What do vacations and career development have in common? They both require planning to ensure a positive outcome. 

If you are planning a vacation to explore new places, then you need to know where you’re going, what you’re going to see, how you are going to get there, and how long you will stay at each destination. If you don’t plan your itinerary, you may find yourself at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with no place to stay. 

The same holds true for your career. Without a plan, you could potentially waste a huge amount of time and effort wandering around from job to job with no sense of purpose or direction. And if you do know where you want your career to go, then the question becomes, how do you get there? The answer, just like with vacations, is a plan. In this case, a personal career development plan. 

Where do you start? 

Planning your career development should always begin with an assessment of what you want to do and your ability to perform the job you want. One of the first steps is identifying the specific skills you need to succeed or excel in a desired role. 

For ASTD members, the recently updated ASTD Career Navigator can help you do just that. Based on the 2013 ASTD Competency Model™, this assessment tool helps you identify the specific skills required to succeed and excel in a particular role, and enables you to compare your current skill levels to those required for your aspired role.   

Once you have completed that assessment, the next step would be to develp a plan to close the skill gaps that you identified. The ASTD Career Navigator gives you a report that will show how you rate against the target proficiencies needed in a desired position. The tool will then recommend training activities that will help you close any proficiency gaps. What could be easier?

Want to learn more?

You’ll have the opportunity to watch a demonstration of the tool by joining Cheryl Lasse, managing partner for Edutainment Media  on Wednesday, September 18, for a special free Career Week webcast, “Assess Your Competencies in Training.” Register for the webcast to learn more about  developing your customized plan and  move one  step  closer to reaching those career goals.  

\* Edutainment Media , which provides skills assessment software and skill development services, is the sponsor of ASTD Career Week.