Employability Skills

 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  (Lao Tzu)

Action planning is a process which will help you to focus your ideas and to decide what steps you need to take to achieve particular goals that you may have. It is a statement of what you want to achieve over a given period of time. Preparing an action plan is a good way to help you to reach your objectives in life: don't worry about the future, start planning for it!
It involves:

• Identifying your objectives 
• Setting objectives which are achievable & measurable. 
• Prioritising your tasks effectively. 
• Identifying the steps needed to achieve your goals. 
• Using lists. 
• Being able to work effectively under pressure.
• Completing work to a deadline.
• Having a contingency plan

When careers action planning, there are likely to be three main areas for action plans. These are:

• Choosing the career you wish to enter. 
• Working out a strategy to help you enter this career e.g. application and interviews. 
• Developing skills that you need to acquire to allow you to enter the career of your choice and to be successful in it. 

There are many different models of action planning, but a good starting point is shown here. Action planning is a cyclical process, and once you have been through one cycle, you can start again at the beginning. Of course, in real life it’s not quite as simple as this. The process is more organic and stages will overlap, or you may change your goals as you progress, and you must be prepared to revise your plan as circumstances dictate. The stages are as follows: 

• WHERE AM I NOW? This is where you review your achievements and progress, and undertake self-assessment. 
• WHERE DO I WANT TO BE? This is where you decide your goals. 
• HOW DO I GET THERE? This is where you define the strategy you will use to achieve your goals, and to break down your goal into the smaller discreet steps you will need to take to achieve your target.
• TAKING ACTION. This is where you implement your plan! 
• WHERE AM I NOW? 

The cycle begins again with a redefinition of your goals........

The main steps in preparing an action plan are as follows:

• Have a clear objective. (‘‘Where do I want to be?’’). To be motivating; a goal needs to be challenging enough to stimulate us, but not too difficult enough to be demoralising. It should be just outside your comfort zone: stretching but not highly stressful. Be precise about what you want to achieve,
• List the benefits you would gain by achieving your goal.
• Start with what you will do NOW. There is no point in having an action plan that will start in six months time. 
• Define clearly the steps you will take. ("How do I get there?’’) Think of all the possible things you could do to take you closer to achieving your goal, no matter how small. Break down any large steps into smaller components, so it doesn’t seem so difficult to achieve. What is the biggest obstacle? What could go wrong? 
• Identify the end point for each step and give yourself a small reward for achieving it! This could be, clothes, a gadget, book or CD or meal out with friends. 
• Arrange the steps in a logical, chronological order and put a date by which you will start each step. Put these dates into your diary or onto a calendar. Try to set yourself weekly goals: what research you will do into jobs, what skills you will concentrate on learning etc. It’s also a good idea to get into the habit of planning a timetable, listing your tasks for the next day or two. 
• You need to consider if your plans are attainable and what would happen if you failed to achieve your goals. Try to map out several paths to your goal, then if one becomes blocked another is available: build flexibility into your planning. People tend to strongly underestimate how long a project will take, especially if working in a group because they tend to visualise everything going to plan with no problems. Think about the type of problems you might encounter at each step. What are the barriers in the way of achieving your goal? What you would do to overcome these problems? 
• Review your progress. Keep a diary or blog of your daily activities and record your progress as things happen: this keeps your plan as concrete as possible. A good time to start your review is about two weeks after you have begun. Review how far you have got towards your objective, identify any mistakes you made and what you can learn from them, look at any new ideas or opportunities that may have presented themselves and then revise your plan to incorporate these. 
• Mix with positive people who will encourage you to keep going! Tell your friends or relatives about your goals. They will provide support when going gets tough and will also give you an incentive to keep going as you'll feel embarrassed if you have to tell them you've given up!

In a word, efficiency! Having employees who are well organised and able to plan and manage their own time and resources, as well as other resources, reduces the need for micro-managing. It helps in providing customers or clients with realistic time-frames, delivering on projects as promised and ensuring that work is carried out as efficiently as possible and that all relevant people are involved. 

• Managing and prioritising your personal workload (time-management).
• Organising social, sporting or charity events.
• Arranging travel itineraries.
• Organising work experience or placements.
• Event management experience (e.g. customer liaison, co-ordination of bookings, organising equipment, planning advertising and working to deadlines).
• Planning projects (e.g. assignments or final year project)