MY CAREER PLAN STUDENT GUIDE

For students earning their associate, bachelor’s, or business master’s degrees and enrolled on or after November 15, 2012.

Contents Section 1: What is My Career Plan? Section 2: How do I build My Career Plan? Step 1: Identify your career interests. Step 2: Choose your career goal. Step 3: Determine your competencies, work culture preferences, and reasoning aptitude. Step 4: Develop your career-specific competencies. Step 5: Complete tasks to pursue your career. Section 3: How does My Career Plan help connect my courses to my career goal?

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Section 1: What is My Career Plan? My Career Plan is created by completing a set of interactive activities to help you decide on career goals and create a personal, step-by-step plan to reach them. With My Career Plan, you can:      

Learn about careers that interest you Select a career goal Determine competencies that can help you achieve your career goal Recognize the relevance of your courses in regard to your career goal Set up career-development tasks to work toward your goal Receive support as you work to achieve your goal

If I am not searching for a job, does this still apply to me? Yes. My Career Plan can help you no matter what your employment status is. It takes time to research jobs, build a professional network, and develop competencies. To get the most out of this tool, use it while you are taking courses instead of at the end of your course program so you will be better prepared.

“Because I already know I want to be a nurse, I use My Career Plan to identify what to work on in my courses to be an even better nurse. That should help me get the job I want.”

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How often should I use My Career Plan? You can use your career plan regularly to work on your competencydevelopment tips, review career-development tasks, and track your progress. In addition, you may need to adjust the timelines you set. Check back regularly to make sure you are following your schedule and are on target to complete your goals. Where do I go for help? If you have additional questions, refer to the Help PET within My Career Plan for technical support.

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Section 2: How do I build My Career Plan? To build and use My Career Plan, you complete five main steps as shown in the following illustration.

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Step 1: Identify your career interests. Learn about your career interests and related careers with the Career Interests Profiler. You may have used Career Interests Profiler on Phoenix.edu before enrolling with the university or during UNIV 100 or 101. If so, you can access your saved profile from My Career Plan. You must complete your Career Interests Profiler before completing the Career Plan Building Activities in the next step. The Career Interests Profiler includes 18 questions and can be completed within 5 minutes.

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Step 2: Choose your career goal. At this step you decide on a career goal, which is the basis of My Career Plan. Choosing a career can be exciting, but it can also seem overwhelming. Although there are many factors in play, the information you obtain from My Career Plan can guide you to a career path. How do I choose a career goal? There are numerous factors to consider when deciding which career goal is right for you, such as:   

Your career recommendations based on your career interests Your Job Market Research Tool results Educational requirements

The Job Market Research Tool is located in Phoenix Career Services on eCampus. This tool gathers recent job and labor-market information for specific careers. From the Job Market Research Tool, you can obtain data such as:     

Typical salary ranges Jobs typically available in specific geographic areas Current and recent hiring demand Typical education, knowledge, skills, and experience requirements Common career paths

Make sure you have thoroughly researched your career opportunities and considered other factors such as your motivation and personal circumstances when selecting your career goal.

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What if I want to choose a career path that is different from what is suggested? No career-planning tool can provide a singular and definitive evaluation of a person’s career opportunities. This scientifically based tool is for instructive purposes only. You must weigh other factors specific to your own circumstances before you select a career or enroll in a particular program of study. Can I change my career goal? This feature is coming soon. Focus on further developing your strengths if you are undecided on a career goal at this time.

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Step 3: Determine your competencies, preferences, and aptitude. My Career Plan offers activities to help you determine your career interests, competencies (skills and behavior related to work performance), work culture preferences, and reasoning aptitude. Review the Career Plan Building Activities in the following table. The results of each activity can help you understand and articulate your unique strengths. Number of Questions

Activity

Description

Estimated Time

COMPETENCIES

You determine your unique set of behaviors, skills, knowledge, and attributes that predict your work performance.

104

25 minutes

WORK CULTURE PREFERENCES

You learn what types of work environments may engage you most.

