Creative Job Search Series: A Career Planning Overview
- 6 minutes ago
- 4 min read
As you apply and prepare for an interview for your next better paying job, it’s probably giving you some ideas about future career plans. In the same way that concrete action helps you figure something out in a way that simply thinking about it can’t do, getting and starting a job will give you ideas for planning a career in a way that thinking about career planning without action cannot. Along with that, this post overviews Chapter 1 of the CareerForce Creative Job Search guide, which has good information to know if you are currently unemployed and looking for work or ever end up losing a job for any reason. The chapter also includes additional career planning links and good questions to ask yourself about what type of work you want.
- Use your next, better paying a job to help you figure out longer-term career plans
- Good information to prepare you if you ever are put in a job loss situation
- Steps to take for either career planning or reemployment
Use your next, better paying a job to help you figure out longer-term career plans
If you’ve been taking action as recommended in the ALRS posts so far, you’ve created a complete professional portfolio (your resume, cover letter, and job application) and you’ve already applied for at least one job. You’ve completed assessments to get at least a basic idea of what you are good at, what you like to do, and what jobs are available that at least somewhat fit what you have to offer. While you continue applying to jobs and await invitations to interviews, keep reading one ALRS post per day to make the most of your waiting time; the posts will guide you through additional CareerForce resources and more for career planning beyond getting your next job.
There are two advantages to starting a job and then making or updating further career plans: first, starting a better paying job gives you more financial breathing room right away, and second, the experience you gain from the job will help you see things about work and what you might want from a career that you can’t see when you’re not working. Feel free to start drafting a career plan to document any ideas you have now, but keep it flexible and update your plans as your work experience helps you better understand what you really want for your career. Your actions on the job will help you figure out over time what you truly are best at and like the most, rather than just what you think you are best at and like the most. It’s common for people to think for a long time that they really want to do something, then they finally try it and decide that it’s not everything they thought it would be.
Good information to prepare you if you ever are put in a job loss situation
These days, it’s very common for people to lose their job at least once in their career, even if they are high performers at work. Don’t feel bad if this happens to you. Instead, be prepared; today’s chapter of the CareerForce guide provides some useful information to help you manage financial and insurance needs, self-care, and steps you can take when you’re ready to search for new employment. Preparing for this possibility ahead of time can reduce your anxiety at work and give you peace of mind in a time when job security can’t be taken for granted.
While not mentioned in the guide, here is another page from CareerForce providing more job loss information: Job Loss Resources | CareerForce.
And here is a page from the U.S. Department of Labor with more: Audience: Job Seekers and Unemployed Workers | U.S. Department of Labor.
You don’t have to go through these sources right now if you don’t need them, but take a brief look and make sure you bookmark these pages in a place that you’ll find them if you need them later.
Steps to take for either career planning or reemployment
Whether you’re just about to start your next job or want to be prepared if faced with job loss, there are some excellent resources the CareerForce guide mentions, as well as some thoughtful questions to ask yourself on page 5. Along with using experience you gain in your next job to flesh out plans for your professional future, look for more assessments to get a deeper sense of what you are good at, like to do, and how that fits in with growth forecasts for jobs you think you want to advance into over the next several years.
For this post, just read the first chapter of the CareerForce guide. Additional posts coming soon will help you navigate three other resources worth exploring, but don’t overload yourself by trying to go through them all today:
Conclusion
This series of posts will summarize one chapter of the CareerForce Creative Job Search guide each day so that you cover it in manageable chunks. Some information in the guide will be new, and some will be information you’re already familiar with, but that is still good to review or reinforce. Be aware of tips and good practices for getting through a job loss situation, in case you’re ever faced with that in the future or dealing with it currently. And while you continue to plan your career based on experience gained at work, keep exploring career resources and completing assessments both to deepen your knowledge of yourself and what options are out there for you to pursue, as they interest you.
Read through Chapter 1 of the CareerForce Creative Job Search guide today!
The next step on the roadmap: Coming soon - stay tuned!
Accelearnate is not officially associated with CareerForce, but cites the website often as an excellent resource for job seeking and career planning. Accelearnate aims to make job and career content from CareerForce and other sites easier for job seekers to effectively act on by providing curated step-by-step guidance for getting a better paying job and launching a successful career.