Career planning
Your Career as a Journey
Today, it is becoming more common to see a career not as a single destination or job title, but as a lifelong journey – one where your direction, goals and destinations may change many times along the way. A career path rarely moves straight upwards like a flight of stairs; more often it resembles a cable car route, where you might go up, down, sideways or even backwards until you find the route that fits you best. No one else can walk your path for you, and along the way, every experience – successes and setbacks alike – helps to clarify your own values and goals.
A career is much more than just individual professions or visible job titles. It is built from everything you do: your tasks at work, learning, personal development, sense of purpose, and wellbeing. Often, the journey itself – the skills you learn, strengths you discover, people you meet, and your curiosity to explore new things – brings the most meaning, rather than simply reaching a certain goal. The future cannot be perfectly predicted, and plans can’t be set in stone: what matters most is your own activity and self-understanding, your willingness to refine and adapt your path along the way, and your ability to use both anticipated and unexpected opportunities.
You don’t always need to take big leaps – even small steps and intermediate goals will help you move forward. Be patient with your development and remember to celebrate the small achievements too. Your career path isn’t a race, and there’s no need to compare it too much with other people’s journeys. The most important thing is to find a direction that is meaningful to you and matches your own values – and to make your journey reflect who you really are.
Career skills is an umbrella term for the abilities you need to plan and develop your own life and career path. It includes self-reflection, the ability to recognise your strengths and areas for growth, gathering information, and being willing to seize new opportunities. In the EU, career skills are already seen as a basic competence, because society and labour markets change rapidly – so you need to be able to anticipate change and adapt flexibly.
Career planning is the process of becoming aware of your own interests, values and motivations, and then setting goals and concrete steps for achieving them. Good career planning starts from self-understanding: thinking about what is important to you in your work, what your values and strengths are, and in which environments you can use them best. Your wishes may change in the course of life – so it is wise to update your plan regularly
Career development means lifelong growth and learning. Working life usually includes several transitions; research shows that people change careers on average 5–7 times during their lives. Your profession, job description, or even your whole field may change as your interests evolve. Very few people retire from the same job they started after graduation. Sometimes these changes come from outside, but often they are guided by your own wish to develop, to learn new things, and to find meaning in your work and your life as a whole.
Career Planning Alongside Your Studies
Career planning is a process that often starts before your studies and continues throughout your time as a student, as your professional identity takes shape and develops. It is not a single decision or task, but an ongoing process of reflecting and planning the direction you want your skills and career to take.
A career plan means setting yourself goals based on your own interests and abilities. You consider how you want to use your skills after graduation and make a plan for how to reach those goals. A career plan is not something you make just once – you update and adapt it throughout your studies. With new information, experiences, and insights, your plan will become clearer and more realistic.
During your studies, you will face several decision points that require consideration and choices, such as:
- Choosing your specialisation
- Supplementary studies
- Exchange studies
- Choosing your work placement
- Deciding on your thesis topic
All these choices will shape the way your career takes form. Your career doesn’t begin sometime in the future – it has already started. Every choice, experience and lesson builds it, step by step.
A Sustainable Working Life – Shared Responsibility and Opportunity
Sustainability is an increasingly important theme in modern working life. When we talk about sustainability, we mean several different dimensions: social, economic, cultural and environmental sustainability. Each of us should think about our own role in advancing these areas – not just for society, but also for our own wellbeing and career development.
Sustainable working life is built through actions, choices, and values. Everyone at the beginning of their career can reflect on these questions and consider how they want to support sustainability in their own job path. In this way, you will not only shape your own future, but also positively affect society and the planet.
Social sustainability is about valuing people’s wellbeing, fairness and equality in working life. Each of us can promote an open, respectful and non-discriminatory atmosphere through our actions. In work communities it is important to take different backgrounds into account and to create an environment where everyone can feel valued and involved.
Economic sustainability is about ensuring that work and business are financially viable and create long-term wellbeing. As employees and jobseekers, we can influence this by developing our skills and looking for solutions that support our own as well as our employer’s opportunities for growth and success. Wise use of resources and responsible financial management also help secure jobs for the future.
Cultural sustainability means respecting different values, traditions and viewpoints, and embracing diversity. The working life of tomorrow will need people who can understand different perspectives and make use of the creativity that comes when people bring their unique experiences and cultures to a community. By encouraging openness and curiosity, we can create workplaces where everyone can learn – about themselves and about others
Environmental sustainability means taking nature and the environment into account in all decisions. Individuals play an important role here: your choices about consumption, commuting and everyday life can all affect your ecological impact. Many employers already include responsibility and climate action in their strategies – in the future, this area of expertise will become even more important for jobseekers and professionals.