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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: ............................................................................................................................... 2
MY CAREER GOALS: ........................................................................................................................ 2
MY CURRENT POSITION: .................................................................................................................. 3
STEPS FOR ENTERING IN THIS CAREER: ............................................................................................ 4
SELF ASSESSMENT: .......................................................................................................................... 6
PEOPLE AND RESOURCES: ................................................................................................................ 7
BARRIERS: ....................................................................................................................................... 8
PERSONAL REFLECTION: .................................................................................................................. 8
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 9










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INTRODUCTION:
Managing and planning career is not an easy yet very important task. In order to become a
successful person in career, a person must plan it before the time. Failure of doing so results in
entrance in wrong filed, unknowingness of difficulties to be faced, and ultimately the waste of
precious time and efforts without any solid reward.
Planning career is a process of making action plan for career by exploring ones strengths and
weaknesses, then acting upon that plan, making decisions and finally acting upon that plan
(Dessler, 2010).
In this assignment I would talk about my action plan of career planning. In this section it would
explore my strengths, weaknesses, available opportunities, goal setting for my career, resources I
would need to act upon the plan, and obstacles I would face in the stated career. The details
would also include the steps that would lead me towards the achievement of that goal.
MY CAREER GOALS:
Before making any plan it is important to set goals. Objectives give direction for making better
planning (Lublin, 2010). My goals for career ahead are stated below.
To become a proficient project manager in next 5 years. I want to become a project
manager who handles all the macro level tasks of a project like budgeting, planning,
resourcing, recruiting, and making feasibility reports.
Goal:
To become a Project Manager after five years.
Possible steps and strategies:
Gaining technical knowledge
Improving soft skills
Entering in practical field as soon as possible during studies
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Tasks/Action Steps
(What will be done?)
Resources
(Time/Support/Finances)
Timeline
(By when?)
1. Postgraduate Degree

4 Years By the end of next
year
2. Practical Knowledge

Along with studies Continues
3. Entering in market as
IT officer

- By the end of my
degree
Evidence of success (How will you know youre making progress?)
By getting good grades during studies and appraisals in organization every
year.
Evaluation process (How will you know your goal has been reached?)
When I would feel that now I have been given full authority by company for
major projects for budgeting and other technological tasks.

MY CURRENT POSITION:
Currently I am in the second year of Technology Management and also working in an
organization as officer IT. During my whole degree program I have learnt many concepts and
applied them during my job as officer IT. This helps me to have maximum practical knowledge
of IT activities before I officially enter in the market.
My degree of Technology Management is quite relative to my career goals. Becoming Project
Manager in IT requires huge knowledge of technology as well as management studies and I get
both kind of knowledge in this degree.
Main courses that would help me in achieving this position include financial accounting,
computer programming, managing human resources, project management, operations
management, quality management etc.
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Currently I am working as officer IT as part time job. This job is very much helpful for me to
understand my concepts. I apply my conceptual learning on various activities and tasks done on
this job. In this way my learning gets doubled. By having studies and practical experiences side
by side would help me out to achieve my long term goal quickly and with more efficiency.
STEPS FOR ENTERING IN THIS CAREER:
There are various steps in entering in this career required. These are stated below:
Having a Postgraduate Degree: In order to become a certified and competent project manager I
need to have a postgraduate degree that would make me able understand various concepts of IT.
I would finish this degree by the end of next year and thus would have maximum knowledge of
IT.
Soft Skills: For becoming an excellent project manager both soft skills and technical are very
important to have. These skills include good presentation skills, excellent communication skills,
persuasive skills, problem solving skills and quick decision making skills.
Gaining much knowledge during studies is my first priority in order to strengthen these skills. I
present my every assignment in front of my class and this improves my presentation skills. I
work in groups in order to improve my communication skills. During presentation answering
questions helps me to improve my persuasion skills.
Technical Skills: Technical skills are very important to have in the job of Project Manager.
Technical skills include computer and IT literacy, financial competence and technological
knowhow. Technical skills cannot be gained without any practical experience thats why I am
working as IT officer to get practical knowledge as much possible.
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Practical Experience: Practical experience is very important with the conceptual knowledge to
understand the things in a better way. In order to maximize the knowledge of my postgraduate
degree, I need to get some practical experience as well besides. I am getting this experience by
working as officer IT in a local firm. It is a small scale firm where IT infrastructure is not good
enough. So I am learning a lot by developing this infrastructure with my own hands.
Following table would be used by me to ensure that how well I am in achieving my goals






