Action Planning

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Action Planning

• Dr Sara Shinton
• www.shintonconsulting.com

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Your career plan

• Work out where you want to be
• What are the barriers in your way?
• Who might help you or influence your success?
• This session is about taking control and
  achieving your career goals

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Getting There

• Look at the action points in your career plan
• How are you going to meet these?
• Do you know how to go about these tasks?
• What do you need to do to make sure that you are
  efficient in moving forward?
• What needs to be in your plan?
• Which generic skills are you going to need?
• Which career management skills will you need?

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Career Management Skills

• Reflection
• Commercial Acumen
• Self Analysis
• Occupational Awareness
• Decision Making
• Networking
• Self Presentation and Promotion
• Goal Setting and Action Planning

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Unless you are perfect.

• Youll forget elements of your plan
• Youll be seduced by offers which arent really
  what you want (or press-ganged)
• A plan has to suit the way you work
• Your good intentions will be squeezed out by life
• most of us need help to maintain the momentum

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Reflection

• Think about your career to date.
• What were the best elements?
• Why were these so positive?
• What were the worst elements?
• Why were these difficult for you?
• What would improve your current situation?
• What can you do to bring about change?

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Where do you want to go?

• Think about your preferences
• what is your ideal job?
• What is supporting your progress?
• What is holding you back?
• Begin to think strategically about what actions
  you can take to change your career.

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Commercial Awareness

• How has academia changed in the last 20 years?
• How is student life different now from when you
  were a student?
• Thank about how these changes reflect changes in
  the economy and labour market.

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Commercial Awareness - The Future of Work

• The labour market and career paths
• To be employed is to be at risk
• to be employable is to be secure

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Employability

• The University definition
• "Employability is about equipping individuals
  with the key skills to be effective in work,
  personal and social life, and which are vital to
  economic prosperity."

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The changing world of work

• de-layering, outsourcing, downsizing
• mergers and acquisitions
• from manufacturing to service industries
• customer driven
• global markets and organisations
• impact of IT and E-commerce
• SMEs growing in importance
• self employment and portfolio working
• more flexible workforces
• different psychological contract
• demographics
• What are these organisations looking for?

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• What advice would you give to someone to be
  successful in this environment ?

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Succeeding in the changing world of work

• Find markets for your skills
• Be prepared for change
• IT literacy
• Broaden your knowledge base, but be an expert
• Get connected and well positioned
• DIY

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What is a contract researcher?
Contract Researcher
List the skills and activities that are part of
your day-to-day work
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Problem solving
Understanding complex ideas
Managing projects
Instructing others
Giving opinions
Contract Researcher
Developing new ideas and choosing options
Networking at conferences
Managing information
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Occupational Awareness -Generating career options
Intellectual challenge
Identify a preferred skill or activity and think
of jobs that might involve this
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Strategic Management Consultant
Administrator in HE
Operational Researcher
Intellectual Challenge
Police Detective
Careers Adviser HE
Parliamentary Research Assistant
Systems Analyst
Risk Analyst
Prospects Planner is available in the Careers
Service
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Generating career options

• Think about your preferences
• Careers Service support
• Talk to people in interesting jobs
• Directory of local contacts/your network
• Reflect on previous jobs/experience
• Look for trends in the labour market
• Create a job clip file

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Making decisions

• Do you have a realistic career plan?
• If not, what are your priorities?
• What constraints must you consider?
• Look at the list of employment sectors and select
  those which you would consider working in.

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Networking

• Build a picture of your own network of friends,
  current and former colleagues and employers,
  family, business contacts, suppliers, researchers
  in your field.
• List their careers and highlight any that may be
  able to support you

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Networking

• Information they can give
• what job involves
• what motivates them
• how they got the job
• their advice for your success
• changes to the job/future developments
• skills needed
• their future careers

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Skills of Contract Researchers

• Corporate Management/Business Skills
• Project Management
• Financial Management
• Managing people
• Planning
• Proposal Writing
• Quality Issues
• Information/Document Management
• Personal and Interpersonal
• Research Skills
• Context
• Strategic
• Research Concepts
• Methods
• Dissemination

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Measures of Success

• Funding
• contribution to proposals
• fellowships
• support for specific projects
• Publications
• patents
• research articles
• industry reports

• Conferences
• posters
• presentations
• attendance
• Committees
• administrative experience
• exposure to academic management
• Professional Qualifications

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Capturing learning

• Think about your preferences
• Review and consider alternatives

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Learning Styles

• Activists hands-on learners who prefer to have
  a go and learn through trial and error
• Reflectors tell me learners who prefer to be
  thoroughly briefed before proceeding
• Theorists convince me learners who want
  reassurance that a project makes sense
• Pragmatists show me learners who want a
  demonstration from an acknowledged expert
• See www.peterhoney.com

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What is your baseline?

• Where are you now?
• skills audits
• knowledge base
• catalogue experience
• What is available?
• are there opportunities to develop new skills?
• are there any threats to your development?

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What skills will you need?

• What job do you have in mind?
• Where is the labour market going?
• Are changes forecast?
• Can you develop skills that might be in short
  supply?
• Find experts and use them

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How do you develop skills and experience ?

• find a mentor
• support others in their development
• are there new projects that you have time to
  become involved in ?
• broaden your reading
• look for placements/secondments/new
  collaborations
• shadow people with interesting jobs
• use the training available effectively

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Suggested Format

• Weakness/Development area
• Realistic Goals
• Resources needed and support mechanisms
• Potential Difficulties
• Time-scale

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Keeping a record

• Simple is often effective
• Find a style that suits your preferences
• but recognise weaknesses
• Set aside time
• Commitment
• Focus on personal value
• ALWAYS SET A TIME LIMIT

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Build a portfolio

• review progress regularly
• how have you used skills, knowledge and
  experience to achieve projects or tasks
• record what you did, how you did it and what the
  result was
• use progress meetings to cover professional
  development

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• Objectives Progress
• Comments on progress
• Main achievements
• Strengths demonstrated
• Difficulties encountered
• Steps to improve performance
• Objectives for next period

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Goals

• make goals SMART
• specific
• measurable
• agreed
• realistic
• timed
• identify DRIVERS and RESISTING FORCES
• identify BENEFITS (to yourself and others)

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Back to YOUR Perspectives

• How have these been dealt with?
• What issues remain?
• Work-life balance
• Being realistic
• Look around you

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Final thoughts

• Academia is facing the same pressures as other
  sectors
• It still offers a uniquely satisfying career to
  many people
• This session was not to put you off (!)
• .but to help you develop your career
  successfully.