Do You Have a Career Plan?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Career Development  

Well, here we are again—the end of yet another year. Time to look back and think about what each of us achieved, and look forward to what we hope to achieve next year. We all do it, whether as part of a formal assessment, or just spending a few minutes thinking things through in our heads.

But far fewer of us have well-thought-out career plans that we actively manage. Is that because we don’t think we need them? Is it that they involve too many variables that are beyond our control? There are many reasons, but career plans are a valuable tool.

Aim high—and hold the aim
My mother had many sayings; I can’t think of too many aspects of life that she didn’t have a phrase about. One of her favorites was “Aim high, and hold the aim.” She used it for hobbies and for sports, and of course as I got older, for thinking about a career and considering what I might be able to achieve.

That career has gone in some very different directions than I imagined when I was first starting out. But I’ve never lost that idea that I should continuously challenge myself to achieve as much as I want to—and that I should maintain that focus through any setbacks that might occur.

I think of it as my overarching vision for my career, something that I am always striving to achieve. Over the years, I have had many different plans—think …

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