjoyment in coming to work each day and feel happier about doing your work-related duties.

  • Strategic career decision: Aligning your career with your interests also means you won't feel like you've wasted your time following the wrong career path. When you take your interests into consideration, you'll have likely made a wise choice regarding your profession.

  • Career success: Aligning your career with your interests also increases your chances of achieving success in your career. Knowing you're doing something you not only enjoy but that you're actually good at can help you stay motivated and increase your productivity in the workplace.

  • Motivation: When you feel like you're doing a job you're good at, you may put more effort into developing your skills. In addition, you'll find more motivation to achieve your career goals.

  • Personal identity: On a personal level, knowing your career interests can help you become more self-aware and may help you determine your values, strengths and where your motivation lies. Knowing this information can help you act on it more often in your chosen profession.

5. How to identify that you are are in right path of your career?

When choosing the perfect career, there are a lot of factors that you should consider, such as your interests, values, personality traits, competencies, skills, salary desires, the job's duties and responsibilities, and job demands.

you are living from your zone of genius and are on the career path that's right for you.
  1. You've quieted the noise. 
  2. You're doing what excites you the most. 
  3. You're a master at what you do. 
  4. You don't settle for mediocrity. 
  5. You don't work for your schedule, it works for you.

6. What are the advantages of early-stage career planning?

The advantages of early-stage career planning brings
Career contentment
Consider your interests
Develop competencies
Explore your career options
Increased productivity
Revise career goals
Categorize your career planning and development
Develop interests and skills
Help facilitate networking across departments
Helps develop more confidence
Motivation
Prepare CV
Research on careers
Self assessment
Self-awareness

8. What are the advantages of mid-stage career planning and management?

The advantages of mid-stage career planning brings
Career contentment
Better use of employee skills
Career satisfaction
Employee interest
Increases employee motivation
Climate setting for career development
Decide career goals
Explore your career options
Implement your strategy
Improving performance
Reduces turnover

9. How senior level career planning and management could be effective?

Occupational management programmes help in identifying employee skills and interests. The main objective of these programmes is to discover and improve employees' skill sets to link them to corporate objectives.

Do the following 

  1. Self-evaluation 
  2. Research your dream job 
  3. Determine the basic steps
  4. Identify organizations that align with your values
  5. Look at job openings on the ground level 
  6. Take the right next step 
  7. Tell everyone you know 

The relationships and experiences we have in our workplaces are more important than nearly any other. To a large extent, your career determines your happiness. It’s worth taking the time to do a little career planning and set a course for a successful, happy life.

10. What are the limitations of career planning?

The Limitations of Career Planning are
  • Time Factor.
  • Unsuitable for Large Workforce.
  • Lack of Objectivity.
  • External interventions.
  • Lack of Knowledge and Awareness.
  • Lack of Flexibility.
  • Difficulty in Measuring Career Success.

11. Some tips, tricks and strategies for career planning and management.

130 tips could go a long way in your career.

Without asking, parents, family, neighbors and everyone else will offer young adults their unsolicited opinions and advice about their job search and career. They mean well. Unfortunately, although their intentions are honorable, their guidance is sometimes questionable. 

So for your interest this to make you understand that there are some constraints takes on what people starting their careers should do. Be prepared; your parents and relatives may disagree.

