How to Map your Career Path

Finding the right job
Job satisfaction is from doing the kind of job you have a passion for. If at present you are in a low pay job look for something you like about the job and build on it,
Reality check
There are very few jobs out their. If after self assessment and soul searching and you still cannot reconcile the job you have at hand then an exit plan.
If you currently are unemployed, take out a piece of paper and jot down the type of job you like. Being realistic about your ability, qualification and having knowledge of the skill required. Will determine if you are adequately qualified and in a position to get that job.
The more lucrative the job the more people with better qualifications would seek out employment in the firm. Always be ready for competition and even thrive on it. See competition see a reason to excel and show the stock you’re made from.
Didn’t get the job? So what, several rejections should only make you better prepared and stronger, work on you CV, appearance confidence and what the job entails.
two women in office
Your career path
Whatever job you find yourself mapping out a career path is very important; before you can attain that enviable career high you need to have a clear picture of where you want to be in so many years.
Look critically at the office structure, promotions and advancement prospects. If there are hardly any promotions in your office in several years the prospect of attaining your goal might be slim.
Every organization has protocol when it comes to work place promotions, make it your business to know their policy and work tirelessly towards that goal, mapping out an attainable goal and working through a series of well thought out steps is important.
Career path
Finding that cool job that can take you to the place you envisaged is the first step to mapping out a workable career path, a career path is a set of goals that could lead you to the level of employed fulfillment you believe you deserve.
Getting the right job or something close to your goals is the first all important step, if you don’t love the kind of job you are doing you should ask yourself’ is this job right for me?
The answer could be a makeup call. Being in a job without fulfillment is not all bad, let us consider a banker who’s tired of his job because of the long hours associated with that kind of job.
Before you make the costly mistake of resigning and trying out another job, you must be sure your dream job is attainable and has considered most problems of sudden job change. Don’t listen to friends that encourage you to start out on your own especially those aspiring towards self employment, doing business is hard work and you must be equipped to face the reality of not receiving a steady paycheck.
If your desire is to get a job in another sector do your homework, go for interviews and first get the job before any hasty resignation.
How to map out your career goals
Finding a job that best compliments your vision would motivate you better than one you stumbled upon; a job you are passionate about would payout in the long run through better job satisfaction and cash remunerations.
Work hard. Working hard at the job is a great way to get noticed for your professional skill. Every stage of your life must have been characterizes and fashioned through dedication studious resolve and hard work, hard work as they say always pays.
Get additional training.
Get additional training on the job, top business constantly  workshops and symposiums, getting addition training not only helps you do the job better but adds to you CV and positions you for better job prospects and job advancement.
Companies who train their staff would not like the staff to carry the skills they have acquired to competitor companies so they would in time offer promotions or added incentives to keep the highly trained staff.
Get ahead
Get ahead by loving your job and hard work combined with consistent training and updating your skill are all you need to start getting ahead of the pack, everything in life needs proper planning and work to achieve your career goals.
Prepare a career path list
Putting your aspirations and objectives on paper gives you a visual representation of a career pathway, in preparing a list there are several parameters you should consider some of which are listed bellow.
Academic qualification
What are your academic qualifications? Having the right academic qualifications is perhaps the most important item on your list, working towards getting a promotion or getting that plum job without the tools positions you for failure.
There was this man I knew who worked in the clerical department of an insurance firm, he had listed a career path he needed to become an accountant or auditor of that firm.
He was not adequately qualified and knew unless he upgraded his CV the prospects of being a chief accountant in the firm was slim to nothing or at best maybe twenty years. The man mapped his career path and registered for the chattered accountant professional examinations, by first considering the stages that could qualify him as an accountant he registered with a top accounting school that prepares candidates for the examinations.
Due largely to his job schedule he opted for weekend classes which he religiously adhered too, it took him two and a half years to pass the three stages and become a chattered accountant, and then he added the new qualification to his CV with his current employers.
The career path way opened employment as an accountant in a rival insurance firm which took and he did for three years then found his way back to his old firm as the chief accountant. The career path had taken him six years to accomplish.
He was now at the level he envisaged while many of his fellow clerks still had the same clerical jobs. The story highlighted is a true story that strongly shows how planning a career path around academic qualification can get you to the top.
Career Mapping
job dedication
job skills
right job
work hard
Quire added skill
get job satisfaction
be innovative
get better qualifications
be passionate about job
become an asset to the company
attend seminars
the right job
Knowledge of the job
Some people take for granted job knowledge, being qualified for the job does not guarantee skill acquisition. Knowing the job shows in your work ethics and management skills in due course your company would notice your proficiency, hard work and dedication and could reward you with a promotion. Without mastering your current job advancement might not come quickly enough.
Job movement
If you find yourself stock in a certain position for several years without any movement you may have to plot a career path that carries you out of the establishment or to other sectors of the same company. Moving from one identical company to another as a technique for advancement actually works.
For example if someone starts his career as a cashier in a bank he can after a while seek a higher position in another bank, the likelihood of being employed by the other firm is high because of your present job.
After a few years and a few promotions later cross carpet to another bank or the same one you left, your CV shows expanded experience in many banks and the prospect of getting a higher managerial job is better. Many top bankers use this method very effectively to advance their job prospects.
The technique works in almost any working environment that deals in job experience, cross carpeting can be used as an effective career path strategy.
Acquire new skills
There is nothing wrong in plotting a career path by acquiring new skill. Everyday technology improves and new methods and techniques consistently change the market place, keeping abreast of the changes gives you an advantage during job interviews, and at your place of work.
As they say knowledge is power so empowering yourself for future prospects and advancement is always a good direction to take, always strive to be better at your chosen job everyday, the job gets easier and management would notice. Having a new knowledge base should be included in your career path map, don’t be stuck in a rot.
