Welcome back to your series on career growth and development. By now, you may have found some clarity around your professional development goals and have started shaping your career development plan. (If you’re feeling stuck on either of those topics, drop any lingering questions or confusions in the comments.) This week, we’re exploring one aspect of your career support network: mentors.
Mentors are people with experience who provide guidance and advice in an area you–the mentee–are less familiar with. Your mentor should have some kind of experience or insight that you currently don’t have—but that you want—and they’re willing to share with you.
Mentors can supercharge your professional development. Some studies have shown that mentorship has the potential to increase your confidence, boost your chances of a promotion, and even lead to higher pay. Best of all, those who have been mentored are more likely to mentor others. It’s a virtuous, self-perpetuating cycle.
Keep in mind that a mentor is not the same as a sponsor. Mentorship tends to be a more casual relationship centering broad growth goals, whereas sponsorship is a focused relationship with someone in a senior position who invests in your growth by strategizing your career advancement and using their power to secure opportunities for you. Both are great relationships to have, but it’s typically easier to find a mentor than a sponsor.
So, how do you find a mentor?
Here are some steps you can take:
1. Explore your network. Look around at work, within your professional associations, or online to identify people who have accomplished something that you hope to accomplish. Make a list of those that you’d like to reach out to.
You also may take a closer look at the “resources” section of your career development plan. Zero in on the people you wrote down here. You may already know the perfect potential mentor!
2. Reach out. Contact your potential mentor and ask if they’d be willing to meet with you to talk about their expertise and share their insight. This isn’t the time to ask if they’ll be your mentor—you should see how your meeting goes before you decide whether there’s a mutual fit and interest in forming that relationship. Depending on your current relationship, this outreach can be similar to how you may approach an informational interview.
3. Meet up. Treat your potential mentor to a cup of coffee or lunch and get to know them. Think of this as the interview stage: you may ask them about their career successes or see if they have advice on the area you’re aiming to improve. Practice active listening and consider preparing questions.
As you get to know each other, look for signs that you’ll be able to develop a productive rapport. Ask if they’d be willing to build a relationship and continue offering advice. Again, you don’t have to formalize your mentorship immediately—your relationship can build over time—but if you feel confident, you may mention that you’re looking for a mentor to gauge their interest.
4. Nurture your relationship. Check in with your (potential) mentor and continue building your relationship. Share your goals and progress, and be open to receiving guidance and support. Make sure to respect their time and boundaries.
5. Grow and give back. As you gain experience or move into new positions, you may want to find new mentors to help you meet new challenges. It’s okay for your relationship with your mentor to shift as your goals and needs change. Express gratitude for your mentor’s help, stay in touch, and offer mentorship to anyone else who asks for your guidance.
Lastly, if you’re struggling to find a mentor, consider hiring a career coach instead. They’ll be able to offer you career guidance and can connect you with resources to gain the skills you’ll need to get to the next level.
Want more tips for reaching out?
In our next issue, we’ll offer some tips for building your professional network. In the meantime, check out these professional development courses:
Let us know how you’re growing in the comments, or if you’ve hit any roadblocks that we may be able to help clear up. We’ll be back in a couple weeks!
You can add all the skills you want on your LinkedIn profile, but space is limited on your actual PDF or paper resume. You might find yourself trying to figure out which skills and experiences to include, and which ones to leave out. Often, people choose to omit soft skills in favor of harder ones to showcase their technical proficiency — but there are a few reasons why you should definitely add a couple.
“[Soft skills] are great to have on your resume,” Merri Lemmex, managing partner at training organization Lemmex Williams, said during our recent soft skills livestream series. Having these soft skills listed out on your resume gives you an opportunity to talk about your experience and examples of instances when you put soft skills into practice. “Just make sure that if someone says to you, ‘What is problem solving?’ you’ve got a really good answer for it,” Merri said.