113

15 minutes

REASONING APTITUDE

You learn how your reasoning abilities may enable you to excel in a specific career.

30

19 minutes with a time limit of 19 minutes

After completing these activities, you receive competency-development opportunities based on your activity results and the career goal you selected after the Career Interests Profiler.

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How do I know that the activity results are accurate? While no single career tool can provide assured results or predict outcomes, the Career Plan Building Activities are based on rigorous and validated research into the predictors of success at work. Multiple studies have shown that a combination of competencies, reasoning aptitude range, and work culture preferences produces one of the strongest composite predictors of performance. That means the activity results can help you choose careers where you are most likely to perform well.

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Step 4: Develop your career-specific competencies. By clicking on “tips” next to each competency opportunity on the Reasoning Aptitude results page, career-specific competency development tips will be added to your career plan. Each competency has multiple components that further define it. My Career Plan displays a list of tips with recommended ways to develop these competency components. You can use these tips as the basis for setting goals and establishing a timeline for developing your competencies. Keep in mind that some competencies may not have related tips, while others may have multiple tips for you to review. You may also find it helpful to review your course assignments to identify opportunities for practicing these tips, as in the following example:

“I learned that I need to work on writing and reporting. My Career Plan recommended that I proofread with another student, summarize an article, and talk to someone who produces good reports.”

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Step 5: Complete tasks to pursue your career. The Career Development Tasks in My Career Plan are a set of jobsearch-related tasks such as resume writing, setting up a LinkedIn profile, and networking with potential employers. My Career Plan helps you understand how these tasks are helpful in your job search. Always mark off these tasks as you complete them to stay on track with your career goals. How do I set deadlines for each task? While no job search comes with guarantees of employment or of certain outcomes, typically the more-prepared candidate will fare better than a less-prepared candidate. In order to be as prepared as you can, work backward from your desired end date to set deadlines for completing your tasks.   

Select a date when you want be employed, and then work backward to set dates for completing your tasks. Set tighter deadlines for some of the job-search-related tasks if you are looking for a new job in the near future. Be realistic; avoid setting so many simultaneous deadlines that you might not be able to accomplish them all.

Do all tasks require deadlines? No. Only include deadlines when appropriate. Some tasks need to be completed once and should have a deadline, while others will be ongoing and thus will not require deadlines. For example, “Discuss leadership skills with a mentor” is a task that can be completed once and might require a deadline. On the other hand, “Be respectful and open when coaching” is ongoing, and a deadline may not be necessary.

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Can I create my own tasks? Yes, you can create your own tasks. Include any task that might contribute to your career-building success that is not already in your plan. For example, if you know someone in your desired field who could provide great insight into getting a job, you would want to make a task to talk to that person. Add any task that you think will help you find a job and excel in your career and at school. Should I complete all the tasks? The tasks help you connect your academics to your career goals, manage your job search, and improve in the competencies for your career. You should complete all the tasks that you can, though some tasks may not be applicable to your circumstances. Why do I see similar tasks multiple times? Because some tasks build multiple competencies, you may have overlapping tasks. For example, the task “Solve a problem yourself” will help build two competencies: “Deciding and Initiating Action” and “Creating and Innovating.” If you receive similar tasks, check off all of them when you complete the corresponding action.

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Section 3: How does My Career Plan help connect my courses to my career goal? As you participate in your courses, look for opportunities to develop and demonstrate the competencies you need. You may find that your course assignments offer many opportunities to develop your competencies. Faculty members can help you understand how your course assignments are relevant to your career goal, but it is up to you to ask yourself how each assignment can help you progress toward your career. Why are the Career Plan Building Activities required in University of Phoenix courses? Connecting your education to your career goals is one of our top priorities. The Career Plan Building Activities will help you better understand your career interests, the competencies you need, and the types of fields that would be a great fit for you. All of this combined will help you build a plan to develop your career goal. We believe that understanding your career goal should be an integral part of your education. Keep in mind that at the end of the day, you are still responsible for your own success at work—only you can keep up your attitude, work ethic, and dedication to personal growth.

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