If you want to have success in your career you should not leave it by chance. Those who reach the top are the ones who do their research, the ones who look behind closed doors and discover new ways of landing their dream job. Through career planning you can discover many new routes and open those doors to give you a more fulfilling career path in the long run.

Career Planning should be treated as an ongoing process. Try to schedule some time each week or month when you can solely focus on your career. Make notes to show your progress: What have you done of late to enhance your career? What can you do now to push yourself further? Of course, all of this would be pretty useless if you didn’t have an idea of where you are heading. You need a point to aim for so ask yourself the questions ‘what do I want to achieve?’ and ‘what do I need to do to achieve them?’ Knowing what you want is the first hurdle and what you want could change over time so mapping all of these ideas will keep you on the right tracks.

Those people who you admire for being at the top of their careers have worked hard to get there. They have chosen career paths that suit their goals and/ or their interests so you should consider these things too. Think about the things that make you happy, where do you get your kicks? Is it when you help a friend with their relationship issues, or do you stand back proud after completing a painting? Everyone has different interests, knowing what yours are could help determine the right career.

As time passes, you will gain more experiences which could all be added to your belt. Large or small, your experiences and accomplishments will show others what you are capable of. In this day and age, most careers are very competitive and you are going to need to sell yourself. To do this it is very worthwhile to keep track of your achievements so you can talk freely about them and not let anything get buried. Staying on top of your resume is crucial to getting you where you want to be.

Let’s just say you have landed that Dream Job. Is this the end of career planning? The answer is ‘no’. There might come a day when you are no longer getting the satisfaction you once did. It could be time to move on. “But I’m a journalist”, you might say, “Where can I go from here?” One piece of good advice is to look beyond your job title. Let’s take the example that you are a journalist, it doesn’t have to mean you are stuck in the world of publishing. What a lot of people forget is to analyze their transferable skills. By doing this you will discover that the skills you have are not just needed in your current career.

You might be good at exchanging and interpreting knowledge and ideas through way of communication, or you might have an ability to supervise others in completing tasks and reaching their goals. These types of skills can be the basis of many careers.

Never stop looking for ways to advance in your career. Educate yourself in what’s happening in your career as time can change a lot of things. A good point to make here is the use of technology. If you go back half a century, computers and the like were only evident in careers in computing, but now a good basic knowledge of using a computer is required in virtually every career path. If you have a good eye of recognizing new trends and act on it, you will be putting yourself at the front of the line. Embarking on new education and training opportunities will keep you at the head of your game. Do your research. Speak with others who have excelled in their careers, visit your local university or college to see if there are any courses, which could benefit you.

Probably the most important thing to remember when planning your career is not to be afraid of setting yourself challenges. Nobody said that climbing the ladder would be easy, but everything is possible with a little time and effort.