  1. Always improve your skills, even if you have the best skill in your team.
  2. Be the change agent, leaders bring in change, managers just maintain status-quo. Be a leader, not manager.
  3. Look out for inefficiencies in yourself, know your weaknesses and work to remove them or work around them.
  4. Be helpful to  the management and your colleagues.
  5. Maintain a daily to-do list. The list makes achieving targets easier.
  6. Help the company to reduce costs by innovation. 
  7. Re-engineer processes to cut cost.
  8. Find more clients for the company, bring in more business if you’re in a customer facing job.
  9. Be prepared and happy at work place.
  10. Present any good and efficient ideas to your company
  11. Know your strengths and weaknesses, and improve on your strengths
  12. Prioritize tasks. Learn to identify important, urgent, not-so-important and not-so urgent tasks. Prioritize your work accordingly.
  13. Be proactive when it comes to new ideas and technologies
  14. Outsource services that are not regularly needed, e.g. accounts in a law firm
  15. Run your responsibilities as if you own the business
  16. Delegate some of your responsibilities and concentrate on other important things
  17. Have work goals. Have a list (realistic one) of things that must be achieved at the end of each day. They could be one or two, but certainly not more than ten.
  18. Seek out ways and means of improving on your areas of weaknesses
  19. Support your employer causes, giving and charities. 
  20. Organize and participate in charitable events.
  21. Take constructive criticism and figure out how to work around them
  22. Help your boss grow, you’ll grow in turn. learn what’s important for him/her organize your strategy accordingly.
  23. When your boss is stuck, learn to come out and move. 
  24. Learn the tricks of internal job switch for inorganic growth.
  25. Learn more about the business, its competitors,  its core values etc
  26. Be a problem solver at work, rather than pointing fingers and looking back. 
  27. Even if it’s not your fault try to reach a solution that can fix the issue.
  28. Get involved, don’t  play too safe, ask questions, question the status-quo.
  29. Know people-broaden your contacts, improve your relationships by participation in decision-making. 
  30. Building relationship is key to get things done. Especially important for people in a large organization.
  31. Discuss your short-term and long-term goals with your boss (career goals) and ask for their support
  32. Set a realistic bar for yourself…not too high as to leave you discouraged and not too low as you leave you unmotivated
  33. Work smart; not hard. well, sometime hard work is needed
  34. During project launches I work more than 12 hours a day.
  35. Be a team performer – always work for the benefit of the team, not bad to seek for personal glory, but not at the cost of others.
  36. Never take things personally, it’s just a business you are in.
  37. Watch your tongue, choose your words whenever you write emails and reports etc
  38. Stay busy…lazing around during work hours presents a bad image of you.
  39. Be sure of how your boss reacts to your actions…or lack of actions.
  40. Every bad situation is an opportunity to grow, so see it as such and don’t get discouraged
  41. You should be  your employer’s ally and help put out fires when they come up
  42. Keep in mind that  you are setting a standard for your subordinates, so let them have something good to emulate
  43. Be visible-for the right reasons
  44. Look the part when you are in the office…invest in your dressing and looks.
  45. Respect and courtesy is a must, whether you are dealing with junior employees or clients who are hard to be around.
  46. Learn to say *No". it is essential to effectively manage tasks at hand.
  47. Always know how to pick your battles, get into one you are sure you can win…but don’t do it just for the sake of it. 
  48. Stand up for what is fair and just
  49. Keep in mind that not everyone thinks “its just business”-some take it personally
  50. You are representing your employer wherever you go. 
  51. Ensure you look the part and behave accordingly
  52. Find out ways of doing more with less effort, be efficient!
  53. Making yourself an important asset to the company increases your leverage
  54. Be the person who makes things happen,  build contacts, connect more.
  55. Being in charge of other people means your attitude also affects them. 
  56. High moral standards is a must
  57. Have fun at work, being too uptight can work against you
  58. When you are a leader make the work place fun and enjoying for your team. productivity will increase.
  59. Work on branding yourself and representing values you believe in.
  60. Always have a positive attitude, when you lose you can always say you will live to fight another day.
  61. Always be on the lookout for opportunities that present themselves wherever you are working and in the field.
  62. Don’t take unnecessary risks that may lose the company a lot-any risk should be well calculated and justified
  63. Don’t be afraid to take up opportunities that will mean leaving your employment; remember, it’s just business
  64. Having a lot of achievements means you will have job security, and your chances of getting better paying jobs are good.
  65. Use your creativity and talents on the job, great people don’t do different things, they do things differently.
  66. Set out to improve the competition in the company.
  67. Pay your taxes on time and accurately, don’t put a blemish on your name.
  68. Avoid job-hopping too frequently.
  69. Ensure you accumulate enough exposure in a single job before moving
  70. Be determined to push beyond your personal limits
  71. Strive to excel at every opportunity that comes to you
  72. Accept recognition accordingly
  73. Do not take shortcuts, acquire knowledge and do the things in normal way.
  74. Always upgrade your skills and knowledge
  75. Be approachable even to your juniors.
  76. Improve your communication skills, learn to speak fluently, if possible join your local toast master and improve your speaking skills.
  77. Mutual respect for fellow employees is important
  78. Tolerance for others is key to success
  79. Resourcefulness-make every chance work for you
  80. Be Practical-take jobs that will challenge you, forget about those that will not change anything
  81. Have faith and believe in yourself and your team.
  82. Motive matters more than money.
  83. Be enthusiastic about your job, no matter how mundane it is
  84. Put you best in your work, even if you fail you will learn something.
  85. Attitude matters a lot more than the kind of job you are doing
  86. You will be building the careers of your juniors as well, make sure you are a good example
  87. Your career is a chance to build your character
  88. Help management in their recruitment process, bring in best candidates for the company, with your company or division, you will also grow.
  89. Give a word of affirmation to your juniors
  90. Excel at everything you do.
  91. Take pride in your work and your family. 
  92. Feel good about your job
  93. Don’t stop at average, your work should be high quality
  94. Always strive to learn more, especially from experiences of other people
  95. Having a mentor will get you on the right path to what you want to achieve, choosing the right mentor is the key to  the speed of your growth. 
  96. Contact people from top most level in your search for a mentor.
  97. Do not use employer resources like internet, computer for personal business. Most employer keep track of it, even though they don’t let you know.
  98. During meeting with senior management, be visible let them notice you. Ask question, give opinions.
  99. Do not take unnecessary risk when you are new to the job. Play safe for few months, learn first.
  100. Generally when top executives present company developments and plans, they answer general questions at the end, use this chance and ask question. You will be remembered by many.
  101. Spend money on self improvement.
  102. Dress right and smell good and look smart. No matter what others say i firmly believe at certain point in the ladder look does matter.
  103. Know that your personal and professional self are not different
  104. Don’t take a risk that you are not sure of
  105. Maintain a good hygiene and a clean desk, 
  106. Write effective emails that can set you aside from others.
  107. Always stand up for your ideas
  108. Don’t keep up appearances, be who you are
  109. Always strive to build a network
  110. Work as if you own the business, you’ll get the much-needed drive.
  111. Always give constructive criticism, don’t unnecessarily criticize co-workers to gain advantage.
  112. Separate work from non-work issues, leave the household problems behind. 
  113. Learn to manage stress
  114. Take training, often free of cost offered by employers. Don’t missing a learning opportunity if the training can help you doing your job better. 
  115. You can also take advantage of tuition reimbursement policy if you have to earn professional degrees.
  116. Every young person should concentrate on strength and understand their weaknesses. 
  117. No one excels in everything but at the same time there must be something one is good at. So one must focus on that aspect and develop it further. 
  118. Similarly, there are things that one is not great at but there is no reason to feel discouraged.
  119. It is always safe to have an alternative career option. 
  120. Networking plays a very important role by advancing one’s career regardless of profession or industry. 
  121. Pursuing a new course or going across team verticals help a candidate to establish contacts with a number of renowned companies through campus interviews. 
  122. In addition, it also helps to create contacts with students who specialize in other areas which may help them in the long run.
  123. Though it is not applicable in every situation but one should volunteer if they get a chance to lead a project. 
  124. Supervising a project helps in the professional and personal growth of young professionals. This enhances management and leadership skills.
  125. No matter in whichever field one is working, every young person needs to stay updated about the latest trends in the relevant industry they are working and also stay current on technology. 
  126. Technology is a rapidly evolving field and it is important for everyone to keep up with current developments.
  127. An important career advice for youngsters is that they should come out of their comfort zone and volunteer to work beyond that by opting for a new field. 
  128. This will not only help them to sharpen their skills but keep their names in the good books of the employer.
  129. Hopefully, every young person would be benefited from these career advices. 
  130. Joining the top institutes will further accelerate their growth and help them to achieve their targets.
12. Conclusions