Did you miss our soft skills training series last month? If you have Pro or Plus, you can rewatch recordings of all of the exclusive courses and access the course materials anytime. Ahead, we’ll go through some of the most important soft skills to include in your resume, how to showcase them during an interview, and how you can start building them today.
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The most important soft skills for your resume
Communication
Strong communication skills are a must for almost any role, and they become even more important as you advance in your career. For instance, say you completed the Data Scientist: Analytics Specialist career path and landed your first job. Even if you’re a master at cleaning and analyzing data, your communication skills will play a role in how well you’re able to share your findings with your teams. Different stakeholders have different priorities, and knowing how to adjust your messaging for your audience is crucial.
Fortunately, building and demonstrating your communication skills can be easy. Check out our blog post on how you can improve your communication skills at work and during a job interview.
Problem-solving
Problem-solving skills are essential for many jobs — especially as you grow and take on more responsibility for resolving problems that fall under your domain. For example, software engineers regularly fix bugs and errors in applications and cybersecurity specialists mitigate and respond to cyber threats. In either case, you’ll need critical thinking and logical skills to come up with efficient solutions. Read this blog about problem-solving tips for developers to pick up a few pointers. People with Pro or Plus can learn more in-depth problem-solving strategies by rewatching part one of our soft skills series hosted by Merri.
Project management
Many people juggle multiple projects at work, and it takes a skilled hand to balance them all. Keeping a project on track can be tough, and issues arise often, so knowing how to navigate blockers and obstacles and properly allocate your resources is essential. Along with shifting deadlines, company goals and strategies evolve over time, and you’ll need to know how to reprioritize accordingly.
In part two of Merri’s soft skills training series, she taught some crucial prioritization and planning techniques. Did you miss the livestream event? You can rewatch it here, and download a prioritizing template to use on your own.
Empathy
Empathy can help UX designers better understand their users and create better products. It can help the head of an engineering team better support their team members and find more personalized, intrinsic motivators. You need to understand people to work with people, and being receptive and understanding of different perspectives can help you collaborate more effectively and contribute to a positive team and work environment.
How to include soft skills in your resume
Adding “communication” and “problem-solving” to the skills section in your resume might help send the right signals, but as Merri said, it’s on you to back it up with proof. You can provide more detail in your work experience section to illustrate how your soft skills play a role in your actual work. For example, you can demonstrate your communication skills by highlighting responsibilities that include giving presentations or collaborating across departments.
Here are a few examples of ways you might write out soft skills on your resume:
Facilitated communication between dev team and C-level execs for seamless collaboration.
Led development initiatives for specific projects or time periods, showcasing technical expertise.
Incorporated team members’ feedback and suggestions into project workflows, fostering a collaborative environment that enhances the overall quality of the final deliverables.
Received positive feedback for delivering a client-facing presentation that clarified the benefits of a new software feature in a way that resonated with a non-technical audience.
And remember: Your behavioral interview is when hiring managers are going to really witness and assess your soft skills in action. As you discuss your resume points in greater detail, keep these points and examples in mind.
Level up your soft skills
We know it can be challenging to work on your soft skills if you’re not already employed. If you’re still building your skills or need experiences you can include use to demonstrate them in your resume, here are a few tips for training your soft skills.
If you have Codecademy Pro or Plus, you can watch our soft skills series where Merri dives deeper into the soft skills you need to succeed. Only have Basic? Upgrade your account to Pro or Plus or start a free seven-day trial to check out our exclusive instructor-led courses. Our next livestream session is on December 6, and it’s all about generative AI and ChatGPT.
There continued to be disagreement over how to handle certain Writers Guild demands, including staffing minimums in TV show writers’ rooms. But some of the moguls — notably Mr. Vinciquerra, the labor lawyer said — pushed the group to move quickly to make a formal overture to the union.
