Career Center > The Career Planning Process

Step Three: Making a Decision / Action Plan

The third and ongoing step in career planning is making a decision/action plan. What is a career decision? It is any major decision you feel is of utmost importance in your life; it may or may not be directly related to work. It is true that some people seem to be better than others are when it comes to making a decision. Remember that decision-making is a skill and you can improve a skill through practice. A "good" decision exhibits the following process:

• Clearly define the major decisions affecting your life; these could include marriage, finding a job, retirement, having children, and life goals.
• Know yourself: your values, your dimensions as a man or woman, short and long term goals, your interests and abilities.
• Evaluate the current information you have and, if necessary, seek, evaluate and use new information.
• Identify your alternatives, predict the consequences of each one, and assess the desirability of each consequence.
• Make a choice and evaluate the suitability of your choice. Decide if you need new information and need to repeat the process.
• Develop a plan of action for reaching the goals you have set.
• Develop the skills you will need to overcome obstacles regarding educational, occupational, or personal issues.

If you want to become a better decision-maker, put this process into action immediately -- and on paper! Seeing your decisions unfold in writing can be very helpful and will focus your attention on those areas of your life that are most critical in your career planning process.

FINALLY, when you know WHO you are, WHAT you can and want to do, and WHERE you want to do it, you begin to implement your ACTION PLAN!

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CONTACT
Tina Rolen
Director of the Career Center
(540) 362-6364
cdc@hollins.edu