Your career (or work life) plays a major part of what we do in life.

Often people are not sure about their work goals or not happy in their work life. Generally it is because they have never looked at where they are going and as importantly, HOW they are going to get there!

You have chosen the hospitality industry for your study – so at some point you need to think about what you are going to do and how you are going to use all of this fantastic knowledge and practical skill that you have acquired! I am sure when choosing your course of study; you had some specific goal in mind.

Think about your life so far! Have you had any work experience to date? What have you done that you really enjoyed?

It is important to remember that you are in charge of your career. You are the one that it is able to make decisions about where it is you want to go. This may be a hard concept to grasp, as you have probably just come out of further education, or are about to and you have spent most of this time being directed! You attend interviews and feel like you are at the mercy of the person conducting the interview! But remember the ultimate choice is yours and if you have a clear plan of your path and how you are going to get there, you will have a sense of confidence, choose better jobs to apply for and ultimately perform better in interviews!

Have you thought about where you want to be – what defines success for you?

I have asked so many students about their ultimate dream “where do you want to be in 'x' years?” and they nervously giggle and say “I want to be the General Manager of a hotel” or “own my own restaurant”. They are great career options, but why be embarrassed about them. Instead think carefully about how you are going to get there! What steps are you going to put in place to achieve this success?

Where are you now?

• To start this process, you need to look at what you are doing now…where are you in your life?
• How old are you?
• What are your commitments?
• Are you married? In a serious relationship? Have children?
• What makes you happy?

Think five years ahead

• What age will you be then?
• Do you think you will be married – does it factor into your life?
• What sort of financial; position do you realistically think you will be in?
• Do you want to further your education?
• What sort of job can you imagine yourself doing? Perhaps it is not your ideal job but it may be one that is necessary to reach your ultimate goal.
• Think carefully about how you may feel in five years. Where are you? Who is with you? What are your concerns? What are your accomplishments?
• This is not necessarily an easy thing to do – but you don’t have to complete this process in one go. At least this will get you thinking!

How do you get there?

You need to ask yourself a couple of questions;

Start compiling a list of how you are going to achieve those five year goals.

Have you thought about a particular Job and level that you would like to have achieved? How will you get there? What are the steps that you need to take? Do you have enough qualifications (perhaps you need to study more?)

Write down the specific steps that you feel you are going to take to reach these goals.

To have an effective career plan, list each goal and break them down into smaller steps. This will help you move closer towards reaching them!

Be prepared to revise your goals and accept changes. Things happen in life that we can not predict and sometimes fantastic opportunities come along that require us to make changes!

Consider your Career Plan as a continual work in progress!

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