69953887-LifeHacker-Com-How-to-Build-a-Personal-Career-Plan-and Plot a-Course Out of Your Dead-End Job

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How to Build a Personal BY ALAN HENRY OCT 21, 2011 8:00 AM

Career Plan and Plot a Share 25,271 12 EMAIL
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End Job
We've all heard it before: "Y ou're lucky to
have any job." But just because you have
one doesn't mean you have to just suck it up FACEBOOK TWITTER NEWSLETTER
if it sucks, or it's not the career you want.
open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com

if it sucks, or it's not the career you want.
The problem may be that you're looking at
your position as "just a job" and you have no
idea what kind of career you want. It doesn't
have to be this way.

I know a lot of people who hate their jobs,
but when asked what they'd rather do, they're already very close to doing what they're
passionate about—they just needed to stop and figure out how to get there. Here's how you can
take a good, hard look at yourself, figure out what you really want to do, and work this into a
personal career plan that will help you get where you want to go, personally and professionally.

Photo remixed from originals by Ava Verino and Michael Mandiberg.

Take Stock: Evaluate Yourself
Write Down What You Do: The first
thing to do if you're going to pull yourself out
of a careerrelated funk is to take stock of
where you are professionally. Y our job title
and resume only say so much about what
you do, so spend a few days taking good
notes of what you actually do. Start with the
core responsibilities of your position (things
you would put on your resume), then write down everything else you spend time doing at work,
even if it's tangential to your actual "job." Photo by Bill Sodeman.

A good way to get in the habit of doing this is to keep a work diary of your successes, failures,
and activities. It's also a good opportunity to get in the habit of doing a GTDstyle weekly
review, where you take time each week to take stock of what you've accomplished and prepare
for the next week. When you're done, sort the list into things you absolutely hate doing, things
you don't mind doing and things that you love and wish you could do more of.

Write Down What You Want To Do:

Once the list is sorted, it's time to focus on
the things you'd like to do more of. Build on
those items and write down what you wish
you could do every day. Don't be afraid to get
farfetched; if you wish you could get paid to
read blogs all day, jot that down. Some
people call it "wasting time on Reddit," but
the right employer may call it research.
Photo by sunshinecity.

Now, start thinking longterm. Ask yourself,
"Will I want to keep doing these things in a
year? What about two, or five?" Don't be
discouraged if you're not sure. It's impossible
to know what the future you will want, but
try to write down some general thoughts.
Ask yourself these questions:

What am I best at doing, both personally and professionally? What am I terrible at?

Do I want to stay in this job? Or this field?

If I want to change jobs, do I want to be promoted into a similar, more senior role?

If I want to change jobs, would I rather manage people, or would I prefer to continue doing
it all myself?

If I want to change industries, which field am I interested in?
What is it about that industry that excites me? Has it always interested me?

What am I doing already that will serve me well in that field?

What type of company would I like to work for? What about that company is most
important to me?
Would I prefer to work for myself, or become a freelancer, knowing that working for

yourself isn't always rainbows and unicorns?

Looking at the list of things I love doing, what kind of job uses those skills? Who does those
things every day?

Review Your Answers: The point of these questions is to help you evaluate your goals. They
help you determine what types of jobs involve the tasks you said you enjoy doing. Pretend you
land the perfect job. Now think about where you'd like to go from there. Would you like to keep
doing it on a more advanced level? Perhaps you'd like to manage people who do what you do
now? When you start thinking about those next steps—without the stress of the whole "where do
you see yourself in one/five/ten years" kind of questions (which are largely useless anyway)—
you'll find yourself thinking in terms of the career you want, not just your "dream job."

Once you've finished writing all of this down, you should have a pretty good selfevaluation.
This is valuable in itself, and can help you ground yourself in your current job or negotiate with
your boss on those tasks that you really hate and how you can do more of what you enjoy (and
are strongly suited to.) Now you're ready for the next step: actually building your plan.

Take Notes: Build Your Career Plan
Research the Jobs You'd Like To Do: Now that you know what you'd like to do, it's time to
find jobs that let you do it. Here's how:

Visit Your Local Library or Career
Center: Sometimes the best way to find
a job that matches up with your skills
and desires is to ask a more experienced
person. A chat with a reference librarian
or specialist at a career center will put
you on the right track towards career
guides and resources that can help you
translate your dreams into a job title you
can aim for. Photo by CUS Visual


Media.
Chat with Your HR Rep: If your company has an HR rep, they're the person you should
go to if you want to learn more about what careers are available in your company.
Obviously your company's HR rep has a vested interest in making sure you're successful in
your current job (we hope!) and that you stay at your current company, so if you like your
company and just dislike your job, they may be able to help.
Scour Job Search Sites: Most people are used to searching job sites for job titles. Try
searching for a function or task that you enjoy instead. If you like spending all day on
Twitter or Facebook, search for "Twitter" or "Facebook," or better yet, search for "social
networks" or "social media." Most job search engines will match your keywords with job
responsibilities as well as required skills in job listings.

Take a Career Assessment Test: The CareerPath test (from the folks behind
CareerBuilder) is a good one that blends elements of a personality test with a career
assessment test. The results will help you understand what kinds of jobs and careers make
heavy use of the passions and skills you have. Y ou can find more tests at About.com.

