Since childhood, people wonder about who they want to become. Gradually, the list of questions is supplemented by what profession to master, how to get the necessary education and skills. One of the defining selection criteria is often how profitable a future job can be. An article by Torpey (2016), Business careers with high pay, partially sheds light on some of the questions. The author describes the prospects for employment and payment of various career paths in the field of business. Even though the article focuses on wages, it raises a fundamental problem of career planning.
The concept of a career can be considered from several perspectives. For example, it can mean a person’s path and achievements in self-expression. Moreover, careers can be an indicator of performance and social status. The most common use of the concept of career is related to a person’s employment and professional activity. Career planning consists of defining the professional development goals and how they can be achieved. Career development refers to the actions that a person takes to implement a professional plan. People planning and developing their careers have a clearer vision of their prospects, the possibility of professional growth. Through planning, they increase competitiveness in the labor market and better manage other aspects of their lives.
Difficulties in defining a career and constructing its development plan begin at the initial stage of selection. The choice is influenced by many factors – a constantly changing market that needs people with relevant skills, trends, public opinion, personal opportunities, and abilities, and other aspects. Moreover, environmental, social, and economic problems increasingly affect modern society, and careers stability suffers (Buford & Nester, 2020). Many different factors of influence, the variety of vacancies can overwhelm students and make their choice even more difficult.
Even after a choice has been made in favor of a specific job and career development started, additional difficulties may arise. According to Ahmed (2020), such obstacles may be the lack of clear steps after the goal is achieved, changes in the industry, and a lack of training or skills. The first problem concerns uncertainty, which occurs in employees after receiving a promotion. They work hard but feel confused when they reach the established goal.
Another obstacle, changes in the industry, concerns external factors that affect the working environment. For example, the industry representatives may shift focus into using technology to achieve their goals, and an employee who does not have technological skills will no longer have a place in the company. The latter problem, lack of training, requires constant development of skills to obtain the desired work and support progress. It also is worth noting that all these aspects create constant pressure, requiring significant efforts from people.
Given the importance of choosing a career path and the variety of factors that influence it, a responsible approach to planning is required. Even the initial choice requires an extensive self-assessment, and research, after which one can begin to draw up a plan (“Career planning,” n.d.). Self-assessment is an act of reviewing personal priorities, interests, values, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as relevant talents. Buford and Nester (2020) advise counselors not to provide student with information in the form of job titles and descriptions but to consider the challenges they want to address doing a specific job. A better understanding of themselves will help students determine the direction in which they wish to develop.
After determining the direction, students need to conduct an investigation. It is necessary to ensure that their chosen job will remain relevant, bring sufficient income. For example, it is crucial to pay attention to growing industries that will only develop and not disappear under the influence of world trends. The investigation also helps determine what development opportunities are on this path (“Career planning,” n.d.). After that, one can begin to draw up a plan. At this stage, it is helpful to take examples of famous people or find a mentor who will help understand how the career path develops (Ahmed, 2020).
Moreover, another the recommended aspect is networking, interaction with colleagues in the industry (Torpey, 2016). At the same time, people should not forget that changes are permanent and require development and flexibility from them.
Thus, the article about high-paying jobs in business stimulates thinking about career planning. Choosing a professional path is extremely important because it affects many areas of a person’s life. At the same time, both in the initial choice and planning of career development, people can face significant obstacles. Problems can be viewed from different perspectives – global issues, personal preferences, financial well-being, and other aspects.
All of them affect career choices and development, making this process challenging. The paper discusses several of the most common problems and suggests ways to solve them. In particular, the process of choosing a professional direction should focus on the values, personal qualities, and challenges that people want to solve. For continuous development, flexibility and the desire to learn are required, and for career confidence, a mentor and understanding with colleagues are essential. Therefore, people should be prepared for various obstacles and be able to solve them.
References
Ahmed, A. (2020). Examples of obstacles & challenges for a career plan. Chron. Web.
Buford, M., & Nester, H. (2020). A problem-solving approach to career exploration: Using the lens of challenge. National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Web.
Career planning: Process benefits, limitations. (n.d.). IEduNotes. Web.
Torpey, E. (2016). Business careers with high pay. BLS.Gov. Web.