Here’s how to plan your career

Attending graduate school was a long-term goal of mine starting in high school. My plan was to get my undergraduate degree and then attend Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. I worked hard to make it happen, but I made a terrible mistake along the way. I never looked beyond that goal. As graduation approached, I was left with a question I wasn’t prepared for: Now what?

Career planning is obviously useful, but a person would be right to question how useful it is since so much of our lives are unplanned journeys. I asked LinkedIn members to share their thoughts on the matter. People from all walks of life offered their perspectives on career planning. While I can’t include all of their comments, you can read them by clicking here .

You should have some sort of plan

To borrow an overused simile, your career is a lot like a road trip. Whether you know it or not, you have a destination. The destination can be one of two places. One is a place that you choose. The other is a destination that is selected by chance.?

“If you don't plan, you put your career and life in someone else's hands,” wrote Sarah Johnston , who is a career coach.

In my experience, people usually like some control over their destinies. If you fit into that group, you’ll want to come up with some sort of plan so that your ultimate destination is the place you choose. Otherwise, who knows where you’ll end up?

Come up with a long-term goal

The first step is to come up with a long-term goal. A long-term goal is basically where you want to end up at some later point in your career. It could be a position, a company or another milestone like graduate school. The long-term goal can be as vague or specific as you want, but it’s going to help the rest of your plan fall into place.

“I have loose goals about the kinds of positions, companies, and colleagues I want,” wrote Meredith Bodgas , who is a talent expert. “Based on my past experience, I'd recommend having this fuzzier plan because when industries/companies collapse as they tend to do, your path doesn't.”

If you’re having trouble figuring out that goal, one of the best things to do is to start talking to people. Perhaps you have an urge to become a project manager at a tech company, but you’re not sure if that’s really what you want to do. Start reaching out to people in those roles to see what their jobs and lives are like. You’ll eventually settle on a goal.

Create a plan to get to that goal

“If you have identified a career goal, you should definitely create a plan to get there,” wrote Michelle Enjoli Beato , who is a career growth expert. “Without a plan of action and commitment, it will be hard to achieve it.”?

Imagine setting off on a road trip with a destination in mind. You know where you want to go, but the path between where you are now and that endpoint is unfamiliar. You set off without looking at a map. Will you end up where you want to go? Possibly, but the journey would have been a lot easier if you had a plan from the start.

The good news is that your plan doesn’t have to be overly detailed or complicated. In fact, it’s probably best to leave some wiggle room for course corrections and unexpected detours.

“I think it's important to have some type of career plan as a guide and timeline so you're staying on track,” wrote Shelakh André Williams , who is a recruiter. “It's also important to leave some room for flexibility. Things happen and you may not get that degree completed as quickly as you originally thought. You may even discover during your career ascent that there's another industry that you actually love and end up doing a career pivot.”

There are many methods for creating a plan for your career. Obviously, you can use the conversation with people who are where you want to go. Their journeys can serve as roadmaps. Borrow from their experiences. You can research people online and check out their LinkedIn profiles. Of course, you can also be inventive and plot a unique path for yourself —?but it will likely take some research.

Your goal and/or plan will change

One of the weird truths about career planning is that you should go into the process knowing that it will change. Either you find out the goal is not what you want to do or you realize the path you originally created is no longer feasible. Neither of those events mean you should give up. Instead, you just need to plan a new route or find a new destination.

“Sometimes, you need to shift or change lanes to reach a new, exciting level of career happiness,” wrote Joe Szynkowski , who is a communications consultant.

The key is to adopt a growth mindset and embrace every step of your journey as a learning opportunity. Learning from each step along the way ensures that — even if you change course or your destination, it is all worth your time and effort.

As for me, I’m much more conscious about selecting long-term goals. I never have to worry about asking myself, “now what?” Instead, I can reevaluate my plan and make changes — if needed.

What’s your career planning advice? Join the conversation .

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? Invest in yourself

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? Coming up...

Want to quit? As some countries emerge from the pandemic, a few workforce experts are projecting that employers will start experiencing a “Great Resignation.” The belief is that people who have been treating their jobs as safe spaces during the uncertainty of the pandemic will move on to new opportunities once it feels safe enough to do so. If you think that you’re included in this group, how do you know it’s time to move on? And when you’ve made the choice to quit, how do you do it? We’ll be tackling these questions in the next edition of #GetAhead. Have some thoughts on the topic? Tell me about them in the comments here .