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What is Action Planning all about? |
| Action Planning is all about preparing for your future. There are certain times in your life when you need to make crucial decisions; in Year 9 when you choose subjects for GCSE; in Year 11 when you decide what to do at 16; in Year 13 when you leave 6th form; and throughout your life whenever you are faced with choices about your career route. Action planning helps you to prepare for these decisions and guides you onto the next stage. |
| What is a plan like? |
It is usually a written document completed by the person who is making the plan. Other people, such as a Careers Adviser may add comments to it if necessary.
A written plan consists of:
- a personal statement about what you want to do
- ideas that look ahead to where you want to go
- the action steps you need to take to get there
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| When are actions plans started? |
| They are usually introduced into the careers curriculum in Year 10, although pupils may have talked about them in Year 9. Year 10 is a good time to start writing an action plan because it is the time when you know something about career routes and pathways and when you are thinking about post-16 options. It also takes the pressure off Year 11 when you are busy with GCSE exams. |
| Why bother to plan? |
| A plan helps you to think about the future by identifying what you want to do, where you want to go and how you intend to get there. It will help you to make realistic decisions about what you can do. It also makes you think about alternatives if things go wrong with your plan.
For example: imagine you want to go to college and you need 5 GCSEs but you only get 4. In your action plan you will have written down some thoughts during your research about alternative ideas for your future in case your first plan didn't work out. |
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What sorts of things do you write in a plan ? |
| As a starting point to set you thinking, you may write down your strengths and your weaknesses. You should also write down your interests. A Careers Adviser may give you an aptitude test to help you. This test helps you discover more about yourself and gives you some ideas of the sort of job you would be good at. This information is written into your action plan.
If you are looking for a job or changing jobs then write down the skills, knowledge, and experience you have already gained.
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What else do you put in the plan? |
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You might be thinking about what you would like to do when you leave school and how you can achieve this. If you have a particular interest, try to use your work experience to check it out. If you are unsure, just list all the options that do interest you. Many young people have no definite plans, only possibilities. Write down the possibilities. Careers staff will help you sort through these so that together you can plan the steps you want to take.
For school leavers and for job changers there are more and more opportunities to help you think about what you want to do before you decide. Work experience, job shadowing and job sampling are all strategies used by pupils and adults.
In addition to practical experience, find out as much as you can about jobs you are interested in from careers services, training organisations and job information centres. If you think any of the information is useful put it in your plan. |
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What if you change your mind? |
| Just because you have written down some ideas, it doesn't mean that you can't change your mind. You must keep checking and if need be altering what you have written until you are happy with your plan. Any alternatives you have written down will help you in case your first plan doesn't work out. |
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Who will help me write the plan? |
| If you are still at school, careers staff will help you. They may even add comments and suggestions to your plan that you can use.
Job changers who are drawing up a career development plan, can ask for advice and information from careers centres where experienced Careers Advisers will explore all the possibilities with you.
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| Is a Career Development Plan different?
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A Career Development Plan is a type of action plan. It is used by adults who want to review their career prospects and plan for the future or for those who want to (or have to) change career. Action plans and career development plans both follow the same pattern: research and preparation/ action steps to take/ follow through/ review and revise if necessary. |