Carol Lombardini, the lead negotiator for the studio alliance, called her counterpart at the Writers Guild on Tuesday. They agreed to meet in person on Friday to discuss a return to the bargaining table.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word overture in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how overture can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
The cold months have descended and the holiday season is here, so it’s time to seek out hygge — the Danish term for winter refuge and spiritual warmth that enjoyed a moment of international trendiness around 2016. But what if you’re a New Yorker and spend two hours a day on the subway? You’re in luck, as a subway ride is actually the perfect activity to get yourself into that congenial holiday mood. A train, after all, is basically a large sled that travels underground, in the dark.
But can a commute — or any stressful holiday travel — really be cozy? You need only to modify your approach.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word congenial in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how congenial can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
“For some families, tension around the holidays is quiet — all clenched teeth and subtle jabs. For others, it is big, loud and boozy,” begins a recent Well article.
While holidays can be special and joyous times, they can also be filled with drama and stress for families. What, if anything, has you worried about the coming Thanksgiving holiday, or any other seasonal family or community gathering? How will you cope? What tips can you offer others for making family celebrations go smoothly?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to find out more tips.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
As the director of research and development of watches for Van Cleef & Arpels, Rainer Bernard oversees production of the brand’s timepieces. But when he is working on a new addition to the brand’s collection, his focus goes well beyond horology.
… Working collaboratively suits Mr. Bernard, who is quite private and reticent to take credit. “It’s not me that’s developing the pieces,” he said. “We are a whole team.”
However, he noted, “It’s like in a movement. Everybody’s one wheel only. Don’t get a big head, and just stay with the feet on the ground.”
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word reticent in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how reticent can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
“Hey everyone! As dad’s favorite dog (according to me), I’m back to announce the nominations and winners for this year’s Turkey Awards. Did I mention I’m number one? Spirit always takes over these awards, and Voodoo is on a walk, plus Nava (our newest member is busy chewing on dad’s shoes), so it is me, Cali.” “I love food. And because Dad no longer eats meat, I’m stuck eating plant-based food, but it still tastes delicious to me. Plus, dog treats. I droll for these. Do you have any turkey dog treats? I won’t tell Dad.”
“Okay, on to the awards. Oh uh, Dad sees me, got to run, I hear my name being called. Must be time for a car ride. I love car rides. Maybe we will go and get a turkey dog treat. Or a treat. Did I mention I’m number one?”
Thanks Cali, I will take it from here. She’s quite a cutie, except when she barks. Clearly, she is saying, let’s get to the nominees and award winners.
Category – Time to End these specific items.
Nominee #1
End the SCORM/xAPI etc. nomenclature on the back end of the learning system.
It absolutely makes no sense. The number of people who have no idea on what you are talking about increases each year. As a vendor said to me, a few weeks ago, they see more and more people just uploading content, all types of content, not necessarily courses built by 3rd party authoring tools.
I always laugh when a vendor says, “legacy,” as though everyone in L&D, Training, HR and whatever other department is overseeing the learning system, knows what that term means. Unless you rumbled in a century or two ago, you have no idea. It’s a tech term honestly, used quite a bit during the ERP days. Vendors push it still for learning and training.
Now, think how many people are overseeing a learning system who are not in L&D or Training? Do you think marketing is going to know what SCORM is? Do you think after the L&D department is decimated and the system heads over to HRIS or HR is going to know what xAPI is?
Do you think they care? No. No. And no.
If even you are using a 3rd party authoring tool, or an expert in ID or e-learning development, if you see “upload content” I am very confident this means you can upload any type of content. Regardless of it is a course standard or not. I mean, if someone is buying a system, they usually will ask whether it takes XYZ course standards or not. And if not, you should tell them. Thus, if I know it takes SCORM 1.2, and I have built my courses in SCORM 1.2, and I see upload content/courses – you should trust that the person can figure this out.
It really makes no sense on why vendors still do this. How many people today can actually tell you what SCORM stands for, let alone a SCO, let alone the whole manual for that thing? I worked at a F50 one time, and they had one person dedicated to SCORM, and the whole manual. They were the experts. But they didn’t upload the courses.
