Why Most People Get Stuck In Their Career Planning
Technology / 17, February 2020

Why Most People Get Stuck In Their Career Planning

After giving ten years of hard work and dedication to the job many often people feel they have become static in their career planning. All these years working in the same organization you have somehow found your comfort zone. Your pay might be good enough, co-workers and overall work environment satisfactory as well. But what might not be good enough is your urge to climb up the success ladder. Organizations are responsible to keep the spirits high of their employees to excel in their careers. They must devise training programs, job descriptions, and specifications in a way that employees give in their best to the organization. They must give sufficient authority in decision making to employees so that they can best utilize their skills and expertise while enabling the company to achieve its goals. However, it would not be fair to hold organizations entirely responsible for keeping the workforce motivated. At the end of the day, you must acknowledge and realize that you are responsible for your career growth, choices that you make amongst the myriad of job opportunities and successful life. You need to probe into the factors yourself. Examine what is lacking to give your career a boost. It is very important to reflect on yourself for effective career planning. Those who want future success plan for it from the first day.

Here are some of the reasons why people get stuck in their career planning.

Understanding Career Dynamics:

In order to perform a job the most important thing undoubtedly is having relevant skills. For example, you cannot be a doctor unless you obtain a relevant degree and practicing license. If you want to become an architect you must complete your education in this particular field and acquire relevant experience. Only then you can start the career of your choice. However, this is just the basic point of entering into career planning. This would only help build an understanding of how to perform the job. Excelling at the job is a different thing. You must be clear as to what is required to grow and succeed in a particular field. Different fields have different requirements. In order to become a proficient doctor, you must take the relevant examinations and courses from time to time. On the other hand, a successful architect must have some big projects and collaborations with real estate developers to his name. You must understand what works in your specific field to attain career growth. Identify what skills need to be polished, whereas what sort of competence is not a top priority. Having such an understanding will let you identify the areas where you must invest your time and energy to the best. Smart people effectively utilize their energy in mastering only in those relevant skills that allow you to progress in your career.

Being A Lackluster:

If you happen to be perfectly “ok” with the monotonous routine of performing the same job same time every single day, this might not be a good sign. Sometimes being too comfortable with your stagnant job might create problems in the long run. Your enthusiastic peers would surpass you and excel in their careers. By the time you realize what you have lost it might be too late. You might not be able to acquire the skills at the later stages. Your confidence and ability to market yourself as a resourceful employee will also deteriorate worsening the situation. Such people are likely to get stuck in their career stage forever. So be wise and make the right decisions and right times in your career.

Working In A Shrinking Field:

With so much advancement in technology, many jobs are becoming redundant as quickly as in a matter of three to five years. With artificial intelligence, you could expect humans being replaced with robotic waiters, newscasters and what not! So if you happen to work in a field where growth opportunities seem to be shrinking, you should consider shifting your career domain. This becomes even more important if you perform a particularly specialized job that is no longer demanded by organizations. In such situations, you should consider learning new skills and taking up courses to augment your expertise. Focus on your strengths and utilize them in order to do something productive with your life taking inspiration from people around you who lead a successful life. Do not hesitate in asking for help from your friends and family members. It is better to be proactive and identify potential opportunities and threats the environment poses for you in the future. Once you identify them, devise a plan to tackle with them ahead of time.

Refusing To Upgrade Your Skills:

This is a common factor amongst most of the people who get stuck in their careers. Being complacent with their current skill level and not accepting the fact that a successful career requires constant up-gradation of expertise is a huge mistake. The world is changing so fast. If you do not enrich your skills from time to time you may be left out and can be easily replaced. You must look out for relevant training programs and short courses that add to your skills. Discuss with your boss as to what ways you can use to polish your skills. This will also help you create a good impression on your supervisor as an eager and enthusiastic employee.

Lack Of Job Rotation:

Sometimes performing the same job and the same role also contributes to getting you stuck in your career planning. If you have been in the same department and performing the same role for about five years it is high time you ask your supervisor to rotate you to some other department and give another role. Changing job descriptions will give you the motivation to perform better and prove yourself capable of performing different kinds of tasks. Moving to a new department helps you interact with different co-workers and learn new things in a different environment setting. Change is always good to give a boost to a weakening career. Therefore, you should rightly identify as to what reason is causing you to get stuck in your career and then deal with the situation accordingly.