Published on 24/11/2008

Having a decisive career plan can open a number of doors when it comes to searching and securing that perfect role. The current job market is booming, unemployment is low and demand for candidates is high. To increase your competitive advantage you need to know what you want and why you want it. Far too often candidates are attracted to advertised roles for the wrong reasons, without fully contemplating the importance of career mapping and research. As the old saying goes "failing to plan, is planing to fail".

Career Mapping (cont.1)

Generally, at the outset of your job search or when making that decision to move on, your thought process is "I should be able to advance my career and gain a meaningful and satisfying position related to my skills and experience". From this point it becomes increasingly more important to consider the reasons behind why you are looking for a new role. When asked about these reasons, candidates admit to accepting an offer because the salary was higher than another vacancy or because they wanted to move from a previous position quickly and didn't take the time to research the range of opportunities available. Others say they are finding their search unproductive or frustrating, but then admit they don't know what they are actually looking for.

More often than not we find candidates apply to advertisements without fully assessing what the role actually involves. Applications are becoming more generic to be used in applying for multiple roles and in some cases fail to qualify experience in relation to prerequisites. Generic applications and sweeping statements of "I'm looking for anything", or "I'm looking for a career change", without proper research can indicate a lack of career focus or potentially even a band aid approach to why you are leaving your current employer. With all the indecisiveness, we see a repeat pattern of good people ending up in the wrong organizations or positions.

Career Mapping (cont.2)

Misguided job searching leads to the frustrating situation of being told "you are overqualified or don't have enough experience for the roles you are applying for", with this in mind you are probably applying for the wrong jobs. With a plan in place you can take incremental steps to reach your desired goal and have a more strategic and results focused career map. The threat of rejection will also be significantly reduced as roles will be in line with your experience and you will have a greater contribution to make. For employers longevity and the ability to "hit the ground running" are significant considerations when taking someone on. Additionally, for candidates the decision to move can be very emotional as there is a level of uncertainty and unknown about what the next step will involve.

The best way to ride the jobs boom is to ensure that you take advantage of the number of jobs available to develop your career and then pursue an opportunity that will allow you to ultimately achieve it. This requires clarity of mind, knowing exactly what you want and a clear plan of action to search for the role that will advance your career. Then you need to pursue an opportunity that will advance your career in the desired direction.

Ideally you want to determine where you want to be in five to ten years time and then pursue the roles that would enable you to work towards that specific goal. Given the current positive labour market, there has never been a better time to map your career and take advantage of the high level of vacancy activity to get where you ultimately want to be.