Tweet

Your Career Plan - Be The CEO Of Your Own Career!

Written by: Elizabeth Lengyel

Article Overview: How can you identify a different job or career, find time to job hunt, and get back to enjoying the game of life? Thinking like a CEO will help you map out a successful career with work that's fulfilling and energizing.

Your Career Plan - Be The CEO Of Your Own Career!

How can you identify a different job or career, find time to job hunt, and get back to enjoying the game of life? Thinking like a CEO will help you map out a successful career with work that's fulfilling and energizing.

1. As a CHIEF EXPLORATION OFFICER, your first step is to engage in self-exploration - This is key to career planning and decision-making. If you know yourself, your interests, and strengths, you'll make informed career decisions. A great way to hone in on your natural talents is to think about your childhood dreams and passions. What did you enjoy doing? Whom did you enjoy being with? What types of games did you like to play? What were your favorite sports, interests, or hobbies? What type of stories did you read? For what did you wish? The past holds significant clues and can help you select several career fields that may be a match for you.

2. As a CHIEF EXPERIENTIAL OFFICER, you must talk to the people who are actually in the career that you've identified - This step gives you a reality check. Seek out at least five people who are working in your selected career field. The more people you interview, the better. You'll find common themes and information that will be invaluable to your career planning process and your final decision. Please don't hesitate to contact these people. Most people love to talk about themselves and their expertise.

If possible, ask to meet with them in person. When you meet, be candid and curious. This is your opportunity to learn from people who are working in the career that you are considering. Plan some questions in advance:
o Do you enjoy your job?
o What kind of education and experience do you recommend I have?
o What do you dislike about your job?
o What does someone need in order to be successful in this career?

You might also invite one of these professionals to be your mentor as you move forward with your personal career goals.

3. As a CHIEF EDUCATIONAL OFFICER, you need to examine the competencies and skills required in your choice of work - Once you determine one or more career options, list the skills and competencies that you need to move forward with your career choice. What do you currently know? What do you need to learn? List the gaps, and then make a plan to fill the gaps. You can beef up competencies and skills in a variety of ways: classes, degree programs, and certification programs; internships or apprenticeships; reading; working with a career coach; and volunteer activities.

4. As a CHIEF ENGAGEMENT OFFICER, you will have to stay on top of your game - You must stay self-motivated, energized, and engaged in your career-planning process. It takes energy and commitment to explore career options and make career decisions. What feeds your energy level? Think about what nourishes and nurtures you, such as adequate sleep and daily exercise. Do you need to change your schedule to allow time for your career planning? Do you need to change anything in your environment, such as creating a home office? How can your friends and family help you stay engaged and moving forward?

5. As a CHIEF EMPLOYMENT OFFICER, you are your greatest resource for finding the right job - Your career planning process will help you find the right job for the right money. Without doubt, networks are the number one resource for finding your next job. Share your career plans and aspirations with friends, peers, and family members. You may be surprised whom presents you with a great lead that helps you land the perfect job. However, it's up to you to turn your career dreams into reality.

Are you ready for a career change? If so, remember to think like a CEO and give your life wings!


© Copyright - Elizabeth M. Lengyel, PeopleCoach, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Reprint guidelines: Feel free to reprint this article. You must include the above copyright notice and the author biography that accompanies this article. You may not sell this article or the content contained.

Related Articles
  Should you take a Homographic Approach to your Career Planning?
  We Don’t Want to be Downers, but are your Career Prospects Evaporating?
  FINDING THE RIGHT CAREER!
  10 Tips for Managing Your Career
  Ten Beliefs that Must Be Overcome to Find A New Meaningful Career

Article Tags: career decisions, career field, career fields, career planning process, ceo, childhood dreams, educational officer, favorite sports, final decision, game of life, hobbies, job, match, mentor, natural talents, passions, personal career goals, self exploration, sports interests, types of games



Related Forum Posts
Re: Require Info on CAD Fed/Prov Grants for Restaurant Start-up - I know the Ontario government is starting a "Second Career" campaign, full of internship opportunities for new chefs and catering staff. It may be worth your while to research the possibilities with that. It may work itself out to be cheap labor in the form of a grant. Good luck regardless!
Book: Comeback Moms - Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years Monica Samuels and J. C. Conklin 2006 Jacket: Millions of educated, professional women are quitting their jobs to stay home and raise their children. That would never be you, right? You worked hard for your degree and even harder to get to this point in your career. Quitting now, even for a few years, would kill your career, right? That's what Monica Samuels thought when she found out she was pregnant... Over 60 percent of professional women who leave work to raise children want to get back into the workforce someday. If you even think you might want to go back to work, be it in one year or twenty, you need to lay the groundwork now for a successful reentry or your options will be limited. 1. Quitting: When is the best time to cut the cord 2. Feathering the nest: How to financially prepare before you quit 3. Departure strategies: leaving the office 4. Money and Power: Constructing a new life on the home front 5. Backlash: handling family, friends and angry strangers 6. One foot in, one foot out: How can they miss you if you don't really go away? 7. Part time: It ain't perfect, but it's doable 8. Going back: the when and how of returning to work full time 9. Career counseling: When you need a change 10. Entrepreneurs: True Stories Resources Index
Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
2007 Goals - 1. Web site complete, fully operational 2. Revenue stream from both individual and corporate 3. Business Plan complete 4. Full marketing strategy complete and implemented


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Unspoken Yet Important Rules for Book Proposals

Work Life Balance: Adding White Space

Sales Courage and Resilience

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.