Importance of Effective Career Planning

“Effective career planning saves professionals from potential job loss, insecurity, slow growth, and uncertainty like slow growth rate, recession, and lockdown. Business graduates who effectively plan their career see more growth in the first five years of their career as compared to the others without any effective career planning”.   

-Jaideep Parashar

Career planning makes the difference between a high growth in a career and a potential job loss. Most youths think that to be successful they need to work hard but that’s not true because if hard work is the only criterion to be successful then everyone can be successful. Only hard work in a career brings stress and pressure.

When a business graduate plans his/her career, then they tap on their full potential whether taking on new risks, working on some big projects, or thinking out of the box. During my research between 2008-21, I found that those graduates, who have better career plans, feel less stress and feel more in control of their professional life.

So what comes under effective career planning?

First, set your goals for the next five years so that if there is any fluctuation in the market, then you can deal with it easily without much panic and/or stress.

Next, find your passion. What is your passion, what you want to achieve, it can be anything like you want to move from entry-level to work in the middle management, you want to serve the people; you want to join the marketing board? See what is your passion and what you like to do. Steve Jobs once said, “Do what you love and if you have not found it, then look for it”. How pertinent!

The third thing, which comes under effective career planning, is to focus on balancing your personal and professional life. Let’s say you have achieved 10 things or 20 things and still you are feeling stressed out or you feel restless in the middle of the night. It’s not an achievement, it’s just a number on a piece of paper with some numbers, achievements, and certificates. To be a great professional, first, focus on yourself, and then you can effectively focus on your career.

Career planning is not only about a career but also about a meaningful life. So, plan your career for the next five years and take a massive leap in your career journey.

Author – Mr. Jaideep Parashar 

(Business Strategist, Author, Researcher)