1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event
Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year — more often if you feel the need or if you’re planning a major career change — and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your career — what you really want out of your career, out of your life.

2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning
One of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path — whether straight and narrow or one filled with any curves and dead-ends — will help you plan for the future.

3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and Wants
Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life — not just in your job — that you feel most strongly about.

Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.

Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want or need from your work, from your career. Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.

4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies
Career planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you’re not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it’s not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths.

Think you can’t make a hobby into a career? People do it all the time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn’t until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.

5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments
Most people don’t keep a very good record of work accomplishments and then struggle with creating a powerful resume when it’s time to search for a new job. Making note of your past accomplishments — keeping a record of them — is not only useful for building your resume, it’s also useful for career planning.

Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will reveal forgotten successes, one or more which may trigger researching and planning a career shift so that you can be in a job that allows you to accomplish the types of things that make you most happy and proud.

6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable Skills
Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don’t see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it’s much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles.

For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills — such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information — skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.

7. Review Career and Job Trends
Everyone makes his or her own job and career opportunities, so that even if your career is shrinking, if you have excellent skills and know how to market yourself, you should be able to find a new job. However, having information about career trends is vital to long-term career planning success.

A career path that is expanding today could easily shrink tomorrow — or next year. It’s important to see where job growth is expected, especially in the career fields that most interest you. Besides knowledge of these trends, the other advantage of conducting this research is the power it gives you to adjust and strengthen your position, your unique selling proposition. One of the keys to job and career success is having a unique set of accomplishments, skills, and education that make you better than all others in your career.

8. Set Career and Job Goals
Develop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes.

A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change – and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.

9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities
It’s somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career.

Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities — and then find a way achieve them.

10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement Opportunities
One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is picturing yourself in the future. Where will you be in a year? In five years? A key component to developing multiple scenarios of that future is researching career paths.

Of course, if you’re in what you consider a dead-end job, this activity becomes even more essential to you, but all job-seekers should take the time to research various career paths — and then develop scenarios for seeing one or more of these visions become reality. Look within your current employer and current career field, but again, as with all aspects of career planning, do not be afraid to look beyond to other possible careers.

-Employers generally make snap judgments while reading your resume – and if they see an unrelated job profiles or titles or skills then they immediately assume that you are not qualified for the position. Don’t waste your time elaborating on your skills or the headings, as employers don’t have time to waste on each resume and determine whether you have the appropriate skill or experience which they are looking for. The design of your resume must showcase your skills, experience and education at the first glance. At first glance, employers must form an image about your skills and abilities.

-Your resume should be designed to attract the employer’s attention, but it should not be jazzy and should have the complete content and should include all your skills and abilities. These things may land you an interview, as well as determine your salary package that you may receive.

-Always use powerful words and statements to demonstrate or describe your achievements as well as your responsibilities. These points can grab an employer’s attention and elevate your image in front of him or her. The more you specify your positive points, the better. Use powerful words and phrases to control the images that the employers develop about you while reading your resume. Powerful words should match the job profile you are seeking.

-Learn and analyze the key words that employers provide in the advertisements or job descriptions, as this should be the key element in creating powerful and impact oriented resumes.

-Always try and understand and project the employers hidden needs through your resume like for example if an employer needs someone who can handle departments, accounting more efficiently then you should identify it and anticipate the full range of need and show that you can resolve it through your resume.

-Resumes should always provide a list of duties of each applicant without explaining the benefits of the skills to the employers like for example a secretary’s resume should state her typing speed and should also state how it could benefit the new employer. The real benefit of the employee should produce more work and also save the employer money.

-Your resume should create an image of you in front of the employer. When writing your resume, keep in mind the level of the job you are seeking and the salary you are expecting. Always use language according to the position you are seeking.

-Try and prioritize the content of your resume, as this is the most important mistake that is made by many job seekers. Always compile statements according to importance, relevance of the job you want.

-Always try and tweak your resume and cover letter as they can generate many more interviews for you. Try and place the heading to the left hand column for retail management positions.

Here are some tips to make the most out of your job fair experience:

Preparation is the most important thing. You should prepare the night before and make sure you have plenty of resumes printed on good paper. It is also a good idea to practice answering some basiv interview questions. A piece of advice I give to my clients is have a friend or parent do a role play with you. Another tip I suggest is to videotape yourself. You will be amazed at much you will learn aftter you watch your self on tape.

Dress for success. Make sure you are presenting yourself professionally. I recommend a suit for men, and a pant suit for women. If you dress to impress you will already be way one step ahead of the competition that did not. I am sure you have heard the impression, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, this is especially true when you are job hunting. Employers will make a judgement on you based on how you look. I must admit, I am guilty of this as well when I hire people.

Make as many connections as possible. Make sure you talk to every company that you are interested in. Try to make a lasting impression. These companies will interview hundreds of applicants, it is important that you stand out at the end of the day. Another tip is to get as many business cards as you can and call or email them to follow up. What I have found from my own experience is that usually the person who follows up and is aggressive in pursuing the job will be the person who gets the job.

