With all the talk of Artificial Intelligence, the end of the idea of a job for life and suggestions that those coming into the workforce now having several careers, you might be wondering if it is really worth planning your career.
After all if there is no certainty what’s the value?
From my perspective it’s an interesting one.
Take accountancy where I spent 25 years working in.
There’s always going to be employees who need paid.
There’s always going to be suppliers who need paid.
Sales will have to be invoiced and money collected.
Management information will be needed for planning, reporting and decision making.
I started off in accounting in the days before computers. Data input sheets had to go off to a centralised computer centre for processing to get into the ledger.
Analysis was a slow process without Excel.
Of course the way in which the job was done changed. To make that change required new skills to be developed. As more automation became available the focus changed. Less time was spent on processing which created more time for added value activities.
So back to the question of whether it’s worth planning your career.
If there is going to be more need to be flexible and adaptable. To be able to take on new roles, do things in different ways then in many ways the need to plan your career progression becomes more important.
If you think about it career planning is really an ongoing process.
You set some intentions short, medium and longer term.
You take stock of where you are now in terms of skills, knowledge, experience and attributes.
You establish the gaps between where you are and where you intend to be at a given point in your career.
You take a number of different actions to close the gap. That might be in terms of broadening your experience, developing your skills or develop personally or deepen your knowledge.
So really while the nature of careers might change, there is still in my view a need to plan your career and take action to achieve your plan.
What’s your perspective?