Exploring & Planning Your Future
Career Options
May 2013
Thomas Building, Room 103 ▪ 559.278.2381
www.fresnostate.edu/careers
www.facebook.com/fscareer
careerservices@csufresno.edu






"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go
from here?"
" That depends a good deal on where you want to get
to," said the cat.
"I don't much care where," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the
cat.
"So long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an
explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the cat, "If you only
walk long enough."
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Objectives




Explore your future career options at the
beginning of your career or mid-career
Identify your career goals and develop
your personalized career plan
Discuss the value of utilizing a Career Map
for future planning and decision-making
Complete a goal-setting brainstorming
exercise to identify top three goals for
development over the next year
General Options for your
Career Future
(Must consider pros/cons of each option)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Stay where you are
Become increasingly specialized
Move up through supervisor and/or
management ranks
Change career field
What are the pros/cons of
staying where you are?
Increasing Specialization

Example: SSP Series at Fresno State
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Increasing variety and complexity of assignment
Increasing interaction with students and others
Increasing analysis of materials and situations
Increasing independence and creativity required
Increasing decision-making authority and impact
Complete details available through HR
web page
www.fresnostate.edu/hr
Increasing Specialization (General)

Very much like increasing skill requirements of SSP
Series, but will vary according to organization and
industry

Sample description of high level of specialization:
At the most senior level, you can take care of any project
thrown at you. You are an expert in the skills you have
experience in, but can also pick up new skills in a very
short time, if required. You can complete a project from
start to finish with very little supervision required. You can
delegate aspects of implementation to others, but are able
to help out if required. You are seen as a natural authority
within the teams you lead and are working on several
projects at the same time.
Moving Up Through Supervisor
and/or Management Ranks




Typically must demonstrate successful
supervision of others at all ranks beneath
desired position
Must acquire and retain extensive
knowledge of all areas under supervision of
the desired position
Success increasingly based upon ability to
delegate effectively and motivate others to
complete work
Often long hours; complex supervision
challenges; and many meetings
Typical Supervisor/Manager
Key Result Areas




Planning
Organizing
Staffing
Delegating
Supervising
 Measuring
 Reporting

Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Changing Career Fields

Utilize transferable skills to make a
lateral move into a different industry
–

Must identify and market well during search
process
Obtain training/credentials necessary
for desired position in new industry
–
May need to research extensively
Career Mapping
Why use a Career “Map”?

Will assist you to behave more
strategically when it comes to:
– pursuing employment opportunities
– undertaking further education and
professional development
– broadening your skill and knowledge base
– broadening your professional network
– growing your professional profile
Why? (continued)

Will allow you to regularly review your
achievements against your planned
objectives so that you can track your
own progress in moving towards your
identified goals.
Career “Map” Defined

A 1- 2 page summary document that outlines
your 'current position'; your 'target position'
and the steps you intend to take to move
between the two.

Should be a fluid and evolving document that
is reviewed and refined over time as your
circumstances, interests and career
objectives evolve.
Elements of Career Mapping

Knowing your career preferences
– May require assessment of skills, interests, abilities, values
and personality

Exploring options
– Gathering information about your occupational options

Making decisions
– Including setting goals and developing career management
skills (such as self-reliance skills, and maintaining career
health)

Taking action
Career Map Samples

Blank and sample completed maps (see
handout)

Career Mapping article by Gordon Miller
(see handout)
Taking Action

Choose a format that works for you – writing it
down is a powerful motivator for many
 Keep your “Map” readily accessible; visible is
even better (even if just the very next step)
 Even tiny steps are still progress; making it
ridiculously easy can help you experience
success and reinforce the habit
 Performance review time can be a cue to
start/update your Career Map
The Power of Goal-Setting

Goals help us create our future in advance;
create destiny; inspire; power to grow,
expand and develop our success
 Whatever your goals are, they are affecting
you for better or for worse
 Study of Yale University graduates (class of
1953)
– < 3% had clear, specific goals with a written plan for achieving
them
– 20 years later (1973), not only happier/more well-adjusted, but
worth more in financial terms than the other 97% COMBINED!
Source: Anthony Robbins goal-setting workshop from Personal Power (CDs)
Mini Goal-Setting Exercise


3 Areas – Personal Development, “Thing” Goals &
Economic Goals
Steps
– Brainstorm for 5 minutes or so identifying what you want within the
next 1 to 20 years. Put self in state of mind where you have total
faith and expectation that you can create anything you want (can
get practical later); write as fast as you can; get wild, think outside
of the box.
– Next, go through each goal and assign a timeline for when you
want to achieve (1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years).
– On separate sheet of paper, select the top 3 goals within the 1-year
timeframe you are absolutely committed to accomplish . Spend
minute or two writing down a paragraph about why you want it,
what difference it will make, how you’ll feel when accomplished.
– Spend minute or two on each writing down consequences of not
reaching goal/negative impacts.
Source: Anthony Robbins goal-setting workshop from Personal Power (CDs)
Mini Exercise, continued

Personal Development Goals
– Who you’d like to become, where would you like to go, what would
you like to create in your life
– What are some of the skills you’d like to develop, talents, abilities,
character traits you’d like people to mention when describing you
– What are some goals you have for your career, what you want to
accomplish career-wise, project work, specialty areas

“Thing” Goals
– Things you’d like to have, buy, do, be create; e.g. car, home,
vacation property, people you’d like to meet, boat, concert, plays,
movies, things for children, butler, maid, cook, etc.

Economic Goals
– Financial goals, including monthly/annual earnings; savings (IRA);
retirement; business goals (company and self); child education
funding; investment; anything financially-oriented
Source: Anthony Robbins goal-setting workshop from Personal Power (CDs)
Handouts
www.fresnostate.edu/careers
Review of Objectives




Explore your future career options at the
beginning of your career or mid-career
Identify your career goals and develop
your personalized career plan
Discuss the value of utilizing a Career Map
for future planning and decision-making
Complete a goal-setting brainstorming
exercise to identify top three goals for
development over the next year
Bibliography

Career Aspirations & Expeditions – Nancy
Archer Martin & Jennifer L Bloom, Ed.D.
 Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop
Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less
Time – Brian Tracy
 Learning Reconsidered: A Campus-wide
Focus on the Student Experience – The
National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators (NASPA) and The American
College Personnel Association (ACPA)
Other Resources

Chronicle of Higher
Education
http://chronicle.com/

NASPA
http://www.naspa.org/

ACPA
http://www.acpa.nche.edu/

HigherEdJobs.com

Do What You Are Paul D. Tieger and
Barbara Barron-Tieger
 Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator
(MBTI)/Kiersey
Temperament Sorter