Career Strategic Plan - Literature review Example

A: Approach on identification of career goal Relevant aspects The decision making process will follow Gati’s sequential elimination model (Gati, 1986). Relevant aspects include income level or Salary range, teamwork, prestige, use of computers, flexibility of working hours, using higher numerical as well as analytical skills, advancement of my profession, length of training, working with public, working indoors, managing and supervising, economic security, use of verbal ability and travelling among others, Ranking by importance 1. Higher level of analytical and numerical skills 2. Teamwork 3. Strong organisational skills 4. Income level (Salary range) 5. Prestige 6. Flexibility of work hours 7. Using computers 8. Professional advancement 9. Length of training 10. Working with public 11. Indoors 12. Economic security 13. Using verbal ability 14. Working with public 15. Travelling Acceptable range for each aspect Considering the ‘Higher level of analytical and numerical skills’ as the most important factor, the overall acceptable range based on the procedure employed by Gati, Fassa, and Mayer (1998). Optimal level (weight 2) Level 5 Acceptable levels (weight 1) Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Unacceptable level (weight 0) Level 1 Thus, the overall acceptable level will be: (2*5) + (1*4) + (1*3) + (1*2) + (0*1) / (2+1+1+1) = 3.8 Occupation: Level: score (weight * level) 1. Economist (5): (5*2) = 10 2. Accountant (5): (5*2) = 10 3. Market Researcher (5): (5*2) = 10 4. Administrator (3): (3*1) = 3 5. Banker (5): (5* 2)= 8 6. Information Scientist (5): = 10 7. Information Technologist (4): = 4 8. Journalist (1): = 1 9. Management Consultant (3): = 3 10. Personnel Officer Planner (2): = 2 11. PR Executive (3): =3 12. Solicitor (1): = 1 13. Surveyor/Valuer (4): = 4 14. Systems Analyst (4): = 4 15. Tax Inspector (5): 5*2 = 10 Based on ‘Higher level of analytical and numerical skills’, the number of occupations left (that is score > 3.8) is 9 Considering the second most important aspect (teamwork): Occupation: level: score (weight * level) 1. Economist (4) = 4 2. Accountant (4)= 4 3. Market Researcher (4) = 4 4. Banker (4) = 4 5. Information Scientist (3) = 3 6. Information Technologist (4) = 4 7. Surveyor/Valuer (4) = 4 8. Systems Analyst (3) = 3 9. Tax Inspector (4) = 4 Based on teamwork, the number of occupations left is 7 Considering that ‘strong organisational skills’ as the third most important aspect: 1. Economist (4) = 4 2. Accountant (4)= 4 3. Market Researcher (4) = 4 4. Banker (4) = 4 5. Information Technologist (3) = 3 6. Surveyor/Valuer (4) = 4 7. Tax Inspector (3) = 3 The number of occupations remaining (score > 3.8) is 5 Thus, the occupations that meet the range of the first three most important aspects are: 1. Economist 2. Accountant 3. Market Researcher 4. Banker 5. Surveyor/Valuer Research According to Abdula (2008), when gender is considered in career decision making, men are usually attributed to various aspects where they prefer enterprising occupations that require higher levels of numerical and analytical skills. In addition, (Gati, Osipow, & Givon, 1995) men also prefer occupations whose titles are related to high income such those that are directly associated with money for instance, accountant, economists, and valuer among others. There are various factors that selection of these occupations which include job responsibilities, interests, values temperament among others. According to McGraw et al (2012), job the economics professionals considered job responsibility as one of the most important factor in making a career decision. Hine, and Cheney (2000), stated that decision making about a career is also influenced by your interests. Interests are very personal and the occupation that is most enjoyable becomes the best choice. Based on these occupations the most driving forces through elimination include analysis, researching, and influencing through organising and controlling. Butler, Sanders, & Whitecotton (2000) argues that value is also a very essential factor as it is based on your beliefs and attitudes in regard to what is important in life. The values that are important in selection of the four options are authority, creativity and economic reward. In these occupations, authority is associated with influencing others through strong organisation skills, economic rewards involves high level of income, and creativity involves developing new concepts through high levels of analytical and numerical skills. In addition adequate resources, good salary, lack of professional isolation are very important job attributes in choosing these occupations. Career satisfaction is based on the individual values as well as the potential of being more lucrative in future. In addition, the income potential of these selected occupations at entry level as well as its potential to increase as one advances the profession and gaining of more experience greatly contributes to the selection. These selected occupations are rapidly increasing and are expected to be very expansive in the future. In the long run, there will be a continued demand of workers in these occupations. Thus, career satisfaction is an important factor that led to selection of these options (Amir, Gati, & Kleiman, 2008). B: Approach on achievement of career goals Aim: