The 5 Crucial Steps for Career Planning

Walking aimlessly towards a goal is never beneficial. When you don’t know what you want to be, you can never know what road to take. Hence, for better planning there is career counselling for students. As you are a high school student completely clueless about your career options, today, let’s help you figure out what you can be in life.

At the young high school age, you are naive and unaware of how the world works. As the planning for tomorrow starts today, no matter how hard you try not to think, you still have to start planning for what you want to be. Your career planning starts the minute you get into grade 10th, here many of your peers picked Career Counselling for students. The minute you get in 10th, the first question that comes to you is what stream you are going to take.

As an Indian student, the only streams you have are Science, Commerce, and Arts, now which one you have to take after 10th is a big question. To help you select a stream that is best suited to you, here we are giving you the step-by-step process of planning your career. Hence, without further ado, let’s get started.

The 5 Steps of Career Planning for Indian Students

Knowing what to do after 10th is a big question. It becomes bigger and more complicated when you are on the verge of completing your 12th and still have no clue of what you want to be. To students who are confused about their careers and are still looking for career options, then here is your ultimate assistance. To help you save time and figure out your action plan here are the steps you must follow.

Step 1—Self-assessment

The very first step towards secured career planning is self-assessment. At this young age, you hardly know what your strengths and interests are. When you didn’t have the freedom or opportunity to discover the various fields, you didn’t know your true potential. Hence, to understand yourself better, it is crucial to do self-analysis. For knowing one’s personality better, individuals prefer to take the psychometric test. This scientifically curated assessment helps students understand their strengths.

By the responses given to hypothetical, scenario-based questions, the test result suggests which fields are better for an individual’s career and what skills they must enhance to excel in their career. In this entire process, Career Counselling for Students plays a vital role as it is the counsellor who helps students understand their strengths and interests, along with jotting down their action plan for the future.

Step 2—Career Exploration

In the process of career planning, the second step is to explore your career options. Once you get a clarity of what your strengths and interests are, it becomes easier for you to know exactly what which career options are suitable for you. As we have mentioned this several times before, that Indian students is only aware of 7 career options. Many students pick one of these career options and regret later in life.

To save yourself from that regret later, it is better you analyse and evaluate your best options. After taking the Psychometric Test and career counselling for students, you will understand what your strengths and interests are. Based on that information, you must research your career options. To make an informed decision about your career, you must understand the job market, and stable fields in future.

Step 3—Set Clear Goals

The next step in the career planning process is setting clear goals. Once you have figured out what are your potential career options, it is time to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals to accomplish that. These goals can be short-term and long-term. Short-term goals will be the ones you will aim to achieve within two to three years. Whereas the long-term goals will be the ones you will accomplish in five or more years down the line.

Having clear and achievable goals will help you know what is your working plan, what next you have to do, and by when you can accomplish your ultimate target. For a successful future tomorrow, you have to start working today. Hence, with the help of career counselling for students, you can take advise from experts. The counsellor will help you set clear goals with short-term investment but with long-term benefits.

Step 4—Create Action Plan

Once you have decided your career goals, both long-term and short-term, it is now time to create the action plan. Defining your goals is different from actually working on them. For instance, you want to be a software engineer one day. For that one day, your preparation must start today. After you have defined your goal of becoming a software engineer, you need to prepare for it every day; hence, you require an action plan for the same.

By creating an action plan, you will know what your career road map will look like. You will figure out how many hours of practice you have to put in and what extra you must do. As per today’s rapidly growing job market, technology and other things are making its way. To ensure your chosen career option is stable and you have ample skills, you require an action plan.

Step 5—Evaluate and Adjust the Plan

5 years down the line there can be a new development that can affect your chosen plan. Hence, your hard work doesn’t stop at figuring out your career or planning for it, but it is a continuous process, and you have to stay updated. Besides the external factors, your interest can arise conflict too. For instance, the career you picked today, you might not enjoy it after a certain time period. Hence, in this scenario taking career counselling for students is the best option.

With the help of constant career counselling, you will reflect on your progress daily. Whether you are meeting your goals or accomplishing those small marks or not. If not, then maybe your action plan needs some adjustments. For this, you need constant guidance to evaluate yourself and to ensure the career you’ve picked is worth the hassle.

Figure out your Career Plan with MetaApply Career Counselling!

There is nothing right or wrong in career planning. Every individual’s strength and interest are different; hence, they pick different career for themselves. Although, parents do have the best interests at heart for their children, but at the end, it is your individual decision of what you want to be in life. In this process of figuring out yourself, you may require career counselling at every step. Hence, MetaApply IE is your ultimate partner and guide.

At MetaApply Career Counselling, we understand what all challenges a 14- or 15-year-old go through in life. With the multiple skills to learn, fields to explore, and streams to select, there are too many things to take care of. To help students find a career path with ease, MetaApply Career Counselling counsellors are there to help you at every step.

So, what are you waiting for? Fine an action plan today. Connect now!