Developing a Personal Strategic Plan for Your Career

If you are reading this article, you already know that directly or indirectly you need to ‘market’ yourself as a ‘package’ and sell the idea across boards that acquiring the ‘package’ you represent would be an ‘achievement’ for those on the other side of the table. Whether for getting a new job or for promotion within the same company, or for negotiations for added benefits – the principles are more or less the same, though tactics may differ from case to case.

However, this requirement of ‘case to case' tactics, which is very real, often makes us lose sight of the bigger picture to the detriment of our careers. It's a war out there that you need to win. Any war is conducted by the descending hierarchy of policies, strategies and tactics. In the war of your career, your policies are dictated by your personal values and cultural conditioning. Your tactics change from ‘case to case.' What you lose sight of are the ‘strategies' that should be there, and without which, you may be winning a series of battles, but losing out on the war. This is why, for every person, there needs to be a personal strategic plan or PSP for achieving career objectives.

What does a PSP do for an employee?



The functions that a PSP should do, at the very least include:

• It outlines the timeline of your career objectives and expectations
• It keeps a long-term record of your educational, training, and employment background and matches them with your career objectives and its timeline
• In contrast to only containing historical information it presents both current and future-oriented information
• In an abridged form it should form an attachable document to a resume that answers questions for recruiters which remain unanswered by a traditional resume
• It should contain relevant background, performance information, and work accomplishments and if submitted to recruiters should help in effective comparison with other applicants
• The abridged PSP should work as an effective marketing tool that shows that the personal career objectives of the individual matches the strategic human resources needs and objectives of an organization and is sufficiently flexible to adapt to changing environments

How does receiving a PSP help employers?

Rather than receiving a simple traditional resume and cover letter combination, a PSP helps employers to assess employee education and training needs in the context of personal career goals and company expectations. The benefits of being able to access PSPs of individuals include:

• Easy encouragement of strategic thinking by managerial personnel
• Easier facilitation of professional development planning and work assignments that match both organizational needs and an individual's personal career goals
• Helps to nurture employee goals and skill sets that enhance employee morale
• Facilitates the recruitment of proper management personnel
• Provides a tool upon which agreement can be reached with an employee for self-paced development
• Provides human resources professionals with a tool for assessing the integrity of an employee to own career objectives and helps to meet the dynamic needs of the organization

Remember, that a PSP is not a single document, rather a file containing a number of relevant documents like SWOT analysis, Work Accomplishment Records, Resume, etcetera. There is no fixed shape to a PSP beyond the fulfillment of two needs: First it should outline to the individual his/her own career strategies and where they currently are in relation to their plans, and second an abridged PSP should be able to persuade employers to decide on recruiting an employee.

Source:

Lee R. Duffus, "The Personal Strategic Plan: a Tool for Career Planning and Advancement," International Journal of Management 21.2 (2004)