Your career development plan provides a clear, orderly “road map” for reviewing where you currently are in your career, what you want to achieve, and how you plan to get there. Here are five ways to get the most from your career development plan as you create it:
- Start with the basics. What drives you? What has influenced your career choices up to this point? How did you get on your current career track? What would you change about your current job if you could – and what would you keep exactly the same?
- Look forward. Give yourself permission to “daydream big.” Imagine your job in one year, five years, and ten years. Imagine you have unlimited money, time, connections, and self-confidence to get exactly where you want to be at each of these milestones. What does your job look like? What do you do all day? Where do you do it? What sorts of people do you work with?
- Do some reality testing. Now it’s time to do some informed, well-balanced decision making, so you can “narrow the gap” between where you are and where you see yourself in the future. What resources do you currently have available? Does your current job provide the kind of support and opportunities to get you where you want to go? If not, can you change things to create those opportunities – or do you face insurmountable hurdles? Who can help you find a new position?
- Put it in writing. Write down your goals and place them where you can see them every day. For each goal, write a list of smaller “sub-goals” that get you toward the bigger goal. For instance, if your dream is to be working in a litigation support position in a top law firm within five years, sub-goals might include “earn additional certification,” “research big firm cultures to find the best fit for me,” or “write and publish an article in a trade journal.”
- Get to work! Even the best career development plan is just words on paper unless you do the work. Find one task that gets you closer to your goals each day and do it. Today, for instance, you might start brainstorming topics for a publishable article. Or look at job postings for legal support candidates. Or call a recruiting firm.
At Kent Legal, we help talented legal support candidates find positions that support their career goals within the greater Toronto area. Contact us today to learn more about our available legal support positions in Toronto.