Career development plan template

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN — [name], [date]

WHERE I AM
Role and level:
What I am known for:
What I carry that is not in my job description:

WHERE I WANT TO BE (two to three years)
Role, level or kind of work:
Why:

THIS YEAR'S STEP
What I want by [date]:
Who decides:
When they decide:
What they need to see (in my manager's words):

THE GAP
What I can already show:
What I cannot show yet:

THIS YEAR
Objective 1: [result, measure, date] — helps [department goal] by ...
Objective 2:
Objective 3:

THIS QUARTER
Three actions, each with a date:

REVIEW
Every month: one line on progress, with my manager
Every quarter: plan against what happened

It fits on one page. Copy it into a document, or use the free workbook.

A career development plan is a one-page statement of where you want your work to go and how you will get there. It differs from a job description, which says what you do now. It also differs from a performance review, which looks back.

Most career development plan templates follow the same steps: where you are, where you want to be, the gap, goals, actions. That is a good start. It treats your career as something you achieve alone.

You do not. Someone decides whether you move, and they decide on a date.

• Who decides. It may be your manager, your manager's manager or a committee. Ask.
• When they decide. Roles and budgets for the year are usually settled at one point in it. Ask when.

A plan that does not name them is a list of wishes. Once it names them, you know who has to see your work, and by when.

Write each goal as a result, a measure and a date.

1. Level: move to senior analyst in the March round.
2. Pay: reach the middle of my pay band by April.
3. Scope: own the monthly forecast from start to finish by 31 January.
4. Skill: present to the sales meeting twice by the end of February.
5. Move: join the pricing team when a role opens, with my manager's support agreed by June.
6. Visibility: have one result of mine presented at the department review this half.
7. Way of working: agree two remote days a week by the end of the quarter.
8. Special project: be named on the system migration team before it is staffed in May.

Share "this year's step" in your first month:

Then bring one line on progress to a one-on-one every month. Your manager never has to wonder whether you still want it.

You decide what else to share. The two-to-three-year part is yours. An ambition outside your team or your company can stay in your own copy.

• You do not know where you want to be. Skip that section. Write only the year you want. One good year usually shows the next step.
• The answer is "there is no path here". That is information. You now know what staying means.
• The plan changes. Revise it, and date the revision. Keep the old version.

How long should a career development plan be? One page.

How often should I update it? Look at it every month. Rewrite "this quarter" every quarter. Rewrite the whole page once a year.

How is it different from an individual development plan? The career development plan sets the direction and names who decides. The individual development plan covers what you will learn this year.

Should my manager write it? No. Your manager reads it, corrects what they need to see, and supports it.

The career development plan is the first page of a year-long routine. The full method is free: Start your annual review on day one. The free workbook holds the plan, the dates and the record.

If you would rather have it kept for you, a coach that runs it is planned.