5 Steps To Plan Your Career In A Unstable Job Market

To deal with the job market instability, it has become extremely essential for professionals to have an effective career strategy.

The turbulent job market in the last few years has ensured that the career graph in India will be on a roller coaster ride. Secure jobs with promotions at regular intervals have become a thing of the past. With cycles of economic slowdown getting more frequent, the job market is filled with a lot of uncertainty. To combat the job market instability, it has become extremely essential for professionals to have an effective career strategy.

It is imperative that people identify their goals and devise a plan of action for a smooth career path:

1. Self-assessment is the need of the hour

An accurate and realistic self-assessment is essential for an attainable career strategy. Self-assessment helps in understanding personal and career goals. People should assess themselves and conduct a SWOT analysis to ascertain their strengths and weaknesses. It becomes very important for them to carefully consider their values and needs, while planning and developing their career direction and strategy. Assessing their own skills, knowledge and qualities can effortlessly help them find the most relevant jobs that they would want to pursue a career in.

2. Set a specific career goal

An individual needs to have a clear vision in mind while setting a career goal. One must strategize one’s career plan effectively and realistically, so that one can work towards achieving it. One must visualize the position one wants to attain over the next 5 years and set one’s career objectives accordingly. People must always set a realistic career goal, which they can achieve without failure.

3. Devise a plan of action

After setting a career goal, one must strategize a plan of action effectively. This is vital for every person and must be well thought about without any gaps. This helps people in overcoming any hindrances that come in their way while they work hard to achieve their career goal.

4. Implement the Plan of Action

Career planning is a way to make the best use of one’s current situation and probable opportunities. Since unpredictable changes can occur over time, one must always review one’s plan of action and allow space for adjustments, if required. After reviewing one’s own plan of action, one must work hard towards achieving one’s career objectives.

5. Identify the most relevant options and aim towards self- improvisation

It is very important to keep in consideration all the options against the values and preferences. It is essential for people to identify the most relevant and best opportunity out of the many available. One must always keep one’s CV updated. One must always focus on self-improvisation after identifying the best job option so that one can be well prepared for the interviews. Self-improvisation also makes one self-confident and all the more hard working.

More than ambitions and dreams, careers are shaped by external factors. It is very important for people to have a long term as well as short term view on one’s career. The crux of setting career goals in the new world is about keeping oneself updated in the job market and building one’s long and short-term career goals around this. One must always keep networking with people who are already pursuing the career they wish to. Also, career plans make people more organized and punctual before they start working.