Six steps to your successful career path: from self-assessment to decision making to life planning, these steps will help guide the RIM professional to success.

• Author: Andolsen, Alan A.
• Position: CareerPath - Records and information management

Over the past two decades, records and information management (RIM) practitioners have begun to enjoy the ability to create a structured career path. No longer are they solely relegated to dark, dusty file rooms. They are now emerging as serious leaders in the organizations they serve--especially by demonstrating expertise in effectively managing digital records.

Although leadership may come calling without request, more often it comes to those who prepare for it by planning their careers. The following illustration provides a six-step framework for career planning that can be useful for those starting a career or for those evaluating or contemplating a change in their current career.

Self-Assessment

The first step begins with understanding yourself. A number of areas of self-knowledge are very important in laying a foundation for a career plan.

Personality and Attitudes

You first need to understand your own personality (e.g., outgoing or shy, passive or aggressive, thoughtful or emotional). In addition, you need to be clear about your own attitudes toward life and work. For example, a positive attitude about work defines who you are and may turn you toward a career that provides the opportunity to engage in a driving passion but would not interest someone for whom work is simply a necessary evil to provide income and stability.

Skills and Achievements

One of the most helpful tasks you can undertake to understand yourself is to create an exhaustive and objective list of your skills. Next, inventory your achievements. In both cases, even the smallest achievements or most minor skills may be important in helping you understand what you can do and what you might like to do.

Knowledge and Learning Style

This requires a critical look at what you have learned in life--whether academic or practical knowledge gained from your work or other elements within your life. Beyond that, it is important to understand how you learn. For some, the best learning occurs when they interact with other people. For others, the written word provides the information needed to gain a skill or to understand a process.

Values

Most importantly, you should understand what you value most. This requires a rigorously honest evaluation of those things, persons, or experiences that you treasure and that you would give up only with great difficulty.

Interests

Inventory your interests. They should not be limited to personal pleasures outside of your work experience but should include interests from all aspects of your life.

Entrepreneurism

Finally, evaluate how much risk you are willing to take. Those for whom risk poses little or no...