T.M. Kayode

It is a new year!!

What better way is there to start the year than planning the year?

I was a part of an insightful career enhancing workshop last year. The workshop was facilitated by the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD fellowship). You can read more about their activities here. I was slated to be a part of the Mentorship program. A couple of concepts were discussed, like the roles and benefits of Mentors and Mentees, how to build to effective Mentor-Mentee relationships, the influence of personalities in the mentor-mentee relationship, Gender roles in Mentor-Mentee relationships and Career trajectory planning.

In this blog post, I will dwell more on Career Trajectory Planning because I believe that the concept I learnt during the workshop will be useful for future planning and what better time to post this than at the beginning of the year. I’m going to put a little spin on what I learnt; however, tribute goes to the AWARD fellowship for putting together such a wonderful workshop.

Let’s begin

So many of us, at some time or the other, have dreamt up a grandiose Idea of what we want to be in the future. Sometimes, this picture is so daunting that it seems It may not come to fruition. We are at the beginning of a new year and I think it is important to think deeply and plan our careers.

The goal of this post is to help you organize your future activities and plan strategically for the future. To those who are willing to walk-through this module, I must warn you that it may take a little bit of time and deep thinking. Then again, you are trying to plan out your career so any time spent designing this is worth it.

Disclaimer: Sometimes things do not work according to plan. Life could send out some curve balls! In those cases, you need to learn to adapt quickly and move on. Regardless of the influence of the variable called “Life”, It is important to plan. Benjamin Franklin said Failing to plan is planning to fail.

I digress

Let’s really begin

Note: You can perform the following steps on a piece of paper or answer the form I created here.

First, divide the paper into four (4) columns as seen in the sample.
Next, you need to decide what you want the peak of your career to be, this could also be the biggest vision you have for yourself, what you want to be remembered for etc. You need to make this as big as possible. Don’t hold back! Write this at the top of the paper (1st column). Insert the year you want to achieve this feat (2nd column).

Next, consider your current status, your current job role, educational experience etc. Write this at the bottom row of the paper (1st column). Fill up that row with other information; such as current year (2nd column).Also, list out some challenges you have experienced or challenges you are currently experiencing in your current job role. Write that at the bottom row of the paper (3rd column). Then, list out some ways you think you can resolve each of these challenges. Write that at the bottom of the paper (4th column).

Now that you have inserted your main vision in the top row and current status on the bottom row; you need to consider the career steps you need to climb to get to your main vision. Fill up the subsequent upper rows with positions you need to fill, the year you want to attain these positions, the challenges you may encounter in trying to achieve this position and the ways you intend to resolve these challenges.

I have created a form that could help you achieve this. All you have to do is answer the questions and your career trajectory blueprint would be sent to your email address. Just in case you need a one-on-one consultation. Kindly send your request via this link.

I hope you enjoy developing your career trajectory blueprint. I wish you good success on your journey.