Academic Strategies for the Business Professional

Academic Strategies for the Business Professional Two-digit Section

Instructions: Download this document to your computer before filling it out. All of the gray boxes below should be appropriately filled in and the document saved again before submitting to the Unit 9 Dropbox. Develop your own Career Action Plan based on information you have gained in this course. Consider information from course Readings, Assignments, career research, the informational interview, and the LASSI assessment.

Career Action Plan:

Take some time to think seriously about where you would like to be in your future career and how you will get there. Once you have generated some ideas, complete the short-term and long-term information, and respond to all items listed below.

Short-Term Educational Goal

Your short-term educational goal should be a goal that you can realistically accomplish in approximately 2 years or less. Focus on a goal that will help you to reach the long-term career goal that you will be focusing on in the second part of your career action plan.

I. What is this educational goal and why is it important to you? The short-term educational goal that I have for myself is to receive my Associates Degree in Business Administration. This is important to me because this will further enhance my knowledge in the business field. Having this degree will also allow me to better knowledge of things I will need to have to be successful business owner. This is one my personal achievements that I have been wanting to do for over ten years now. I would like to also graduate with honor by keeping my grades up with A’s and B’s.

II. Your Strengths: What skills, characteristics, and experiences do you have now that make you a good “fit” for this short-term goal? (minimum 5 complete sentences) Some of my strengths I have that make me a good fit for my short term goal is that I have good communication skills, good work ethic, and I am creative. Being that I make sure I study, take good notes, finish my work on time and really get into what I am doing and learning from it. I feel that the things that I am doing now have and will continue to help me in keeping my name on the Dean’s list. I am one that takes pride in my work. I want to be the best that I can and I try my hardest not to give up.

III. Your Weaknesses: What skills, characteristics, and experiences will you need to gain in order to ensure that you will achieve this goal? (minimum 5 complete sentences) I feel that my writing is one of my weaknesses and this will hold me back on accomplishing good assignments. Taking a tutor class to improve this will be of great help for me. Another weakness I have is Math. Mathematics has always been one of my downfalls throughout school. I fear of the next set of classes due to having a Math class. I have already taken an online tutoring class for this and hope that it will help me out so that I can continue to excel in my education.

IV. Your Plan: What are some of the obstacles or challenges you might encounter as you work towards achieving this goal (refer back to your weaknesses)? How will you respond to or strive to overcome these obstacles challenges? Which resources might be helpful? (minimum 5 complete sentences) Fear of failure is going to be my biggest obstacle in working towards my goal. Some of things that I can do to overcome this fear are to first, stop beating myself up over it. Second is to stop trying too hard. Third is and most important is to ask for help. I have been working on ways to help with my fears of failing with these three things. I have been asking for help if I am not too sure of what I need to do. Taking online tutor classes and asking my aunt which is a teacher.

V. Your Actions: What are some of the steps or ACTIONS you will need to complete in order to get your desired outcome? Make sure to include a projected completion. Find ways to not have the fear of failing, ongoing.

Long-Term Career Goal

Your long-term career goal will be a goal that you can realistically accomplish in approximately 3–5 years. Focus on a goal that is clearly tied to the short-term educational goal that you focused on in the first part of your career action plan.

I. What is this career goal, and why is it important to you? (minimum 5 complete sentences) I feel that everyone can give something, and help others who are in need. Helping troubled children in my community is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. Starting my own business in which I can give back to my community is my long-term career goal. Feeling the accomplishment of seeing that I have helped a troubled child turn hers life around because of my help is very important to me. As a child, I was going in the wrong direction in my life and I want to be able to give my knowledge and experience back to my community and their children.

II. Your Strengths: What skills do you have now that make you a good “fit” for this long-term goal? (minimum 5 complete sentences) Some of the skills that I have in order to be a good fit for owning my own business is; leadership, commitment, great communication. I have owned several small businesses in the past which I had to have these skills. I believe that with my studies now and my past experience, I will be able to have a very successful business with helping others. When I had my daycare I have to speak to the parents and explain my program to them and make sure they understood it. I was always committed to the children in my home. I also am an active listener which is very important in this field that I want to be in.

III. Your Weaknesses: What skills and/or experiences will you need to gain in order to ensure that you will achieve this goal? Financial is going to be my weakness in gaining this goal. I do not have the finances to back up my dreams of owning my own business. This is one of the most important part of starting my business. Finding a financial partner, organization, or bank is somewhere that I would like to start in order to help me with this dilemma. My education is something that also worries me, being that I am not very good with math. I am doing my best to stay positive to move forward with these weaknesses that I currently have and hope to overcome them.

IV. Your Plan: What are some of the obstacles or challenges you might encounter as you work towards achieving this goal (refer back to your weaknesses)? How will you respond to or strive to overcome these obstacles challenges? Identify at least two specific career resources from the Unit 9 Reading that might be helpful.  I started using The Focus 2 Career Planning System. This has several different steps in helping me to figure out what is best for me in starting my own business. Kaplan Career Resources is another place to find out great information. Using the Kaplan academic support center is going to one of the best places I plan to start. 

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