I digress.
Let’s add another piece to this whole listing of the term SCORM, xAPI (I’ve also seen TinCan), and other course standards where it should just say upload content.
Your built-in content creator. Take a look at your data and see how many people are using this to create content within your system. Now compare that to the number of people who are clicking on the SCORM button. Now cross-reference that over a time period of one year, with data for each month. Next, cross-reference to size of client (end-user wise), department overseeing it, experience of the admin and so on.
How many people create courses in PPT and just upload it?
The point here is you can’t push “system X is so legacy or traditional,” when you have a button or something that clicks for folks to upload courses, and note it as a course standard.
Talk about traditional.
Nominee #2
Stop saying “authoring tool.”
Who says this anymore in the generations that are creating content? It’s not just millennials that are overseeing L&D or training. Besides kids on Tik Tok, you see adults – 30, 40, 50, 60 and so on years old. The term content creator is widespread these days.
I know authoring tools continue to hard press the authoring term, but just because they are still in the stone age, doesn’t mean you need to be. I mean there are authoring tools who are still desktop only.
Yowsa!
I say content creator tool when I talk to vendors these days, ditto on my recent template. End the authoring tool term, and while you are at it, stop saying slides. If you are creating a course, you are not creating a presentation, or playing as though you are PowerPoint or whatever crummy name Apple uses to call their presentation program.
Lessons? What am I – 10 years old? Who says Lessons, beyond you being in primary or secondary school? I never said it, when running corporate training or an association, but vendors slide that in (bring back the slide rulers in that case). Seriously, I wonder how many vendors spent like 30 minutes on the internet identifying the proper terms to list when someone creates a course. This should be a third term to stop using, but I have other nominees.
Nominee #3
Completed on the learner side.
Which is a button the learner clicks, in order for the metrics to show they completed the course or content or whatever they are viewing, even if they never did. I know of vendors who use the “complete” for their machine learning algorithm, so that if you don’t click it, it either leaves it out OR it penalizes the learner.
Okay, so you click it, then the recommended content shows what? All that wonderful similar assigned content. As for the auto-complete, I have seen this on a customer training focused-system. Why would I want that? If I am learning a product, or software, or a service, and I am only interested in one area of that, because I already know or that is just my interest, why do I have to select complete?
Finally, the whole reason asynchronous-based content (now referred to as self-paced) was created, is that you can go anywhere you want, at any time, without having to complete it. Focus on what is relevant to you.
Complete takes the entire premise and throws it into the garbage can with the left over turkey bones.
And the winner is:
Eliminate SCORM and similar course standard button the back-end.
Just say content. Trust me, people will figure it out.
Category 2 – Hello Learning System vendors (and learning tech for that matter) – Are you paying attention?
I totally understand, every vendor has their own take and approach to creating x capability or Y capability and not some other option. And yes, cost always plays a role and even resources – albeit there are some vendors whereas “resources,” doesn’t seem to apply when they head down to meet the animal in the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland.
What is the result of this magical tour? Potential missteps.
Nominee #1
Clients drive the roadmap way too much.
Recently I was talking to a vendor who told me their roadmap and other items is based on 70% or more from their clients. They acknowledged they needed to drop that and felt in the mid-40s should be right.
I’ve heard from vendors who say 25% to 30%. All of them always say that they – the vendor themselves does not focus solely on the clients and will come up with their own capabilities and features.
The numbers should be no more than 10%. If your clients don’t know about the latest features or capabilities, why do you expect them to tell you? The last time I looked, the vendor is supposed to be the expert not the client.
I’m equally not a fan of vendors that add features because their biggest clients tell them they need to have it. The worst of this is when the majority of their customers are in the 500 to 2,500 range.
I’ve seen the end results here, and it isn’t pretty. Think about it. The system is heavily driven by what is needed with the monster size clients, despite the target of marketing and user range is less than 2,500.
