Your objective in this final step is to create an action
plan that will enhance your strengths, improve your weaknesses, and get your
professional profile from step 1 looking more like the job description you
created in step 2.
To get started, you will need to research professional
development options and opportunities. Your choices should be accessible to you
within the next 6 months. Internships and volunteering are very accessible
options to gain experience and work on skills; in growing cases, internships
and volunteer jobs can even be 100% telecommute. Volunteermatch.org is a great
place to start looking for virtual opportunities.
Below is a list of other options you can look into.
Letters in the parenthesis represent the four professional development categories
of your professional profile (knowledge,
skills, experience, connections)
that are affected.
Non-inclusive List of
Professional Development Options
·
Read
and understand a book (Ks)
·
Attend
a learning event (KsC)
·
Take
an online course (Ks)
·
Have
regular meetings with a mentor (Kc)
·
Start
a blog (kSEc)
·
Volunteer
(SEc)
·
Take
courses AT a local college (Ksc)
·
Become
a direct sales consultant (KSEC)
·
Research
a topic/subject of interest formally or informally (K)
·
Write
and contribute articles to online publications (ksEc)
·
Join
and participate in networking and professional groups (kC)
·
Intern
(kSEc)
·
Plan
and follow through on your own small project (ksec)
Take your time and be very selective. You want to make
sure you are choosing options that will have a relevant impact on your professional
value (your contribution to the growth and success of your business).
Once you feel you have found yourself a variety of
options, it’s time to create your action plan. Below are the categories I recommend
including in your action plan via a screen clip of how I’ve laid out my plan in
Excel.
 |
| Click for a better view! |
I would suggest your first item be something you can
complete within the next 30 days so you don’t get discouraged working on a
harder goal; alternate between hard and easy tasks when constructing your plan
for the same reason.
Finally, creating your professional development plan in a
spreadsheet and keeping it on your desktop makes for easy editing and retrieval.
Tell us your thoughts on our Building a Professional
Development Plan series. Did we miss anything you think should be included?
Comment below or send us an email!
#ShesaBoss and #theGB blog
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