Vital Career-Planning Skills and Competencies for a Bright Future

Work with yourself today to fulfill your professional needs tomorrow. It is needless to say that the businesses today are continuously evolving and are fast paced. This leaves professionals like you and me pondering over a set of questions about improving our proficiencies. Some of the most important questions that our thoughts revolve around could be few of the following:

What exactly should professionals learn today in order to become more employable?
How can we prepare ourselves for the challenges that are waiting for us in our dynamic professional lives?
What are the capabilities, competencies and skills that the employers seek?
How can we equip ourselves to successfully handle the complexities in profession?

To become successful in your profession, it is essential for you to know your strengths and weaknesses well. Determining what is expected of you and adapting accordingly has become extremely essential in this competitive job market. It is also necessary to analyze your competencies and that of others for building successful professional relationships.

Great career performance is always synonymous with the right combination of an individual’s proficiency, ability and aptitude. Competencies are the attributes, skills and knowledge that can be developed during your career.

Most of the organizations have professional associations with their own set of competencies. It important for professionals to make a list of relevant competencies and demonstrate the same in the interview. This proves that they meet the standards of hiring officials. It is also necessary for candidates to effectively communicate their competencies in the resume and at the interview to grab the dream job.

Play With Your Strengths and Accommodate Your Weaknesses

Before taking up a responsibility, it is better to compare our competencies with the actual requirements of the assignment. Next, the existing gaps should be identified and make efforts to close this gap. Motivated individuals acquire competencies through training and experience.

Effective communication and interpersonal competencies are extremely important in building professional relationships. The ability to persuade, convince, negotiate, inform and entertain is essential. Nothing can ever happen in business without people.

Learning and analyzing skills of various categories of professionals can be classified as follows:

Independent Enquirer
Their Focus	These professionals evaluate and process the information obtained from their investigation. They make well-reasoned and informed decisions by considering attitudes and beliefs of other team members.
Action Plan	Problem solving Using evidence and reasoned arguments
Creative Thinkers
Their Focus	Explore and generate ideas. These professionals are equipped with alternative approaches for tackling problems.
Action Plan	Ask questions for extending their thinking capacity Adapt ideas according to the changing environments
Reflective Learners
Their Focus	Evaluate their limitations and strengths. Set realistic targets and goals and achieve them.
Action Plan	Appropriately assess others and themselves Quickly recognize opportunities
Team Players
Their Focus	Adapt to various contexts and confidently work with others.
Action Plan	Collaborate with rest of the team and work towards achieving common objectives. Anticipate and mitigate risks
Managers
Their Focus	Organize and take personal responsibilities. They are committed towards self-improvement and learning.
Action Plan	Effectively handle pressures and professional demands Prioritize actions
Active Participators
Their Focus	Engage in the issues affecting them and their team. Take actions to bring improvements.
Action Plan	Seek resolution for the issues of concern by discussing the same with the team Come up with improvements that benefit the team as well as themselves

The entire concept of competencies and skills development is solely centered around discovering and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of professionals. Keeping track of the latest trends in your field of interest and refining your skills from time to time can take you where you want to be. Preparing for valuable accreditations and setting achievable learning goals will definitely make you more employable.