Writing a Career Action Plan

Part 3: Goals and Barriers

Short Term and Long Term Career Plan/Occupational Goals

You should break your career plan down into goals you can reach in a year or less and goals you want to reach in five years or less. You can use increments of one or two years in this five year plan as well. This breakdown will make your plan easier for you to follow.

There's also a place to include your goals for education and training. Your occupational goals and your educational goals should correspond to one another, since reaching your occupational goals will usually be dependent upon reaching your educational goals.

If your long term occupational goal is to be a lawyer, here's what your short and long term plans might look like:

• Year One: Complete my bachelor's degree (12 credits left to go), apply to law school, get accepted to law school (a positive attitude is a good thing)
• Year Two through Year Four: Enter law school, study hard and earn good grades, graduate from law school with many job offers
• Year Five: Begin working in a law firm

Barriers to Reaching Goals

As you try to reach your goals you may face some barriers. If you want to pursue your goals, you will have to get around these barriers. In this section of your action plan you can list all the obstacles, or barriers, that may get in the way of being able to reach your goals. Then list the ways you can deal with them. For example you may be the primary caregiver for your children or elderly parents. This may interfere with your ability to complete your degree. You can deal with this barrier by enlisting the help of your spouse or another relative. Perhaps you can arrange for child or adult daycare.

You're On Your Way

A well-thought-out career action plan will prove to be a very useful tool. You've gone through the career planning process carefully choosing a suitable occupation. Setting goals and planning what you need to do to realize them will insure that you reach your career destination.