Get visible
In some work places you might find yourself lost among the crowd, to achieve positive movement in the work place you have to be visible. Being team players is good but being an exceptional team player is better, is invaluable to your organization especially when important decisions are made.
If important company business are channeled through you or at best requires your impute then you have become an asset to the organization. Become an asset to your company and they would reward you for it.
If the management recognizes your positive role in the companies’ development in order keep the valuable employee a career boost might just be in their cards. Recognition comes with more responsibility and responsibility usually comes with a larger portfolio.
Mapping a career path for a highly contested job
There are high paying jobs that are keenly contested and desired by many, for example work in the oil and gas sector. How do you get such a lucrative job if that’s were your career path leads. First you must be qualified, don’t delude yourself that having a bachelor’s degree or masters would snag you a keenly contested job.
Lets take an interview for a position in an oil company, for maybe only six openings, on the day of interview after getting short listed you find two hundred people contesting the six jobs openings. Within the job seekers there is a likely hood that twenty master’s degree holders are in the crowd and only one or none gets a placement.
In order to snag a highly contested job that works with your career map you need to get extra training from educational establishments that offer specialized training in certain oil and gas segments. Get the specialized training, and become a member of certain oil professional bodies as added insurance find work in a company related to oil and gas, acquire knowledge of the job you seek now you are ready for the interview. Your CV armed with all these added skills would be irresistible to the job interviewer which improves your chances of getting employed.
A good career map
A Successful career map
To successfully map you career path you need to put in place the following.
1 Find a job you like or one that has advancement prospects
2 Get adequately trained
3 Get ahead of the pack
4 Love your job
5 Work very hard at your job
6 Get visible to your employers.
7 Map out a proper career path list
8 Consider the vertical and horizontal path ways
9 Be qualified for the job you seek
10 Acquire as much skill as you can
11 Build up your knowledge on the job
12 Acquire new job skills
13 Use job movement as a positive tool
14 Join professional bodies that have to do with your career path
Join professional bodies
Being part of a professional body is another sure way to boost your career prospects, professional bodies add juice to your CV and show seriousness and dedication to the career path you have chosen.
For example if you are a banker join professional groups that have to do with banking, same with accounting, engineering, surveying, architecture, building and construction, even entertainment. There is a professional institute that caters for any career choice, they don’t only offer you membership but you would be on top of changes in the industry, you get inside knowledge of employment opportunities and best practices and they would always stand behind their members.
Career maps
A career map could follow the same trajectory which is straight and horizontal which may lead to several years before you get to your career goal.
The map could require cross carpeting to increase your pace and arrive at your destination much quicker or you might map out a vertical climb using all the resources of education, qualification, training, skill acquisition and hard work to achieve your career path goals. By mapping out a workable career path you can attain your dreams and get job satisfaction.
Incentives in the work place
Business owners should consider incentives in the work place to increase productivity, positive engagement, and confidence of staff, staff remunerations, welfare package and promotions. This helps boost staff moral and affects the company in a positive manner
An employee can leverage on incentives provided by the business owner to further his career especially incentives that have to do with additional training.
Reward doesn’t necessarily require monetary compensation but incentives like staff holidays, and gifts. Added training by the company with discount packages is a useful tool employers can deploy.
Giving adequate incentives to staff can encourage staff innovation, motivate them to work harder, increase staff satisfaction, increases the employees productivity and even the companies turnover. Business owners have a responsibility to provide incentives for deserving employees, a happy work place is more group oriented than having dissatisfied staff.
Business owners staff rewards and incentives
There are several incentive programs that can impact positively on staff and boost staff performance some of the work place incentives that can be used by business owners are.
Bonus incentive
Business owners can use bonuses to motivate their staff, bonuses and commission payout can increases a staff’s dedication. Business owners can add bonuses according to the staff’s productivity. Using bonuses and commissions shows the staff that there is reward in hard work
Additional responsibility
Business owners use this method to show a particular hard working staff that promotion is around the corner, they may change his portfolio and job description giving the staff a higher ranking without a commiserate increase in wages. The smart employee who has a career map sees the opportunity for growth and only needs to work harder, with time the wages will equate the job designation.
Gifts
During special holidays it is not out of place for business owners to appreciate their staff with gift hampers, the gesture though good and thoughtful has nothing to do with your career aspirations. The gesture can be appreciate for what it is a thank you gift. Business owners can use gifts to appreciate their staff.
Vacation
Business owners can send deserving staff on an all expense paid vacation, hard working staff greatly treasure family time so giving them paid vacation during special holidays increases moral and staff productivity.
Cash payouts
Cash payouts are a common method business owners use to appreciate hard working staff, they can come as bonuses, commissions or cash gifts. Cash is an excellent motivator it boosts employees moral which increases productivity.
Motivational awards
Staff would compete to snag motivational awards by completing tasks, getting new clients and making higher sales, the motivational award can come in form of a certificate a plaque, cash or both. A hospital I took a relation to sometimes 2013 I noticed a large certificate in the reception area with the picture of an employee and the words employee of the month.
Workers and retrenchment
The loss of a job can be inevitable even to a hard working staff if there is a financial crisis in certain sectors of the economy, sometime an employee gets caught in a staff rationalization policy. Businesses sac staff to reduce overhead costs and increase profitability, profit making is the main reason mass sacking could happen.
What happens to a strategist looking to build a career and not get unemployed, if you have an inkling that mass job loss is eminent then a quick job change is necessary, the purge might not affect you if you can ride the storm without being a casualty and even gain promotion and bigger wages at the end of the day.
Getting sacked is not the end of the world so as long as you have your job experience and academic qualifications. When searching for a job prepare a short but precise CV, that highlights what the company gains by employing your services

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