Funny, I never hear a vendor say, we listen to what are clients say at the 500 range and add those features.
Nominee #2
Missing Gen-AI space – LLMs and well, scenarios
Oh, this is about to get far worse. A lot of vendors just dived right into Generative-AI without having another LLM, to add some additional guardrails. Despite many AI experts recommending that any solution have at least two LLMs, the market (with the exception of two vendors), went with one. ChatGPT. If you haven’t heard the latest news, one of the founders was fired, and went over to create a new AI lab at Microsoft (as a separate company). While OpenAI is now trying to woo him back – due to 700 of their 770 employees threatening to quit, so far nothing. I won’t get into the whole game plan of OpenAI originally after firing him, because one of the biggest proponents of going back to their original premise, is now trying to get him back.
The point here, regardless of whether he returns or not, is that vendors did not think thru all potential scenarios, before going solo. Some have said, prior to him getting fired, that if OpenAI isn’t popular in say two years or something else comes along, they can switch out quickly and go with another Gen-AI offering.
None of them to date, those that went solo, went thru a model as a service, which I believe will play a key role with companies going into the Gen-AI space. Google Cloud has a model-as-a-service, Amazon has one too. There a few others.
I was quite surprised on how many vendors are not paying attention to what is coming down the pipe with LLMs being built by the behemoths (exlcluding Open AI and the promise of ChatGPT-5). Olympus by Amazon is expected to be a major game-changer, far exceeding two trillion parameters. It makes ChatGPT seem like puny in terms of parameters. Gemini by Google is expected to be a game-changer too. Meta, is working on their own new LLM, which they expect to compete heavily with ChatGPT.
Anthropic’s Stability.AI is no longer garbage. It’s promising, and one vendor, Cypher Learning uses it, along with OpenAI.
One would think that vendors who are adding Gen-AI would be paying close attention to the market – and what is out there now and what is coming. Were you aware that one company (small) is close to launching an LLM that has full empathy? (a major issue in today’s LLM market)
Nominee #3
Vendors forgetting to tell their salespeople about the Gen-AI challenges.
You want Gen-AI. You have heard about. You ask about ChatGPT (because that is the only one you hear, and you are using it in the workplace). Good news, the vendor offers it!
Let’s see it you say. And off we go.
Problem? The salesperson lacks basic knowledge around Gen-AI, and as a result, isn’t telling you the full story – because they don’t know, nor has anyone told them (I met two vendors who have Gen-AI, and their execs didn’t’ know about certain items around Gen-AI, which thus they failed to have in their system).
If you have a trainer or an instructor and they are going to provide a session on whatever topic, you would expect them to know that subject matter inside and out. You would never let them just go with whatever. I am talking to anyone in L&D or Training here. Yet, again and again, you ignore this when it comes to your salesperson, and worse, with Gen-AI is getting to be massive.
There are a lot of vendors who do NOT TRAIN their salespeople, despite them focusing on training and L&D. There are plenty who lack the general basic information/knowledge and thus, they aren’t sharing it with the rest of the class, you know the folks selling the product, and yes, in many cases, the solutions consultant showing it (when it comes time).
A couple of basics here, that a simple web search will provide, but I will save you some time, and provide them – there are quite a few, but these are the essentials – that you should tell everyone you are talking to, that asks about Gen-AI (and those numbers are increasing each day), regardless of if they say ChatGPT or not.
Oh, and don’t wait for them to ask you, because they may not know, okay, less than 2% will know.
All Gen-AI produces hallucinations – which means fake or false information. Thus it is extremely important that you always have someone review the output before using it. Today, the vendors who have Gen-AI are focused on content/course creation, assessment tools and some skill building. Only three have a “window or information before you begin, that identifies the potential for fake or false information with Gen-AI and that you should always review before publishing.
