Careers require planning and must be planned

January 14 , 2024

By iCVCC Office of China

Success in life is measured by our career. Going to school, choosing a major, and finding a job are all preparations for professional success and happiness in life. Our careers, where we spend our adult lives until we retire, cover the prime hours of our lives when we are at our most energetic and productive. It can be said that the career stage is the most important stage in people's lives. The British philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "Choosing a career is an important matter in life, because career determines a person's future." ... Choosing a career is choosing your future." (Choice of occupation is the major event in life,as a career decision for the future.)... The choice of occupation is to choose their own future.)
In barbaric society, the environment has already planned our life for us, even without planning: climbing trees, picking wild fruits, hunting, this is our occupation. In the wilderness, even if you do your best, we will be left to chance.
In an agrarian society, most of us can only sweat and toil forever, facing the earth with our backs to the sky. It is the choice of most of us to follow in our father's footsteps. However, changes began to appear, and it may be through layers of imperial examination selection, becoming a scholar, a scholar, and finally a scholar. At this time, career success and life happiness, more rely on family and blood.
In industrial society, the change of jobs and occupations is increasing, many of us may have a certain skill, assembly screws for a product on the production line, plug electronic components for an electronic product, so as to become a blue collar, it is possible to obtain some other skills, design in the office, human resources, etc., to become a white collar.
In the information society, with the rapid development of technology, the rapidly changing needs of skills, and the abundance of materials, we do not need to work as hard as in the barbaric and agricultural times. Positions change rapidly, everyone has unlimited potential, how to control their own, plan their own, in the hustle and bustle of the colorful world, access to their own a piece of the exclusive world. Anyone can be who they want to be if they want to be.
There are more than 20,000 occupations in the world, and countless more jobs are created from them. Human resources experts have found that 50 of these occupations are held by 50% of workers; More than 250 are employed by 86% of the workforce; More than 1,000 are performed by 95 percent of the workforce; The remaining 19,000 or so occupations evolved from these 1,000 or so occupations. From school to society, new workers face a new, unknown world, we only based on the chosen career, it is the basis of our lives, at the same time, it reflects the value of everyone's existence. Surveys by many employment agencies show that a large number of students do not have a clear orientation for their future career, do not know what to do in the future, and hold a mentality of "there will be a road to the hill" without specific direction. Career choice and career planning is something everyone must do, otherwise, we have no goals, your strength will be scattered in various uncertain places without any results.

1. Changing environment
We live in a time of dramatic change. When we first entered college, a certain profession was still hot, but after a few years of change, its job demand has been greatly reduced. And the industry on which it depends is not what it used to be. We are in a situation where every day gives you different information. This is the characteristic of the new era, change is eternal, we have to be able to face. Your career plan needs to keep up with changes and trends in your environment. Here are some information about the work environment that you must face and understand when planning your career and life:
There are 43 million enterprises in China, 92% of which are private enterprises. Of the country's 779 million employed people, state-owned enterprises only 63 million, while private enterprises solve 92%.
◆ Tencent and Alibaba, founded less than 20 years ago, ranked first and second among the most valuable companies in Asia.
Cashless payment, which was once pursued by highly developed countries in modern finance, has taken the lead in making remarkable progress in China, a large and complex developing country. Various payment software and platforms have emerged. Many young people and even middle-aged and elderly people go shopping without cash. Starting in 2015, you can live a cashless life.
You can study college courses without entering a university, and MOOC courses like Khan Academy provide you with endless options. You can learn anything you want if you want to.
In 2014, 846 companies received Series A investment, but by the second half of 2015, most of them have closed down. The rest are half dead.
"Hard work" is not equal to "dedication". A Gallup Consulting survey found that in 2012, the global employee engagement rate was only 13%, while China was far below the world level at only 6%. Only 7% of employees with a bachelor's degree are engaged, compared with about 5% of those with less than a primary education.
With the increasing popularity of online shopping, the profits of physical stores are getting lower and lower, leading to a large number of closures.
In 2015, adults in the United States and Japan read an average of 25 and 18 books a year, respectively, while in China it was 4.58.
On average, a professional person has five career changes in his or her life, and some people have 10 or more.
According to Bloomberg News, 600,000 people die from overwork each year in China. Analysts believe that the reason for Chinese people to die from overwork is largely influenced by the social trend of "pursuing wealth regardless of health".
Internet celebrity is the dream of many young people nowadays. In 2016, the combination of the Internet celebrity economy and e-commerce had an explosive effect. Popular streamers can both win fans' hearts in the virtual world and make a lot of money in real life. Technological innovation has lowered the entry barrier for Internet celebrities, bringing some previously marginal online culture into the public eye.
This is a time full of opportunities and challenges, and many of us have an underestimation and lack of understanding of the possibilities that this time and its environment hold for us. However, it is desirable and useful to make certain preparations for survival and success in this ever-changing environment. Learn about yourself, learn about others, use resources and opportunities to build confidence in your life and develop your own successful career and life.

