Why Professionals need to have an Effective Career Development Plan?

There is no shortcut route to success in your career. What we should bind with our brains is that career success only comes with hard work, talent, time management, and quality learning put into practice. So there arises a number of questions related to career development plan.

Do we have a proper career plan? Have we written down our both short and long-term goals, interests, preferences, strengths and weaknesses?

Do not mistake your career with the pointers you write each year for your annual performance review, on a general checklist stating the things you have planned to do for the next year.

Each industry comes with its own career path that many professionals fail to clearly understand before stepping in the field. Given the significance, it is my job to explain the basic reasons why professionals need to have an appropriate career plan if they are to taste success in the future.

The plan helps you move forward

In other words, an effective career development plan keeps the individual from getting stuck in the rut. Gone are the days when people expected to be promoted on the basis of their tenure. If you have been performing the same job duties over the past few years with no growth or new addition coming in your resume, then it’s obvious you’ll stay underpaid for the remaining of your career.

As the corporate world is getting increasingly competitive, it’s not wise to acquire the image of redundancy in your company. You may have been a loyal employee, but someone else with newer skills will easily replace you even in less salary. This is because you never had a career plan to offer you the required guidance, hence a slow and agonizing death of an incompetent career is soon to follow.

It is not uncommon to wander around your office watching many employees performing the same tasks they have hired for years ago, only ending up becoming stagnant. This is why a career development plan is relevant to help you move forward in practical life providing you the chance to explore new opportunities and job offers.

The plan assists you in countering your weaknesses

Each one of us honestly knows how well or bad we have been performing at work up till now. We do some things at the workplace that may not matter much for us, but others notice, for example, extended time spent on lunch or chatting with office friends, asking a colleague for a favor, etc. You may be able to get away with such activities for a short while, but the matters are only going to get worse for you over time.

Let’s accept the fact, nothing remains the same forever. You never know when management starts imposing strictness that could limit your extra activities greatly, or simply a bad boss is enough to keep you contained in your workstation, let alone big things such downsizing and terminations. This is where you’ll be considered as a ‘worthless’ asset for the company, given the past activities.

Summing it all up, you have some concrete weaknesses or gaps that you might be unaware of. And failing to realize and work on your weaknesses can have far greater consequences than you can imagine, while losing your current job might be the least of your worries. This is why a detailed career development plan is important to keep you on track. The plan enlists all your milestones and the eligibility, skills and strengths required to achieve each. While eliminating your current weaknesses is a clear indication that you are working as per your plan looking to climb the next step in your career ladder.

What is the takeaway?

A career development plan carries immense importance, especially for individuals stepping in the practical world for the first time. You can also see a number of industry experts and professional thesis help providers publishing content on regular basis related to career planning and development. Agreeably there are other reasons too that underline the importance of an effective career development plan, but going through the above basic ones should be enough for any student or professional to create a plan if they haven’t done until now.