Talk To People About Their
Careers: Sometimes word of mouth is
the best way to find out how to translate
your passions into a job you'll love, as
we've previously discussed. Ask your
friends and family, even your colleagues
about their previous jobs. Highlight the
things that you enjoy and ask them if
they've ever heard of a job that does
those things. Y ou'll be surprised: often
the sideresponsibilities you like at your
current job are primary responsibilities
at another job. Photo by NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center.


For example, one of my best friends is saddled with sending dull, dry sales emails for the
company she works for. It's a long and difficult process, and she says she would like it more
if she had better tools to do it. However, she really loves seeing the number of people who
open those emails, who gets which flavor of message based on their purchase history, and
what they click on when they open them. To her, it's just the crap her boss doesn't feel like
doing, so she gets to do it. At my old company it's called Campaign Analysis, and there are
tools that would make her life easier (not to mention a paycheck she'd probably like as
well.) When I explained this to her, she was surprised. Because she had a clear picture of
the things she liked and disliked about her job, it was easy to point out that there are jobs
out there that could give her an opportunity to do what she enjoys every day.

Research Where Those Jobs Lead: Once you have an idea what types of jobs you'd like to
have (even if it means you've rediscovered how much you enjoy your current job), start
thinking in terms of a longterm career. Do some research on where those jobs usually lead. A
good place to start is the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the US Department of Labor's
Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the My Skills, My Future career search site.

If you're interested in systems
administration, think about what your life
would be like after you get the job. After a
few years, would you like to manage other
administrators, or would you be happier
taking on increasingly technical and
challenging projects? In most technical roles,
it's one or the other. Which would you prefer
if you do land that job, and what happens to
other people who get it? Photo by East
Capital.

Y ou'll also want to find out whether the
career you want requires education, degrees,

or certifications to advance. Some
organizations will only promote if you show
you're advancing your skills as well as
performing well on the job, and others will
only consider you for promotions if you go out and get a relevant degree, or take classes relevant
to your job. Continuing education isn't a bad thing, but you don't want to reach for a career you
want only to find that you're stuck after taking the first step.

For example, when I was a Project Manager, eventually I learned that a promotion wouldn't be
forthcoming until I earned my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. When I
started looking at other companies, I learned that having one makes you more marketable. So I
went out and got it to move my career to the next level—I had the time to study and the money
to put into the test. Not everyone has that, but I certainly wish I had known it would be
necessary before I started out as a PM.

By the time you finish this research, you should have an idea of where the careers you're
interested in will take you, and whether you like those possible paths or not. Of course, you can't
predict everything: you may discover a love of management when you think you're going to be
an engineer forever, or invent a new application while doing software development that leads
you to start a new company. The important thing is to think past the job offer you'll hopefully
get, be flexible, and start visualizing the career you'd like to have.

Take Action: Make Your Move
By now, you should have your self
evaluation finished, and a few ideal career
paths all mapped out. Congratulations: you
have a personalized career plan, based on
your interests and your skills. Now all that's
left is the hard part: deciding which direction
you'd like to take. Y our career plan shouldn't
be a dead document. Keep researching jobs


that match up with your goals, and keep
talking to people about what opportunities
they have in their organizations for people who do what you'd rather do all day. Photo by Quinn
Dombrowski.

Once you decide on a direction, you'll have to determine whether or not the first step is
something that requires education, a completely new job, or something you can start with your
current gig. Y ou may be getting valuable experience now that can lead you to the career you
love, given time. Alternatively, it may be time to jump ship and work to the career you want to
have, even if it feels like you have no relevant experience.

Regardless of what you choose to do, even if it's nothing for now, there's tremendous value in
taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses and where you are professionally. Y ou can use
that information to make your current job more bearable just as easily as you can use it to find a
new direction. Spending a little time making a map of how you want your career to evolve can
save you weeks or even years of toiling away in a job or career that brings you no joy.

Are you happy with your career path or are you ready for a change? How are you planning for
that change, or if you've made the leap, how did you do it? Share your experiences in the
comments.

Y ou can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow
him on Twitter or Google+.

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DISCUSSION THREADS FEATURED ALL START A NEW THREAD

circusboy Fri 21 Oct 2011 8:22 AM

I cannot recommend enough the book What Color is Your Parachute if you are interested in the
self discovery process of your career path. Dick Bolles has been refining it for 40 years, and
although it's a lot of work (exercises that define your capabilities and what you enjoy doing), the
payoff is enlightening. [amzn.to]
jonny 6 pak approv ed this com m ent

jonny6pak @circusboy

Lifehacker should do a review of this bookit's a good one.

horizonguy @circusboy

yup, that one's in my girlfriends bookcase, along with a stock of other self help books...she never
found out her color but gave it a shot. She did make a move out of a terrible commute to NY C
for a job that paid big bucks. Now we're scraping by as she landed a job in her new career that
pays less than half of what she was making, and the financial stress is about the same as the
relationship stress before she made the move. I wanted to sell the parachute book at a recent
yard sale.

QADude @circusboy

I've bought a couple of editions of that book. Always excellent advice and I'll give the author a
lot of credit he keeps updating it with relevant material.

Everyone should have this book.


A bou t Help For u m s Jobs Leg a l Pr iv a cy Per m ission s A dv er t isin g Su bscr ibe Sen d a t ip


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