Career Action Plan
Here is a template of a career action plan/professional development plan that students can use to start brainstorming and organizing their career management plan during their time at Kogod.
There are many ways to fill this out but here are some steps and tips to get you started:
- If you plan on breaking into an industry (whether you are changing careers or just starting off) create 3 career plans based on functions and industries that interest you. Start researching what are the skills, experiences and/or qualifications they are looking for in those roles?
- Research World of Work: Careernomics, Career Research Tools from AU Library, Career Management Checklist, Careers in Sustainability/Climate Action
- Assess Yourself and Where you are at: Assess Yourself, Explore and Research
- If you are hoping to grow in your company think about what roles or areas you want to be in next at the company. What are the people you should talk to? What are the skills you need for that role? What skills or competencies do you already have?
- Do a skills gap analysis and see what skills, competencies, experiences you currently have compared to what you need for your career goal.
- Skills Gap Analysis
- Note we have LAMP list and Skills Gap for each of the 3 plans, or you can use just the first one if you want them all in one space. We have another column where you can mark which plan it is part of.
- Develop those gaps into goals and next steps for you to achieve over your time here, write them down and make sure that they are SMART!
- MS Résumé Tips, Conferences & Competitions, Job Search Strategy, AU Graduate Skill Development Program, Online Certifications & Skills Courses,
- Also we recommend making careers a DAILY habit. Use the Time Management sheet to break down your time and find where you can find an hour each day for dedicated for career management.
- Goals: Start taking the steps you wrote down or reach out for an appointment with our office to help you think of ways you can build those skills or if you need help with any part of your plan.
- Goals/Networking Plan: Ask professors for their opinion on what to develop or how to go about building those skills
- Networking Plan: Connect with alums or professionals in the field, keep notes on what you’ve talked about and when you last reached out to them. Networking is a skill you need to organize and use!
- Weekly Planner: work on your time management, by making careers a daily habit in which you spend about an hour a day on it.