Action planning

An action plan will help you to stay on track as you work towards achieving your career goals. Before you formulate an action plan, you will need to review the information that you gathered about yourself and your chosen occupation. Your findings may have an impact on the actions that you set yourself.

There is no best way to complete a development action plan. You can find further information on the professional development how to (PD How2) website. However, there are some basic guidelines you can follow to help get you started;

• Determine the skills you need;
• Focus your learning;
• Get the balance right between activities;
• Prioritise your learning;
• Pay attention to the level of detail;
• Set a review date.

Your action plan should be realistic and you should endeavour to make a contingency plan incase you are not able to realise your first choice of career or course.

If you feel that you do not have the skills or experience required for your chosen career, there are many things you can do, some examples include;

• Pursue a training course;
• Take evening classes;
• Volunteer to take on extra responsibility in your current job;
• Undertake volunteer work

A mentor, careers adviser or a family member will be able to provide you with objective feedback on your plan. If you would like the support of a mentor, you can apply for one through our mentoring service.