CAREER STRATEGY BASED ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Strategic management is a set of concepts that forms plan for the future of an organization. It defines the path an organization will develop in order to achieve success. Essentially strategic management answers the questions of “where do I want my career to go” (goals), “how is my career going to get there” (strategy) and “how will I know when I get there” (evaluation).

In recent years most graduates leave school with expectation of getting career security from their employer for the rest of their lives. Due to this most employers avoid hiring individuals who focus on achieving a lifetime career security rather than building their own career strategy that most organizations rely upon to achieve their goals and objectives. With this in mind career strategy has become something of a personal deal that one needs to incorporate into him/herself so as to take full responsibility of my own career strategy success and satisfaction. Career strategy has to do with what I want my career to look like in a specified period of time and how I will plan to get there. In deciding on career strategy I will focus on a career that captures my interest. Something that will involve the use of the God given wisdom (management) bestowed upon me rather than a job that will involve following a laid down rules (accounting) that needs to be followed throughout your career. In planning towards my career, these are the steps that I believe when followed will guide me into achieving my personal career strategy. They include goal setting, strategic analysis, strategic formulation, strategic implementation and evaluation or monitoring.

The first step in developing my career strategy will be setting of my personal goal, vision and objectives. This is what I call dream into the future of your future career. This is how in ten years I want to see myself and how it will be like. Will I be part of a top management team of one of Africa’s corporations making critical decisions which I will most enjoy despite the pay or be still stacked at a desk job that I hate doing but stay because of the pay involved? Once I have dreamed into the future of my career then I will perform a self-assessment of myself to know my abilities, interest, values and personal traits that will be helpful in achieving my career strategy. This is the step most organization refers to as SWOT analysis. This is done to know an organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that they are likely to benefit and face in their business environment. From an individual point of view thus my career strategy I will need to analyze myself to know my core competencies and shortfalls so as to enable me capitalize and work towards reducing them respectively.

Strategic formulation as in strategic management is choosing the best possible alternative from a course of action. It involves selecting a path so as to commit resources to achieve organizational goals. From my personal career strategy point of view, it involves committing resources to gain all the needed training and expertise in my field of interest. This will include getting a degree followed by a master’s programme in business management, attending various workshops in the field area and also developing and acquiring all the needed skills needed in other to fulfill my goals set for my career. Strategy formulation can help me to be proactive rather than reactive to foreseeable events and circumstances.

Strategic implementation involves putting into action plans that has been formulated by the individual. It is ensuring the smooth running of the alternative course of action is being effected. From my career point of view it will involve making sure that I acquire all the necessary skills needed to reach that milestone in my career. Walt Disney once said “If you can dream it, you can do it”, with this in mind I believe strongly that with the help of the strategic management concepts developed and personalized for myself to suit my career strategy, implementation will happen successfully.

Strategy evaluation involves close monitoring of performance and results and making adaptive changes against changing environmental trends. At this stage of my career strategy I will be comparing targeted results with achieved results and draw conclusions on why I achieved or failed some of the goals I set for my career. When the whys and why not questions of goals attainment are answered then I can go ahead and put in place measures to ensure continuous success and also attainment of failed goals.

To end strategic management concepts that have being identified and used by leaders in organizations to achieve success can be personalized by an individual to achieve success in his/her career development.

If you can dream it you can do it.