It is important to come up with your career planning as it gives you the much needed direction and makes it clear there where you see yourself in future. It makes you aware of your strength and weaknesses and the skills and knowledge that are required to achieve your goals in future. Majority of us are not sure what we want from life and so it in very important to plan out things. Thus career planning is what gives your career and in some way your life, true meaning and purpose.

Career planning is a subset of career management. Career planning applies the concepts of Strategic planning and Marketing to taking charge of one's professional future. Career is an ongoing process and so it needs to be assessed on continuous basis. This process of re-assessing individual learning and development over a period of time is called Career Planning. 

13. FAQs
Q. What is Career Vision in an institution?

Ans : Career Vision means career planning  that helps individuals reach their full potential by gaining the self-knowledge necessary to make satisfying career and educational choices. 

References 

Barker, J.A. 1985. Discovering the Future: The Business of Paradigms, 1st ed. St. Paul, MN: ILI Press.

Boverie, P.E., and M.S. Kroth. 2001. Transforming Work: The Five Keys to Achieving Trust, Commitment, and Passion in the Workplace. Cambridge, MA: Perseus.

Boyer, G.B. 1999. Turning Points in the Development of Male Servant Leaders. Proquest Information and Learning, 9918504.

Brady, Chris, and Orrin Woodward. 2005. Launching a Leadership Revolution: Mastering the Five Levels of Influence. New York: Business Plus.

Brookfield, S., and S. Preskill. 1999. Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools ...

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