Career planning involves systematically chalking out a career plan so as to further your career interests, deciding upon long-term goals, and continuing your education. Unlike older times, careers have now become an ongoing continuous activity. One has to constantly keep learning to cope with the advances of our era.

To start with, you will have to initially analyze your actual position, relating to your financial condition and importantly your current mental attitude. Are you good at planning stuff, organizing schedules, or working within time constraints? Are you in a field as result of your religious, social or political influences? Are you a good leader? Do you have good inter-personal skills? The bottom line is catching the spark inside you, your passion. Be it anything, you can easily cultivate it in to a successful career.

Secondly, you have to figure out if you want to undertake a job that’s already clearly defined or try something different on your own. If you already have a job offer, think about where you want to go with it, set the ultimate goals and define how to reach them. Do your own research about career development and how far you can go from where you start.

Once you are done with your information collecting and assessment, what you can do is go for a short term job or apprenticeship in the field of your choice. Read more about it. Talk with people who have relevant experience and education. Doing this, you will be in a much better position to take your decision.

It’s best to follow these steps for more than one possible career choice, but not more than a few. Unless all of them bombs, you may very well find something that you’d like to try. Enroll in courses if need be or get your resume, interview outfit, and list of companies ready and start applying for entry level positions. Or both. And remember, nothing is ever set in stone. If this doesn’t work out after a few months or you decide you no longer like the career you’ve chosen a year later - or 20 years later - you can always go back to the drawing board and start again.