Career Services

4 Step Career Process

In today’s world of work, the only sure thing you have is yourself, and you need to serve as the anchor for evaluating and identifying opportunities. To do this effectively, with each job you must assess yourself and world of work, and create a plan to reach your goal. The four step process enables you to do this completely and systematically, providing a framework for looking deeply at yourself, and then using that knowledge to build a plan for future work.

The four step process includes:

1. Looking Inward

In this phase you will assess your past interests and successes, your work and personal values, your interests, and your hopes and aspirations for your path in life. This information will prepare you to sort options based on who you are, and to find work that is a good fit for you.

2. Looking Outward

Having thought about who you are, you will now gather information about what is happening in the world of work. What are the trends in work generally, in specific industries, geographical areas, and how do they affect you? How can you use this information to your advantage? As you identify the fields that are best, what companies or organizations are potentially strong matches for you?

3. Strategize

Having gathered all this information, how can you tie it together to support your goals? Do you need to gather additional information through networking or informational interviews? Which organizations would you like to connect with if possible? Making these strategic connections serves as the base for your individualized career plan. Creativity is particularly important in this step.

4. Implementation

Forming a plan, and carefully carrying it through according to plan, is very important. As you work, reflect weekly on your progress to date, and modify your plan if needed. Regular coaching is very helpful at this point; this is challenging and requires personal resilience and courage along the way.

Hope is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— and sings the tunes without the words— and never stops—at all— — Emily Dickinson, class of 1849