Gen-AI may produce AI bias. This is a reality. Think this way – you are adding your own content/materials, and unbeknownst to you, it has bias in it. AI can’t figure that out. And depending on the data sets the vendor used initially, it may have bias in it.
Gen-AI is not 100% accurate. It doesn’t matter what LLM you are using. Plus don’t buy into “well, we have x guardrails and this and that, and it is private – i.e. self-contained and thus, it will produce higher accuracy numbers.” – There is no consensus on how higher that is, and yet I’ve heard vendors say 98%. It might be 92%, or 95%. Even if, hypotheticallly it is 98%, that means 2% inaccurate. If you heard that your car has a 2% chance of blowing up when you start it, would you want to know that ahead of time with the salesperson telling you? As long as you, the customer is aware of the understanding that no Gen-AI is 100% accurate, you should be fine. But, not knowing is not an excuse – i.e. the vendor must tell you – and don’t rely on the higher accuracy numbers, with private Gen-AI. Sounds great, but Gen-AI is so early stages, it is just not a valid guarantee.
A couple of other points that you should ignore – as the prospect:
Vendor says they are the leader in Gen-AI or the first with Gen-AI. The latter is extremely unlikely, because they are not looking at the entire market. The former, please. Marketing spin, wash and dry. I’ve seen the leader in AI for Skills or something like that. Then you see it, and you go, “Really?”
Vendors who push they are the only ones or leaders for course/content creation with Gen-AI. The only vendor today, whose content creation tool I have seen with Gen-AI that blows me away is Cypher Learning. That’s it. And I have seen a lot of systems that have a content creator component.
Any marketing around Gen-AI as thou that vendor is the dominator in the space. No, no you aren’t.
Be aware that if a vendor is using ChatGPT, it is likely they are using ChatGPT 3.5 turbo, which does not have the full power or functionality of ChatGPT-4 (now known as GPT Plus) nor the Enterprise ChatGPT. If a vendor is using ChatGPT (and again, nearly everyone is – see further up), ask them if it is only 3.5 turbo or 4 or a combo. I can easily tell which one they are using, but my expertise in the space, isn’t the same as everyone else, which is why I can’t stress enough, that you find out. And any vendor who tells you, they can’t tell you their LLM, should be removed from consideration. You are not asking for the secret to getting to Mars thru a portal in time. If they have the LLM, they need to provide it to you. I would think a vendor who has two, would be thrilled to tell it. I have to pull teeth with some vendors to get that information – but trust I stay on them, like ticks on a hound dog (remember when folks would say that?).
And the winner is
Vendors who fail to tell their salespeople basic knowledge around Gen-AI, who thus need to tell their customers.
Turkey of the Year Award
We have come to the conclusion of the Turkey Awards. Except the biggest one, the one folks always expect to see and find out. Past winners include SAP SuccessFactors and Workday Learning. This analysis is just based on the vendors I have seen this year in 2023, which are a lot – the most ever! And we are not even done with the year. Plenty of pickings to choose from, just like that sweet potato pie, Grandma ma makes, or the green bean casserole that nobody wants to touch, because your aunt, always uses something that is unknown to the human population.
With everything going on this year, we all need some joy. Some happiness, to make our day fulfilling, which is why for 2023, there is no Turkey of the Year Award.
A pardon has been pronounced. This is based on my own in-depth research of asking a group of experts in the turkey treat industry.
Voodoo voted to abstain – he was eating a cookie. Cali said pardon, because she was promised gravy as a bribe. Nava is still eating something that I own, despite having lots of toys. However, if she did vote, it would be pardon. Which she probably thinks means treat. Spirit is the docile one. So, pardon is clear. But he is open to turkey treats, or uh, any treat or belly rub.
There you go. Two award winners and a pardon for TOY Award.
Last week, we started our career growth and development series with an issue on professional development goals. This week, we’re taking a look at how to assess your goals to make a concrete plan of action. Whether your goals involve advancement in your current field, a career change, or entering the workforce for the first time, you can follow the same broad steps to figure out your path forward.