As mentioned above, even the job seekers see the lack of quality in today’s career events. But, there are those certain companies that do find their way there; and these are the ones that you need to be prepared for along with every other person in line. When you go to a job fair prepare to stand in a lot of lines with your competitors; but while you are doing this make it worth your while and make some friends and most important network. You would be surprised how much networking you could actually get accomplished.

At least the day before the event start preparing your material so that you are professionally prepared; gather all of your appropriate work history that the hiring companies might inquire about along with any possible skills and accomplishments. Have this information readily available; prepare a very professional portfolio with all of the printed documents that you might need to show in a moment’s notice, even references or certificates. Be ready for anything, your new career could be waiting for you even if you have to stand in line for two hours; maybe you’re the one that they are waiting for.

Now that you have all of the appropriate documents ready for this exiting career event; what about your attire and how are you going to present yourself to these companies or even some possible colleges if that is what you are interested in. You must dress appropriately as in professional; you may not be a suit type of person and that is OK, but at least show that you care how you look and that you show some interest in your personal hygiene. Wear some nice slacks with a clean shirt and blouse or how about a nice dress that is always a good thing, and speaking of dresses please keep in mind of your cleavage. It is very difficult to talk with someone about their career or upcoming position or anything in that matter if you have to concentrate on not looking at the low cut chest with everything in front of you.

When misconduct occurs it means that there is a problem with the employee’s attitude and behaviour towards their job. Misconduct can be put into two categories. The first one is serious misconduct and this can be for example, a member of staff who consistently comes in late for work in the morning. The other category is gross misconduct. This is more serious and if not resolved this situation can lead to the employee being dismissed. Gross misconduct can involve verbal abuse, stealing and even violence.

When it comes to misconduct the consequences can be swift and severe. It is important that it is made clear that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated. Every organisation should have a disciplinary procedure. Each organisations procedure can have different levels of warnings before a dismissal is given. At a minimum there should be at least two warnings before an employee is dismissed when there has been no improvement in their behaviour. However, if the case is a gross misconduct issue then, dismissal may have to be the immediate result.

The process of a disciplinary procedure uses an incremental approach with each warning more serious than the one before it.

1. Verbal warning

This is the first stage and can be used to communicate to staff that their behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. For the majority of misconduct issues a verbal warning is sufficient to change and correct the employee’s behaviour. However, if the behaviour does not improve and continues then, you move to the next stage.

2. First written warning

The employee is given a written confirmation of their warning with a clear statement that if the behaviour continues the situation will become more serious.

3. Second written warning

If they do not respond to the first written warning they are given a second one.

4. Final written warning

If both the last two written notices are ignored then a final warning will be given. The final warning is the last throw of the dice before a suspension are dismissal is given.

5. Suspension

When an employee ignores all the written warnings or a they have been implicated in a serious situation then that person may need to be suspended and the case investigated.

6. Dismissal

This is the last resort when repeated warnings are ignored. However, it can become the first and only option if the misconduct is very serious and beyond reproach.

One of the most important things today is to be able to give yourself an edge and if you don’t have one then find one! If you already have the relevant qualifications and experience, yet time and time again you are receiving the ‘unfortunately you have been unsuccessful this time’ spiel then you need to give yourself a powerful edge that gets you noticed and makes you sit head and shoulders above the rest of the applicants. Sounds easy but how do you actually achieve such notoriety?

Using the correct channels

Perhaps the hardest part of getting a job is finding one in the first place. There are many channels to utilise when searching for a new job and one of the most used in the modern world is the Internet. It provides job seekers the ability to narrow down search criterion and match you with the perfect job within minutes with a whole world of job opportunities at your finger tips. As well as the net, local and national newspapers are extremely useful for job hunting whilst so is taking the initiative and applying to a company who is not advertising for a position can really make an impression.

Courses and classes

Take some time out and ask yourself what you would be looking for in a candidate for the job that you are applying for and if, like many, you are new to the industry then completing a course or class that is relevant to the job is a great way to get your foot on the first rungs of the ladder. If you are an old hand in the sector then maybe it’s time to do a refresher course to jazz up your qualifications and make them more pertinent to what the job entails today as it is likely to have evolved somewhat since you first started.

Up to date CV

The key to securing your ideal job is to provide your potential employer with as much information as possible about your personality, background, interests, experience, qualifications and work experience so make sure your CV is up to date and set out professionally. Spelling mistakes and punctuation errors look sloppy as does an excess of information which can make a CV look daunting and unpleasant to read. The last thing you want to do is make your potential employer trawl through uninteresting facts and figures so jazz it up a little or get a professional to create one for you.

Dress appropriately

This may sound like a basic point that is taught to us when we are 16 and completing our school work experience but it is not as silly as it sounds.

If you are 40 years old and have spent the last 20 years working as a personal trainer in a gym you must make sure that you don’t turn up to an interview for an office job wearing your tracksuit. Taking a little pride in how you look will always stand you in good stead for successfully netting a job.

