178 / KNOWING YOURSELFPlanning the future
Knowing where you’re going
Life is unpredictable, so why plan? First,
all of the things you want to achieve in
your life require effort and preparation.
So, you need to ensure you acquire the
qualifications and experience that will
allow you to progress in your chosen
career, and to do that, you need a plan.
Having a plan gives you a framework
against which to measure your progress.Setting objectives
Have you achieved what you set out to do?
If not, why not? What can you learn from
your successes and failures? A plan also
provides a reference against which you
can judge new opportunities. How much
will this opportunity contribute to you
achieving your goals? If it doesn’t, why
do you want to do it? Is it a distraction
or have your goals and plan changed?There is a saying that “all plans are useless, but planning is vital.” Plans
are useless as they become out of date very quickly. But without the
process of planning, you won’t prepare for the future. You do need to
plan, but don’t stick to your plans so rigidly that you miss opportunities.WHAT’S ON YOUR RÉSUMÉ?
One good way to plan the future is to create
a version of your résumé three, five, and ten
years in the future. What qualifications would
appear? What job titles would you have?
Which companies would you have worked
for? What experience would you have gained
in each of the roles you have undertaken?
If you don’t know what to put on the résumé,
why not look in the papers or on the internet
for job advertisements. They will tell you
what people are looking for when filling
these roles today. Although this won’t
change dramatically, certain aspects,
such as qualifications, computer literacy,
and international experience, will be
more in demand. So by looking at the job
requirements today and thinking about the
future, you should be able to construct an
outline future résumé to work toward.In focus
US_178-179_Planning_the_future.indd 178 30/05/16 3:03 pm