A career development plan helps you connect your daily actions to your big-picture professional goals. Often, human resources or people operations professionals use this tool to help employees identify growth opportunities at work, but anyone working toward personal or professional goals can benefit from a clear plan, whether they’re operating independently or with support from their employer.
Career development plans are all about taking stock of where you are, identifying where you want to go, and outlining your path to get there. As a formal document, they often include sections for your short-term and long-term goals, a skills audit, resources available to you, and action items.
Start building your plan with our free career development plan template. To access the template, click the link, sign into your Google account and click the ‘Make a copy’ button. This will create your own editable, private template!
Here are the broad steps you’ll take to map out your plan:
Think about your current position. Where are you in your career right now? What do you like, dislike, or simply wish were different about it?
Consider your goals. What does your dream job look like? What do you want to do more or less of? What title, responsibilities, or projects do you want to work on?
Analyze your skills. Identify the skills you already have and the ones you’ll need to develop through reskilling or upskilling in order to achieve your goals. If you’re not sure of the skills you’ll need, look at job listings for your dream job to see what they require. For more support on this step, revisit our issue on identifying key job skills.
Explore resources. Look around you: what resources are available to you that can help you move toward your goals? Consider seeking a mentor for help, asking your employer what they offer, or simply looking online.
Write your action plan. Now that you’ve taken stock of your goals, resources, and skills, create a plan that focuses on the concrete steps you can take to start working toward your ultimate goal.
As you implement your plan and progress toward your goals, try to remain flexible in your approach. Remember: your plan should work with and for you. If your plan isn’t working for you, you can shift your action items, seek support from others, and brainstorm new strategies. You can even change your goals! Growth is a learning process, and it won’t always be linear.
Where to begin
One career development resource that’s available to you anywhere with an internet connection? Online learning. Check out some popular career development courses on Coursera:
That’s all for this week. Next week, we’ll talk about mentors and the steps you can take to find one. Until then, let us know what your first action items are in the comments—we’d love to cheer you on.
P.S. Did you know you and a friend can get your first month of Coursera Plus for only $1 through our referral program? If your action plan involves learning new skills or if you’re workshopping your goals and want to explore courses across several career areas, join the 77% of surveyed learners on Coursera who have reported career benefits including new jobs, promotions, and expanded skill sets.
With Coursera Plus, you get unlimited access to over 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs from universities and companies like Yale, Google, Microsoft, and more (including all three of our recommendations above).
It’s that time of the year again! As you enjoyed our planner bundle sale last year, I thought you’d be happy to know that we’re offering it again this year. You can purchase both the life and blog planners together at a discounted price of 30% off the regular price. This is our only sale so don’t miss out and make your purchase before November 29th. After this date, the bundle will still be available, but at the full price.
2024 Classic Bundle
Life & Blog Planner
2024 Sky Blue Bundle
Life & Blog Planner
No code is required! By purchasing the bundles, you get 80 unique pages for $26 instead of $38. It is 30% off our 2024 Ultimate Planners!
What’s included?
