I have always had an interest in Journalism and writing. I don’t think I could write these articles without it.

Why am I saying this? There is something that I have learnt from my interest in journalism that is very relevant to career planning. That is the 5 W’s and the ‘H’.

Career planning is important to create action. When your plan is written down on paper it is much more powerful than in your head. The 5 W’s and the ‘H’ will help you with this.

Simply, it is What, Where, When, Who, Why and How?

This needs to be known before you conduct your jobsearch.

(Do this exercise on paper or in a word document)

Here you will describe what kind of work you are looking for. Is it something creative? Is it working with plants or animals? Is it something where you are inspiring others such as teaching, corporate training or personal training? Is it something using your hands such as cabinet making, welding metal or electronics? Is it to help others in unfortunate circumstances such as counseling, nursing or rehabilitation?

Once this is recognised, the other ‘what’ question is ‘what course (if any) do I require to complete to get me what I want?’

 

Here you can take the easy road or the hard road. The easy road is to simply say ‘the manager of the company’, but the best way you will be able to build ripore over time is to know the name of the decision maker within that organisation whether it be the HR Manager, Recruitment manager or Business owner. Write this down for future follow ups otherwise you will forget

This is more important than you think. The answer is not always ‘now’. It’s better to make the best decision over the course of several weeks rather than make an uninformed decision over several days. You might not have valued the alternatives before you have set yourself on the job. It might be too early to think of then when before you have found out the ‘what’ above.

This could be interpreted as the business/company and the destination you would like to work. Both should be considered.

Am I going for this job for the right reasons? Is it something that I truly want? Is it something that I have passion in and want to perform at highest level? Is it something I can see as a long term option?

This question refers to not only your job hunting method/s but also your attitude to your job hunt. For example, for you to be successful at gaining employment, you have to have persistence, be professional, do prior research in the business and be confident. This is all very important to the difference of being hired rather than not.

I truly believe that lack of planning is one of the biggest contributors to students not knowing what they want or where they want to go. The 5 W’s and the ‘H’ will certainly be a good exercise to do on paper so your goals can be so much more clear and precise for you.