Five-year goal:
To become a proficient Project Manager.
Year 1 Benchmarks
Working as IT officer
Action steps
Continuous learning and engaging in various projects
Year 2 - Benchmarks
Get promoted as In Charge IT
operations
Action steps
Working in close relationships with senior managers
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Year 3 Benchmarks
Working with close relationship with
Project Managers
Action steps
Handling various activities of projects by myself
Year 4 Benchmarks
Get promoted as Project Assistant
Action steps
Assisting project manager for various activities
Year 5 Benchmarks
Get promoted as Project Manager
Action steps
Handling whole project by myself








APPENDICES
SELF ASSESSMENT:
Self assessment is a very important thing when making career action plan. It involves the
identification of personal strengths and weaknesses. My personal strengths and weaknesses are
stated below:
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Strengths: My personal strengths involve better communication, good presentation skills, and
excellent persuasive skills. These soft skills would help me out in my career ahead. Reading
books is my hobby that gives me some general knowledge that I can use to persuade others. As
far as IT is concerned I am very proficient in its technical skills
Weaknesses: I am lacking in quick decision making but my current part time job is helping me
out well enough to become a master in this weakness. Also I am little bit irregular but again
thanks to my current job that is making me regular and punctual.
Using MBTI module I have identified that I am having personality of ENTJ. That makes me a
perfect person for IT because I am an extrovert person having good intuitive skills, use thinking
for decision making rather than feeling and judge the things instead of using my own perception.
PEOPLE AND RESOURCES:
I am having excellent instructors in my university that help me to understand knowledge well.
Also I want to have good employers who would help me grow in the field of my interest. With
the help of employers who motivates their subordinates all the time, it would become much
easier to proficient in the industry.
Having encouraging subordinates is something that helps you grow swiftly. I wish that I would
have subordinates who always listen to me and correct me when I am wrong instead of feeling
uncomfortable with me.
The support of colleagues cannot be ignored. I would like to have supportive colleagues who can
help me in any kind of difficulty at job.
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Other resources, to help me in achievement of my goals, include books, project reports of other
projects etc.
BARRIERS:
Time constraint is the biggest barrier I face. When I give much time to my job (practical
experience) I get less time for studies (conceptual) and vice versa. I try to make a better mix of
both by giving more time to each on alternate days. The competition in the industry is also
biggest obstacle. By becoming more competent I can defeat others in the same field.
For this purpose I make a positive balance to my office and study work. When I get some
relaxation from office work, I prefer to work on my studies. When I am on my work I try to
apply my conceptual learning on practical activities. This makes these activities easier also make
my concepts more concrete.
Another barrier is the rapidly changing technology. The technology is changing very swiftly so
thats why it is needed that a person must be in continuous learning of new IT concepts.
PERSONAL REFLECTION:
Writing this course work helped me a lot to plan my career ahead. It reveals that what is the
significance of making career action plan and what factors are important for making such plan. I
feel that my career plan is very much achievable as I have completed all the required steps for
making this plan. There might be some changes in it with the change in time. With the change in
time I might need to learn new skills and for that reason I might have to undergo to some short
courses. This plan is guidance for me. I might have to change it on some places but my main
career goal would remain the same.
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REFERENCES
Lublin J. (2010) "The Keys to Unlocking Your Most Successful Career" The Wall Street Journal
(Asia Edition), 6 July, p. 41
Dessler G. (2010) Human Resource Management, 12
th
Ed., Prentice Hall Publishers
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ANDRE A. (2010) Performance-driven behavior as the key to improved organizational
performance, Measuring Business Excellence, 14(1), p. 79-95