When most clients come to me, they have hit a crossroad in their career development. They are hungering for concrete guidance and direction. They simply don’t know where to turn next.

It’s a well kept secret that successful career development is a sequential three step process of self-assessment, career exploration and then action plan. Action plan can take the form of either:

1) doing a job search
2) going back to school
3) starting a business

Unfortunately, most people start with the last step in the process, the action plan.

As a career counselor, what I do is back up all my clients to the first stage, self-assessment. In this part it’s critical to do a very thorough inventory of the client’s skills, values, interests and personality traits. This done through counseling and assessment testing. The goal of this process of data collecting to answer the important question: Who am I?

The next step is to take all self-assessment information and match it with various career options. During this stage, it’s central to do 4 things:

1) reading and research of the top 10 options
2) networking and informational interviewing
3) gaining relevant experience
4) evaluating each choice

These choices then need to be ranked in terms of three types of jobs:

1) ideal jobs
2) realistic jobs
3) safety jobs

Collaboratively we are trying to answer the question: Where am I going?

Step three is last. Once you have developed your focus, then and only then do you implement a strategic action plan that is going to help you achieve your goals. Here we are trying to answer the question: How do I get there?

If you try to attempt to answer this last question first, you run into trouble because you don’t know where “there” is? Focusing on where you are going both in your personal and professional life is healthy.

Now you know my secret to career success. Changing jobs and careers is one of the most difficult things we can do in adulthood. Finding your passion is essential, and not only to you.

Tom’s Tip: Successful people take it one step at a time.