Career Planning Handbook Career Planning and Development Centre The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Making Use of this Handbook The handbook is to help you: Consolidate and capitalize your strengths; Recognise your weaknesses and hence try to overcome them; Explore opportunities in the job market; Develop action plan for career planning. To maximize the benefit, you should: Be honest to yourself, avoid arrogance or false modesty; Try to talk with others to gain more objective self reflection Try to gather information from various channel, don t rely on only one source Seek professional advice, eg, career counseling. Career Planning Cycle Career Preparation Self Understanding Goal Setting Job Market Understanding 1 of 9
Part A: Self Understanding In the self understanding process, it is important to write down your ideas. Talk to yourself genuinely and you will find the miracle inside it. My personal information 1. Name 2. Education 3. Work Experience 4. Extra Curricular Activities 5. Qualifications 6. Other Skills/ Professional Affiliation 2 of 9
Self Reflection Exercise Questions to ask yourself Abilities Achievement in school eg, basic skills: reading, writing eg, Thinking skills: Creative Thinking Interests How do you use your leisure time? Your hobbies Self reflection Any evidences/ examples to support? Values Cultural From family From past experience Preferred life style What do you perceive the role of career in your life What is your personal plan, eg, further study, marriage, child raring Personality Use tests or inventories as a tool only, don t be bounded by the result How do others see you Others Eg, Unique aptitude, special beliefs, likes and dislikes 3 of 9
Part B: Job Market Understanding Mini research project It is common that we don t know what exactly the job nature, requirement and content of certain jobs are. For example, what does a Human Resources Officer actually do? What duties should an Account Executive carry out? However, it is our responsibility to find out the facts or to understand more about the industry before we engage in it. There are plenty of resources around us which help to gain more updated information about job market. Try to answer the following questions using various channels, eg., Job advertisements, Internet, alumni, newspaper, friends, career centre, etc.. 1. What qualities are employers generally looking for? 2. What are the nature of the job including educational requirements, salary, working conditions and future outlook? Job Title A Nature of the Job B C 4 of 9
3. What do you know about the industries/ companies? Industry A Corporation/ Company/ Organization Corporate/ Organization Culture B C 4. The most critical factors affecting your career choice, please rank. (1-most important, 3-less important) Critical Factors 1. Interest 2. Ability 3. Job Nature (eg, private/ public, marketing/human resources) 4. Prospect (eg, promotion, development of the industry) 5. Job characteristics (eg, office hour, stability, stressfulness) 6. Corporate culture 7. Corporate characteristics (eg, scale, structure) 8. Personal Values 9. Monetary and/or other rewards 10. Others: Ranking 5 of 9
Part C: Goal Setting 1. My Career Objective: (how you would like to see yourself in your career in the next 5 or 10 year.) 2. The industries/positions that I am interested in: 3. The anticipated qualifications / requirements should I possess/ fulfill: 6 of 9
Part D: Career Preparations SWOT Analysis Strengths Positive internal aspect that are under control Weaknesses Negative internal aspect that are under control Opportunities Positive external conditions that you do not control but of which you can plan to take advantage Threats Negative external conditions that you do not control but the effect of which you may be able to lessen 7 of 9
Career Exploration Activities (Checklist) Have you experienced the following career exploration activities in the past 6 months? Please put a in the box Part A: Sharing / Seeking advice/ Self-exploration/ Self-understanding I have discussed with/ understand myself more through: Part C: Gaining work & social experience I have engaged in: 1. My Family 17. Job internship programme 2. Career counselors 18. Professional / major-related work 3. Friends 19. General / non-major-related work 4. Senior students / Alumni 20. Volunteer work 5. Professors 21. Exchange programme 6. The working in my interested field 22. Others: 7. Career planning / exploration guidebook (e.g., Career Planning Handbook) 8. Others: Part B: Information seeking I have attended /made reference with: Part D: Acquiring general/specific skills/certification for career I have participated in: 9. Career talks / recruitment talks 23. Professional qualification exam / course 10. Career fairs / exhibitions 24. Language courses 11. Alumni sharing sessions 25. Computer skills courses 12. Professional associations 26. Interview preparation workshops 13. Workplace/company visits 27. CV and resume preparation workshops 14. Job related information from mass 28. Social etiquette workshops media and Internet 15. Job pamphlets/work manual 29. Leadership skills workshops 16. Others: 30:Others: 8 of 9
My Career Development Plan Once you have determined what career path you want to follow, assess what you need to do to prepare for that career. Do you need special training/experience such as interviewing skills, resume writing skills, internship experience, social business etiquette skills or company visit? List out your action items and try to take action right now. Priority 1. Actions (feasible, self-controlable) Resources (where to find such resources?) Status completed/ in progress/ sourcing 2. 3. 4. 5. 9 of 9