What comes to your mind when you think about career planning?  Many people aren't sure what career planning means.  For our purposes we will define career planning as "A goal that you desire to achieve in a selected field or occupation with a well thought out plan to get you there."

A career goal helps you focus and make decisions on what you want to do for a living. It directs you, motivates you and helps you to accomplish what you want.  A career goal helps you focus and make decisions on what you want to do for a living. A career goal can be a specific job—such as a clerk or teacher—or a career goal can be a particular field you want to work in, such as transportation or education.

A career goal may help you discover your talent, skills and abilities and possibilities that you wouldn't have thought of.  Many possibilities exist with any career you choose. Having a career goal can guide you to doing what you want to do in your life—rather than just aimlessly drifting from job to job.

Once you choose a career, it would be to your advantage to think strategically about the steps you need to take to accomplish your goal.

The future is unpredictable; however, you should still make career goals and plan the necessary steps to your goal.