Different organizations have different approaches to career planning. When you've completed this video, you will be able to define career planning and list the types of information typically used in the career planning process. The indeed.com editorial team defines career planning as the process of discovering educational training and professional opportunities that suits your client's interests, passions, and goals. For this process to be successful, career navigators need to build rapport with their clients to ensure open communication. Rapport is covered in more detail in the video, establishing rapport and building credibility. The formal career planning process used is typically defined by each organization's best practices and generally include some version of the following steps, exploration and assessment, career research, exploration and experimentation, decision-making and career selection, final planning and action, and job search and acceptance. Let's take a brief look at what each step entails. The exploration and assessment step begins at intake. It's during the beginning stages of the coach-client relationship when you get to understand clients needs, strengths, personality, skills, education, and interests, which you'll use to help them make solid well-informed decisions about their career paths. Many organizations use a pre-assessment enrollment form like this one. This form discussed in detail in the video conducting a needs assessment helps career navigators gather information about a client's work and skills progression, job readiness, and digital skills, as well as other relevant information about a client's situation. The career research step begins with you talking and sometimes brainstorming with clients about their job or career preferences. Or for clients who aren't sure where to begin, it's the opportunity to assess their skills and interest to find careers best suited to them. Remember to use skills assessments and interest surveys we covered in Module 3 of this course. The results from these tools will help to narrow down the client's possible career interests and job fields. From there, it's a matter of looking at the jobs that are available in a client's chosen field or profession and determining which ones they like to consider. The third step, exploration and experimentation, is when clients narrow down their potential opportunities and start to learn more about each of them. If possible they should also learn what the jobs are really about. They can do this by interviewing business owners and employees who work in a particular industry or job. Job shadowing, volunteering, or working full or part-time at a job to see and experience what it's like to do certain jobs. Working in internship which trains clients while they work usually in areas like construction, manufacturing, and mechanical job sectors which might show clients potential job environments that they may not have thought about or considered. Finding a mentor who can advise clients and give them an inside look into a job role or taking courses to understand what is involved in a profession. Clients can also learn about jobs through online searches, company websites, and articles and publications in print or online that talk about aspects like salary, work environment, company values, and so on. The more you and your clients learn, the better decisions they'll be able to make. Which brings us to Step 4, decision-making and career selection. In this step, your client has come to a decision likely with your help about the job or career they want to go for. You'll talk through all the information they have and if need be, play devil's advocate to make sure they're making the choice they want and not just telling you what they think you want to hear. You should also make sure they have one or two alternates in case they find out they don't really like their chosen job or they need training to gain additional skills needed to qualify. Step 5, final planning and action is the point at which you and your client plan their career journey step-by-step. This is when goal setting comes into play as well as any assessments the client should take to identify potential skill gaps between what they can do and what they need to be able to do. They and you need to plan how to close those gaps through training and certification programs or by enrolling in classes or courses. For example, if a job requires proficiency in Microsoft Office, help your client assess their digital skills and enroll in training classes to improve competency. Assessments and skill gaps are covered in detail in the digital skills assessment video. There's often a financial commitment your client may have to make. Some organizations use an individual career and financial plan to lay out goals and also to further evaluate job salaries and compare them to client's financial needs. Finally, we come to Step 6, the job search and acceptance. When your client will be working on their resumes, modifying them to meet the job requirements, applying for jobs, and going on interviews. Going through the career planning process usually takes time, different amounts for different clients. This is why career navigators must organize themselves to meet their clients where they are. As you learned in the video, managing client load. The process also enables clients to take charge of their future and take clearly defined steps to achieve it. The content in this course was based in part on information from indeed.com.
