How do you showcase your skills in a career path planning session?

Think about your strengths, what you are most skilled at/known for. These are the things that make you what you are. Most of us can identify our development areas pretty easily, but being clear on our strengths, the things we do well and our areas of interest are critical in terms of understanding where you get your energy from. These are the areas that will propel you forward. With recent Linkedin research showing a massive change in roles v a couple of years ago, understanding the areas you get energy from is key. Focusing on your skills, competencies enables you see the varying paths you could align your career around. Be clear about your career goals - this may vary across your career life & needs ongoing reflection.

Identifying your skills is an essential step, but its also important to reflect on which activities give you a sense of satisfaction and success. Its important to be honest with yourself and decide whether you actually enjoy using your existing skill set. After all, just because you’re good at something doesn’t necessarily mean you enjoy doing it. Take people management for example. Some people may have managed teams for years, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are good at it or even enjoy that side of their roles. Use this time to consider what you want to be doing and then evaluate what skills you’re going to need to develop in order to reach your goals.

When preparing for a career path planning session, it’s easy for us to forget some of the most vital and important activities for which we have played a key role in bringing to life. Preparing for this meeting should begin as far in advance as possible through the use of journaling. This practice means that you are keeping track on a daily or weekly basis, our key wins and achievements which can later be referenced during the career path session

When thinking about your evidence, don't restrict your examples and achievements to paid work, include any volunteering or community work also. Across the year, reflect on key achievements and note them somewhere accessible for you. Dont only record the big wins in your notes, sometimes your small wins may unlock great opportunities for others. Sometimes the small wins may also demonstrate movement forward in new areas.

Be clear about your goal from the session - what do you want to achieve from today? Consider how will you know if you have been successful. From a language perspective, the first audience to consider is you - are you confident in putting forward your skills? Can you communicate first to yourself? Then think about who you are having the career path planning session with, what's important/high value to them/employer

Imagine you're in your career planning session and you've got to show off your skills confidently. What better way than talking about your past victories? Maybe you spearheaded a project at your last job that boosted sales by 20%, or you streamlined a process that saved a bunch of time. Use the STAR method to tell your story. Briefly describe the Situation and Task, then highlight the Action you took, and end with the amazing Result. It's like telling an exciting mini-story where you're the hero! It's a surefire way to showcase your skills and have them nodding along, totally impressed by your track record.

Career planning sessions are not one off & this is important in terms of ensuring you get the support you need and feedback. As you grow your skills, take on new projects, undertake training, avail of mentoring your level of skill will also change. Be sure to ask for a check in periodically. Your career path planning should be a live and evolving pathway. Remember a career path is not always upwards, sometimes its about identifying the side ways moves or indeed steps back to try something new. You own your career, and as you change/evolve you need to keep moving forward and get new inputs - career plans should change as you gather new experiences.

Post your career path planning session revisit your agreed actions. Ensure you keep the career path live & dont just consider the big steps, consider whats the one small step you could do today/this week to move forward. Ensure you keep your Wins journal up to date over time and update your resume and Linkedin profile as your skills evolve or you gain new experiences. Put time in to check in with your manager, dont just treat the career path discussion as an annual one.