The simplest way to explain why you need to give a thought about your future now is that getting what you want requires planning. Career is a major aspect of life which influences all areas and hence need serious planning.
Why is Career Planning so important?
A successful career doesn’t typically happen by chance. In order to build one and get all the benefits that come from it, you need to spend some time identifying what your innate capabilities and strengths are, what you want to do with your passion areas and how you will get there—that’s exactly what career planning does for you. Planning ahead works because:
- Picturing your goals motivate you and help in keeping focus.
- Planning how to reach your goals helps you set the priorities and in staying organized.
- Sometimes you need to do things in a certain order, so it’s important to know where to start.
Advantages of Career Planning
1. Career Planning gives you an environment for ongoing personal reflection
The right career plan takes into account your strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, and what you innately like and need out of a career. It gives you an opportunity to reflect on what you have to offer to the world, how your career plan leads to a successful life, and identify ways so that you can grow personally and professionally.
2. Career Planning provides you a roadmap to your future
A solid career plan is important as it can provide a roadmap for your future. It helps you make informed choices about the current job situation in a particular field as well as future career moves. Career planning outlines which path to opt for going to get from Point A (where you are now) to Point B (your ultimate career goal). With a set goal, you’ll be able to identify the actions you need to take to get there. They may include steps like assessing job descriptions to check what you need to do to qualify for them, attending relevant events to make new connections, and exploring different organizations to see if they’re the right fit.
3. Career Planning recognizes gaps you have to fill
Career planning helps you identify where you might need to learn a little more. It can be achieved by taking additional courses, becoming certified in a new skill, or even pursuing higher education. It gives you the opportunity to fill all the skill gaps gradually to reach your end goal.
4. Career Planning can avoid joblessness
There was a time when any person that held a Master in Business Administration (MBA) was welcome to join any large corporate organization in India. In today’s scenario, 92% of MBA graduates have either no employment or work on jobs that don’t pay well.
The same scenario holds true for engineers. About 75% of engineering graduates don’t have jobs because they don’t have the right skills. Also, there is not so much demand for engineers in the job market to justify over a million engineering graduates every year.
Hence correct career planning helps you to avoid being unemployed due to lack of demand or obsolescing of your skills.
5. Career Planning prevents financial losses
During the school year of 2017-2018, students in India took a shocking loan of Rs.140 billion to finance their studies. Out of this, Rs.30.48 billion was taken for engineering, Rs.30.36 billion was taken for the studies in medicine, Rs.22.63 billion for nursing courses, Rs.13.66 billion for MBA studies, and Rs.42.90 billion for all other courses.
As per the Indian Banks Association (IBA), most of these students are unable to pay back these loans due to poor salaries and high-interest rates. Regardless of the reason, these students may not be able to get a loan in the future due to slower or non-repayment of education loans. Furthermore, interest on these student loans continues to increase when repayments are late.
In simplest terms, this translates as a financial disaster for students or individuals who haven’t planned their careers. And these financial setbacks can severely affect future plans too such as weddings or buying property for residence or business.
6. Career Planning & Mental Health
India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports that 2.5% of all suicides in the country happen due to the reason of unemployment. Apart from suicides, unemployment is the cause of severe mental problems. With the help of correct career planning, these kinds of undesirable situations can be easily avoided.
In India, employment and career go hand-in-hand with status. Hence career planning is extremely important to ensure that you enjoy a good status in society and rise higher along financially and socially.
7. Career Planning Helps Understand Job Trends
Another reason why career planning is an important factor for a successful future is the ability it provides to read and understand well-paid businesses or job market trends. When you start planning a career, you’ll definitely have to keep in mind what are new and emerging professions and identify the scope in these upcoming professions as per your innate strengths and talents.
When you stay updated with trends, the chances of your skills going obsolete are lower. Often, an upcoming and alternate profession or career option holds better, long-term promise than so-called prestigious ones if they are in line with your brain qualities. By identifying emerging career options as per your brain functioning, you are future-proofing your career and ensuring that your skills remain relevant till you retire. And these skills allow you to venture into entrepreneurship as well.
The Bottom Line
Career planning is crucial because it helps you leverage your strengths and build confidence. More importantly, it ensures that you take ownership of your career. Before concluding, I’ll emphasize that career planning is important yet highly underrated in India. Unfortunately, most educational institutes don’t provide career counsellors to students. And hence parents play the role of a career counsellor. So it is very important for them to be well informed about the career choices for their children.