No Career Plan? No Problem

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No Career Plan? No Problem

I’m a planner by nature.  It serves me well as a career consultant.  Hundreds and hundred of people have come to me over the years  seeking help with planning their next career move.  In my book “Navigating Through Now What?” I liken approaching career decisions without a plan to floating down the river in a boat without a paddle.  So to say it’s not a problem to go without a career plan seem contrary to the very core of my business.

Over the past few months I have interviewed dozens of successful people who at one point in their career were recognized as high potential by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”.  I wanted to see how their careers have unfolded since being acknowledged and how they have navigated various career crossroads.

In the recently published interview http://www.bizjournals.com/search/results?q=pam+wheelock, despite a career that transverses many different yet equally impressive roles Pam Wheelock from the University of Minnesota told me she really didn’t have a career plan.  What she had instead was a heightened awareness to pay attention to and open to opportunities that unfolded around her.  She also had a clear sense of what was important to her which acted as a compass when evaluating the various opportunities.

So the valuable take away is that not all career plans are linear and some of the best career plans don’t follow a map but follow an internal compass which acts as a general guide so that when opportunities present themselves, you know you are heading in the right direction.

2012-12-20T10:49:32+00:00

About the Author:

Cultivating Careers was founded by Karen Kodzik, a Career Consultant who has worked with individuals in transition for over 13 years. Karen meets professionals at various points on their career path and works with them to gain a clearer sense of where they want to take their careers. Karen Kodzik holds a Masters Degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Career Development. Karen couples seasoned counseling skills with a solid business acumen. She has coached and consulted various levels of professionals across industries to successfully reaching that next point in their career.