Each color version of the life planner includes everything from our Life & Blog Planner. 80 unique pages of organizational goodness + 3 free printable posters (different for each planner version)! Here’s a look at what you’ll receive with each purchase:
Goals & Planning
2024 Calendar (new)
2023 Calendar
Monthly Calendar (Undated)
Editorial Monthly Calendar (Undated)
Yearly Vision & Goals
Daily Planner
Daily Planner (Blank)
Goal Tracker
New Year Resolutions
Year in Review
To Do List
Master To Do List
Weekly To Do List
Blog To-Do List
Bucket List
Books to Read
Movies & Shows to Watch
Celebrations
Birthdays
Important Dates
Gift Ideas
Wish List
Personal/Spiritual
Favorite Quotes
Gratitude Journal
Prayer Journal
Advertising Tracker
Facebook Advertising
Stats & Analytics
Yearly Stats & Analytics
Blank Yearly Stats & Analytics
Monthly Stat Tracker
Email Campaigns
Email Campaign Tracker
Automated Email Planner
Email Campaign Planner
Health
Prescription Tracker
Hospital Stays
Doctor Visits
Blood Sugar Tracker
Blood Pressure Tracker
Medical Information
Medical Contacts
Menstrual Cycle Tracker
Medication Tracker
Nutrition & Fitness
Workout Calendar
Weekly Meal Planner
Weekly Breakfast Menu
Weekly Lunch Menu
Weekly Dinner Menu
Grocery List
Grocery List (Vegan)
Finance
Bill Payment Tracker
Monthly Budget
Monthly Expenses
Monthly Income
Yearly Finance Tracker
Monthly Finance Tracker
Information Keepers
Post Planning
Post Brainstorming Guide
Post Topic Brainstorming
Weekly Post Planner
Goal Setting
Monthly Blogging Goals
Yearly Blogging Goals
Tracking
Affiliate Programs
Giveaway Tracker
Sale Tracker
Collaborations
Single Giveaway Tracker
Cleaning
Deep Cleaning Schedule
Weekly Cleaning Schedule
Additional Monday Start Week Options
Weekly Breakfast Menu
Weekly Lunch Menu
Weekly Dinner Menu
Workout Calendar
Monthly Calendar (Undated)
Weekly Meal Planner
Blood Sugar Tracker
Editorial Monthly Calendar (Undated)
2024 Calendar (new)
2023 Calendar (new)
Social Media
Social Media Planner
Weekly Facebook Post Planner
Weekly Instagram Post Planner
Pinterest Post Planner
YouTube Planner
Social Media Tracker
Series Planner
Frame Planner
Inspirations
TikTok Planner
Social Media ideas
Hashtag Planner
Other Pages
Cover Page
Blank Planner Page
Notes
Contacts
Usernames & Passwords
Change Record
Printing Guide
Copyright & Terms
Return Policy
Printing Instructions
Additional Details
PLANNER SIZE OPTIONS
The planner includes 4 different sizes: US Letter (8.5 x 11 inch – North America), A4 (8.3 x 11.7 inch / 210 x 297 mm – Europe/International), A5 (5.8 x 8.3 inch / 148 x 210 mm) & Personal (3.7 x 6.7 / 95mm x 171mm). You can choose one or more sizes at checkout to fit the planner size(s) you prefer.
ONLY PRINT THE PAGES YOU NEED
This printable blog planner for 2024 allows you to pick and choose only the pages you want to use so you aren’t lugging around unused prints. The Print Guide (included) will help you know how many of each page to print out. The Printing Instructions (included) will give instructions on how to print each of the different sizes.
UNDATED BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED PAGES
With the exception of the 2024 Calendar, all pages are undated so they can be used year after year. All weekly-type planner pages include Sunday & Monday start week options so you can use the option you prefer. The planner uses a light color scheme, which uses less ink.
AMPLE MARGINS
The planner has been carefully designed with ample margin space to allow for holes to be punched without punching through any text.
DOWNLOADABLE PDF FILES
This planner is a digital item so you will not receive any physical products. To clarify, The file(s) will arrive to you via email immediately upon purchase (if you don’t get them – check spam). When you download the files, they will arrive in zipped folders. You will need to unzip/extract the files from the folder in order to access them. After that, all you need to do is print them. All files are in PDF format.
This sale runs through November 29th only, so act fast to take advantage of this special deal!
Cranberry sauce? Mac and cheese? Stuffing? How about the iconic holiday bird itself?
Whether it’s a classic recipe or an underrated delight, what’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish — to make or eat?
Is there any traditional item you hope will be left off the menu this year?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article — which provides a complete how-to guide for cooking your Thanksgiving meal.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