To set short term goals and long term goals and work towards them in the next 5 years. My career objectives will cover the following four areas: Research and analysis as the functional area of interest Government and financial institution as the main organisations The level of position consists of experience in economics The size of organisations include regional and international Career statement: Joining market research organisation with a long term goal of a position in senior management, joining industrial organisation in public service with the goal of moving to agency head position. Skills related to objectives Seeking a position that utilises strong analytical and research skills Seeking position that utilises strong organisation skills and supervisory experience Desiring a position that will utilise communication skills in a persuasive as well as competitive environment Desiring a position that will utilise a background in economics and strong interpersonal skills with particular interest in financial management Desiring a position that will utilise quantitative skills with interest in research or data processing. The following career objectives will assist in a systematic and step by step way achievement of my desired career: I will aim at acquisition of adequate expertise in the next five years in order to be in a position to start my own business Getting promotion within this period in order to acquires skills required in the next step in my career I will keep in mind that I will have to consider changing job in order to be compatible in different environments I will always make effort of having a positive attitude towards my work It will be my priority that I will learn new skills in the next five years I will balance work with professional advancement I will aim at increasing the productivity of the organisations Short term goals These goals will ensure that I will monitor my daily achievements as a way of ensuring that I eventually achieve my long term goals. These goals include: Replying to the clients, colleagues as well as seniors everyday Keeping my place of work tidy and neat I will manage my time properly given that it is my major resource I will not exceed break timings Being very interactive with my colleagues Upon promotion, I will ensure that I spend quality time with the employees I will always make it a point of being cheerful at work I will eventually increase my proficiency and speed at the workplace I will focus on excellence in my current project that I am working on Long term goals These goals will guide me in knowing how involved as well as how serious I am in regard to building of my career. They will provide me with a clear vision of my future especially in my capability in starting my own business after the next 5 year period. There will be a need to put into consideration the short term goals as an important bridge to achievement of log term goals (Reimer, 2012). These goals include: To strategically be in a position that I can lead a team as well as a larger group of employees To be able to set and achieve a good increase in organisational profitability within a specific period of time as a way of preparing for starting my own business after a five year period To save enough money as my main source of capital for starting my own business To gain more knowledge by advancing my profession while working. To gain much knowledge as possible within the five year period in order to satisfy my thirst for knowledge and moving my career to another stage Resources: The most important resources (Mincer, 1991) in achievement of my career goals include: Time Knowledge, Skills and abilities Income References Abdula, AL 2008, “Factors Affecting the Salary of Agricultural Economics Professionals”, MS Thesis, University of Arkansas Amir, T, Gati, I, & Kleiman, T 2008, “Understanding and interpreting career decision making difficulties,” Journal of Career Assessment, vol. 16, 281-309 Butler, SA, Sanders, DE, & Whitecotton, SM 2000, “Student and Recruiter Insights on the Importance of Job Attributes,” Journal of Managerial Issues, vol. 12, p. 337–51. Gati, I 1986, “Making career decisions: A sequential elimination approach,” Journal of Vocational Psychology, vol. 33, p. 408-417. Gati, I, Fassa, N, & Mayer, Y 1998, “An aspect-based approach to person–environment fit: A comparison between the aspect structure derived from characteristics of occupations and that derived from counselees’ preferences”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, vol. 53, p. 28-43. Gati, I, Osipow, SH, & Givon, M 1995, “Gender differences in career decision-making: The content and structure of preferences”, Journal of Counselling Psychology, vol. 42, p. 204-216 Hine, S, & Cheney, LM 2000, “Career Choices and Challenges among Agricultural Economists”, Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 22, p. 34–41. McGraw, K, Hughes, JSP, Dixon, BL, & Newton, DJ 2012, “Factors Influencing Job Choice among Agricultural Economics Professionals”, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, vol. 44, no. 2 Mincer, J 1991, "Human Capital and Economic Growth", NBER Working Paper, no. 802 Reimer, M 2012, “Accessing Counselling Service and Achieving Career Goals for First-Generation Women University Students in Atlantic Canada”, The Canadian Journal of Career Development, Vol. 11, No. 1 Read More