The right attitude

There are a whole host of correct and incorrect ways to approach an interview, whatever job you are applying for, and by walking into an interview and making a good impression from the start will make the process run a lot smoother. A smile goes a long way and makes you come across as personable, a trait that is also admirable. Prepare for your interview by having a few questions to hand and thinking about your answers to commonly asked questions. i.e. Why do you want this job? Why do you think you will be able to do this job?

With an easy-to-read CV tucked under one arm, a smart outfit teamed up with qualifications and experience and the right attitude; you may just find yourself in a new job before you know it.

The career vocabulary has to e given prior importance and a good understanding for the first step in planning. Words meaning the same can then be proved different, though with only subtle difference. For example the words: position, employment, job, career, occupation. They seem to be synonyms, but do not necessarily be so. A paramedic and a doctor both have an employment, but their positions differ. It is important to be familiar with the following words before planning a career: career management, career development, career counseling, career guidance.

These have a lot to do with planning a career. A firm structure is required for career building. Career building are steps taken towards a systematic and designed career that fits you perfect. It helps in a satisfactory progress all along the path of a well chosen career. Long term goals and short term objectives are decided and they are the first step towards planning for a good career. Decisions are made based upon one’s flexibility, adaptability and resilience. The response to challenges are decided by these characters. Later self assessment of one’s personal management capabilities is done.

Identification of one’s skills and strengths is important in career planning. Knowledge on the source of information should always be in the process of updating. The trends in labor market often change. Training opportunities have to be found out. The years in work force would have given you several positions or jobs. A good marketable individual ultimately does an effective career planning with the required changes.

After registering with a reputable job portal, and have run your first job search, learn how to refine your job search. Job seekers new to online job searching should use a refined job search to improve their search results. Quick job searches are great when looking for broad search results. When looking for refined results uniquely filtered, advanced job searches will closely pinpoint less common vacancies.

A job alert is a terrific way to use job portal resources to their greatest potential. A job alert is a scheduled update of the relevant job advertisements uploaded to the job site. By pre-defining job criteria, a job alert will monitor activity on the job website. Based on the job criteria and keywords detailed in your job alert, the system will automatically update and notify you accordingly of matching jobs. By receiving job alerts, job seekers are savvy to positions specifically relevant to them, as they are loaded to the job site. The early bird catches the worms and that’s why you want to be a prompt as possible when applying to important employment opportunities. Improve your job searches by making use of relevant job alerts.

As discussed, there are various resources that a job seeker can utilise when hunting for a job. Be sure to make use of the job search resources that are most relevant to the success of your job search. Manage a healthy balance of utilising each available resource until you can identify with those that specifically assist your career. By making use of all the resources available to you, your job searches are bound to improve.

Job searching isn’t all just about you searching for employment opportunities. Recruiters and employers are also searching for job seekers. By registering with reputable online job portals you are allowing yourself to be found. Head hunters run searches on online job portals and recruitment databases, hunting for candidates. If you don’t play you can’t win, so be sure to advertise your CV where people know to look. While this is not a direct way to search for a job this will enhance the results of your job hunt significantly.

2. Tailor your resume to the position you are trying to pursue. On your work history section of your resume don’t list all your duties at your previous job list the ones that are MOST APPLICABLE to the position you are trying to obtain. Even better is to choose accomplishments and contributions that are related and list those as well. Which brings me to my next point.

3. List accomplishments and contributions not duties. Employers want to see what you can do for them, what value-added service or skills are you going to bring to the table. When I review a resume I want to know what you accomplished at your last job and how that translates into what my company needs. Pick accomplishments that are specific to the job you are trying to get.

4. Market your knowledge, skills, and abilities. I always tell my clients the first 1/3 of their resume is the most important. If the top third of the page catches my eye then I will take the time to read the rest. You can make your resume stand out by creating a powerful career summary at the top and then adding a core strengths section right underneath.

5. Create a powerful introductory statement. You introductory statement needs to be related to the position you want to obtain, sell your best attributes, and be POWERFUL. When I read an introductory statement I’m looking for that WOW factor. I want it to grab my attention, tell me you’re the best candidate for my position, and make me want to read the rest of your resume.

6. Highlight your strengths in a core knowledge section. This is a great facilitator for keywords. Use industry specific keywords in this section. If you put your keywords here and disperse them throughout the resume your chances of being first in a search on a job board dramatically increases.

7. Create an eye catching format. Design the layout of your resume to be reader-friendly and attention grabbing. If I open your resume and it is a mess I’m not going to spend more of my time searching through it to find the information I need. If your style, format, and layout are attractive I will be more inclined to read through the rest of the document.

Jessica Holbrook is a former Hiring Manager and a professional resume writer with Great Resumes Fast. She creates powerful, customized, and targeted resumes that are guaranteed to get her clients interviews. For a free resume analysis visit http://www.greatresumesfast.com or for a free phone consultation call 1.877.875.7706