The last time I checked the statistics, it turns out that the average American changes his / her job no less than 7 times over the course of their working lifetime.

That frequency could be good, but it could also be bad. On the one hand, the high turnover could represent an active identification and acquisition of the right job at the right time. On the other hand, It could also be an indicator of repeated failure.

Each of us has our own background, circumstances, capabilities, interests and motivators. So, what works for someone else, may not apply in the same way to the rest of us. And, actually, it turns out that that’s fine. The reason being that there are some time-tested methods for doing this sort of planning and they’re tailored to fit us like a new suit or dress. That’s what we’ll cover in this article: How to plan your career.

To begin with, we have to start out with a few assumptions in order to make this realistic and valid, so here goes:
 We assume you have an active and real interest in doing this. You can get help from other people, but in the end, how well this works is up to you and the effort you put into it.
 There may not necessarily be one ‘best’ or right answer for any of us. Instead, there may be a number of options.
 The cost of doing this is not prohibitive or so high as to prevent anyone from pursuing it.
 I’m going to use myself and a lot of the planning I did as a sort of pathway for you to follow to understand what is needed.

Career planning can occur any time during your adult work life. After college or high school graduation, after leaving the military, after ending a relationship or after any other significant point in your life. In my case it has happened twice. The first time was when I graduated college with a degree in Psychology that I pursued because I liked the university program and staff, not because I wanted to pursue it as a career. The second time was when I relocated with my family and faced my prime earning years.

Early Career Example: After receiving my Bachelors’ in Psychology I was faced with a very slow job market, almost no work experience except some high school and college sales, and a great deal of uncertainty about what I wanted to do for a living. My search consisted of desperately going through the classified advertisements (pre internet days) and phone book. It was then that a good friend approached me, aware of my predicament, and suggested that I apply to IBM. They needed workers to help handle administrative tasks in defense of some lawsuits and were looking for young people to help. This suggestion from a friend led to 14 years at that firm, a partial pension, an MBA and acquisition of great skills and experience. That’s why we start the how-to list with these points:

1. Network, network, network throughout your career – it’s by far the most powerful way to find jobs, even when you don’t exactly know what you’re looking for. And don’t just focus on the people you know – you must get to anyone you think might be able to give you leads. Note: most people get a little uncomfortable if you ask for a job, so ask for information or contacts instead. They went through this once themselves and know you really want a job, but may not be able to deliver that. So try not to make them uncomfortable and they’ll be in a better position to help you.
2. Follow opportunity wherever you find it – you won’t always get the chance and it leads to good things. At the time, I knew IBM had a fine reputation and was growing. Sure enough, diversity of areas available for exploration in such a large firm provided career pathways I explored, which helped me understand my interests and goals better.
3. Life is a series of continuing educational opportunities. Try to learn what interests you and then go after getting the education you need to qualify.

Mid Career Example: In my case, during my early career, I found three areas I was interested in – Information Technology, Finance/Accounting and Project Management. That was the good news. The bad news was that I was confused and uncertain about my future direction. The answer to what I should do next will differ for everyone, but two things are clear. The first is that each of us needs to get this question resolved unless we can live without finding the answer. But given the amount of time we spend at work, and when one considers how central work is to our identity and life, finding the best answer for us will be time well spent.
Fortunately, a powerful tool is available to help with your planning. It’s not the only tool and may not necessarily be the best tool for everyone. But it worked very well for me, and it can for anyone willing to devote a reasonable amount of time and thought. The tool I’m going to describe is called a holistic career evaluation. If you are planning to have one administered, be sure to discuss what you will get out of the session(s) with the provider ahead of time.
In the course of my research, I talked to people who advertised themselves as ‘Career Counselors’. I decided they didn’t offer much additional help to me at this stage of my career, other than basically just providing a skills inventory, which tells you where your strengths and weaknesses are.
On the other hand, a holistic evaluation includes that, but also analyzes your personality, motivation, likes and dislikes and other so-called ‘soft’ factors. It puts all of this information together and comes up with a list of jobs that best fit your combined criteria.
For example, my evaluation noted that I’m somewhat analytical, but that I also enjoy working with people. Putting that together with my strong writing skills, it was suggested that one of the things I’d enjoy doing is working up a new job search strategy and preparing a new resume for clients. I do this professionally today.

Another output of my evaluation was that I liked all three of my backgrounds and should stay with them. Getting this sort of validation is invaluable. I went on to get more training in each area (Finance, IT and Project Management) and can now see how well each compliments the other two areas. I’ve been happily making a good living as a Financial / IT Project Manager the last 15 years.