According to the world-renowned hairstylist, Vidal Sassoon, success doesn’t come before hard work except in the dictionary. Achieving career success hinges on more than just effort; it requires a well-thought-out strategy — a strategic career plan.

What is a strategic career plan?

A strategic career plan is like a roadmap for your career. It helps you set goals, and know what you want to achieve, and when you want to achieve it. But don’t worry, making a plan isn’t hard! We’ve got five tips to help you make a plan for your long-term success:

1. Write down your career goals

The first step to creating a successful career plan is to know what you want to accomplish in your career journey, which should include a minimum of one long-term goal with several short-term goals.

On how to identify your career goals, here are three key questions you should ask yourself:

• What do I want my career to look like in the next two years?
• What do I want my career to look like in the next five years?
• Do these goals make sense to me?

An example of your short-term goal can be learning a new skill or technology relevant to your profession, while your long-term plan should factor in that your industry might change over time and how you intend to keep up. Short-term goals cover a day to one year, while long-term plans can extend to four years and above.

2. Do a SWOT analysis of yourself

SWOT is an acronym written in full as Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats

Take some alone time to reflect and identify each of these things. Here are a few questions to help you identify your strengths:

• What can you do better than your colleagues?
• What achievement makes you proud the most?
• How experienced are you in your career?

To uncover your weaknesses:

• What do you avoid doing?
• What have people pointed out to you as your weak area?
• Do you have any form of knowledge or education gap?

To discover your opportunities:

• Can you take advantage of the expansions happening in your industry?
• Is there a problem you can offer a solution to?
• What new technologies can you learn to help you perform better?

To identify your threats:

• Are you experiencing any form of obstacles in your career?
• Are your professional skills no longer in demand?
• Is the competition high at the company you work for or in your industry?

3. Widen your horizon

It is important to explore different career options in your journey. Exploration is fun and significant in developing a strategic plan for long-term career success because it would make you valuable. 

By doing this, you would:

• Acquire new relevant skills
• Achieve personal growth and
• Be adaptable to trends in the professional world

4. Join a professional community

Being part of a group can help you do well in your career. It’s more than just getting emails you don’t read. You need to find the right group and learn from them.

For example, the free online Career Advantage Sessions (CAS) periodically organised by TweakMyContent is one such career advancement opportunity for every serious-minded career person today. Topics across industries, from business development to agriculture, engineering, technology, and many more, are carefully broken down. Resource persons in these fields come to educate young, intermediate, and executive professionals on achieving long-term success in the different disciplines.

5. Get a career coach

Sometimes, achieving career success can be a bit of a challenge without a little “push” from someone who has gone ahead.

If you need to get coached one-on-one on your career path, send us a message at hello@tweakmycontent.com. We’ll be happy to set you up for success.