Second, the origin and development of career planning
The concept of career planning originated in the United States.
1. Parsons' concept of career planning
In 1908, Frank Parsons created the Career Bureau in a house in a Boston neighborhood to help job seekers understand their personality, investigate employment status, and choose career opportunities. He proposed that people's correct choice of occupation should follow the "Person-vocation Theory". Parsons' approach was actually more advanced than many of us would be more than 100 years later, and his consultation consisted of three steps:
(1) Assess interests, skills, values, goals, background and resources;
(2) Examine school learning, part-time training, employment opportunities and various career opportunities;
(3) Make the best decision based on the information from the first two stages.
The development of more than 100 years can be described as "the apes on both sides cannot cry, and the boat has crossed the mountains." Social, economic and environmental changes have deeply affected the life and work of each of us, and career planning has been greatly developed. Today, experts in career planning believe that a career is not just a career or a job, but a lifelong process that determines how people live their lives.
2. Other career planning and cognitive theories of personality
After Parsons, John Holland developed a theory of RIASEC typology, and his method has been widely applied to the study of social and work environments, including occupations, positions, organizations, schools, and interpersonal relationships.
Howard Gardner proposed the theory of multiple intelligences after discovering the shortcomings of traditional intelligence measures. This provides us with a new basis for examining human intelligence, interests and abilities.
After studying the growth and development of life, Donald Schuber proposed the Rainbow of Life theory, and his theory of nine life roles is a good theory for us to understand the concept of life.
Professor Edgar H. Schein, a well-known career guidance expert at MIT Sloan School of Business in the United States, led a research team to put forward the famous career anchor theory after studying the career of graduates of the school.
Personality cognition is a necessary step in career planning. MBTI is one of the most authoritative and widely used personality type theories in the world.
In the 1940s, Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs, a mother and daughter of two American psychologists, met with the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung Based on Jung's psychological Type theory, a set of personality test model - MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) is proposed as a kind of personality judgment and analysis. It is a theoretical model, from the complex personality characteristics, the induction and extraction of four key elements - motivation, information collection, decision-making, lifestyle, analysis and judgment, so as to distinguish people with different personalities. The significance of the MBTI personality classification model and theory is to "explain the phenomenon of differences between people" and optimize decision-making, and to "rationally intervene" in the decision-making process.
These theories are described later in this book.

Three, how to do career planning
Career, it's an imported concept. English-speaking countries used to call it a Career, and after we imported it, we all called it a career, and this book uses the term we all use. The National Career Development Association defines a career as "a purposeful, continuous pattern of life created by an individual through his or her work."
Career planning is to make a reasonable plan for your life goals according to your personality, interests and values, and formulate different action plans to achieve your life goals according to the changes in goals at different times.
This book is not aimed at memorizing the theory of career planning for students and new professionals, but at learning how to plan and manage their careers. In this book, there are more examples and training methods to guide you step by step on how to plan your career.
In fact, many of our students have already started their career planning when they fill out the application before going to university. Although many students only decide what major to study or what to do in the future on the day they fill in the volunteer, the moment they fill in the volunteer, he or she begins to plan his or her career. Career planning, no matter how to proceed, can not be separated from the following steps:
1. Analyze or evaluate yourself and your environment
What kind of temperament do you have? What are your interests? What are your values? What skills do you have? At the same time, be aware of the professional environment around you. These are the areas you should evaluate. Effective career design must be carried out on the basis of full and correct understanding of their own conditions and related environment. The better you know yourself and your environment, the better you can design your career.
2. Set realistic goals
Without practical goals to do the driving force, people's actions are blind, the power is scattered, and it is easy to compromise the status quo, your work will appear inefficient. Without efficient investment, it is never possible to achieve their desired state. Goals focus your energy and resources and direct your efforts.
3. Establish actionable action plans
With your goals, you also have a detailed plan of action to achieve them. When the main activities are implemented and when they are completed, they should be properly arranged in time and order to serve as the basis for checking actions, which will help you to succeed step by step and achieve your goals.
This book will show you how.

Four, success five questions
There are bound to be temporary difficulties at work and in life. Don't be discouraged. There is no calm life, no no effort, casually on the success of the story. When you are frustrated in your work and study, try to have a conversation with your own heart or with your study and work partners using the following "five questions for success" :
What are the benefits and opportunities for you in dealing with this matter?
What have you not done perfectly so far?
How do you change the definition of this thing?
What do you expect from dealing with this matter?
What actions can you take to achieve the desired results?
Whenever you are unhappy, when you have a hurdle that you can't get around, you can use the above "five questions of success" to talk to yourself. As long as you dig deep inside yourself, you will have a sense of enlightenment.
So, let's get started!