¶ … personal development plan which I have formulated to identify my career objectives and improve my interpersonal and professional skills. Personal development planning includes a set of questions which try to identify career interests, potentials, and competencies, collect relevant information for future decision making, and personal development matrix to identify short- and long-term goals and their respective actions to be followed. A personal development plan helps in identifying potentials and competencies in one's personality and finding a good match of these potentials and competencies with his long-term professional goals. This paper presents all the essential steps which must be included in personal development planning process; including identification of potentials and capabilities, testing the abilities and skills, answering all the potential questions which arise when someone tries to choose his professional career, selecting the future goals and defining the roadmap to achieve those goals, collecting and analyzing relevant information for an effective decision making, academic and professional advantages of personal development, and the personal development matrix to identify short-term and long-term goals.

INTRODUCTION

A personal development plan helps an individual in identifying his potential and capabilities which he can utilize to achieve his future aims (Business Ball 2013). It enables him to figure out the gaps or discrepancies which can put hurdles in his way of success (Cottrell 2012). Personal development plan is a structured scheme in which an individual tries to answer certain questions related to his dreams, professional career, and ambitions in life. Since personal development is a process which is spread over an indefinite period of time, one cannot consider it final (Palgrave 2013). Therefore, a good personal development plan passes through a number of improvement stages before reaching a final plan (Management for the Rest of Us 2013).

Background:

I had begun thinking of my professional career soon after I passed my schooling education. After taking admission into an undergraduate degree in Business Management studies, I developed a mindset to become a successful business manager in the future. With the passage of time, I kept on improving it by making my ambitions and career path more and more specific. Now when I have a successfully passed my undergraduate degree and got enrollment in a post graduation program, my ambition is to make my career in the field of Human Resource Management. This paper presents my personal development plan which is purely based on my ambition and dreams in life which I want to achieve through my potentials and interpersonal capabilities.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Questions to be answered for Personal Development:

I have formulated my personal development plan on the basis of following questions:

What are my ambitions in life or what do I want to become in the future?

What are my core capabilities and skills which can help me in achieving my ambition in an effective and efficient way?

Have I chosen the right field of study according to my ambition? (or) Does my selected field of study lead to the same direction where I want to go in the future?

Have I decided the roadmap to achieve my ambition or waiting for the circumstances to turn in my favor?

What time span do I require to achieve my ultimate goals?

Have I strategized to encounter the issues and challenges which will come in the course of achievement of my ultimate goals?

Have I obtained all the necessary information that will help me throughout the process of personal development, etc. (Management for the Rest of Us 2013)?

THE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

i. Identify the Ambition in Life:

My personal development process started with identifying my personal ambitions, i.e. what I wanted to become and achieve in my life. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to become a successful business manager. Therefore, I took admission in an undergraduate Honors program in the field Business Administration. I chose this field of study after getting inspired from a number of successful business entrepreneurs from own country. However, I was still confused of my area of specialization. After completing my Honors degree in Business Administration, I got admission in Masters Program in order to improve my educational qualification as well as move towards a more focused direction to build a strong professional career.

ii. Development of Interest over Time:

Having studies a number of courses in this field of study, I realized that I am more interested in human resource management studies. Thus, I transformed my ambition from becoming a business manager to a making my career as a business leader --...

This decision was my step towards personal development. It was the time when I had to indentify my skills, competencies, and potentials which can help me achieve my ambition in life (Landsberg 2011).
iii. Identifying Potentials and Competencies:

The best way to identify these competencies and potentials is to look over past achievements and current state of interests in personality. I am good at problem solving, pressure handling, and time management skills; and at the same time, I have the potential to lead others. Therefore, I have made my mind to become an HR professional who has a wide range of responsibilities as well as a high level of power and authority (Cottrell 2012). By adopting my career in the field of human resource management, I aim to become a successful business leader in the future. This ambition has largely helped me in defining 'Success' in my life (Palgrave 2013). By formulating my personal development plan, I am able to decide my roadmap which can take me to my ultimate destination.

iv. Collect relevant Information:

After defining the career path and identifying the potentials and competencies, the next step is to collect all the necessary information which can provide guidance throughout the rest of the personal development process. For my selected field of study, relevant information includes job opportunities, scope in the home and international countries, salaries of HR professionals at different job positions and organizational levels, and the like (Palgrave 2013). When I selected this field of study, I had background knowledge about human resource management practices which I gained in my previous degree, i.e. The 4-year Honors program in Business Administration. Having all the necessary information in hand, I was able to predict the development stages of my professional career in the next 5 to 10 years period (Management for the Rest of Us 2013).

v. Testing the Abilities and Potentials:

In addition to obtaining relevant information and having a clear direction of professional career in mind, the next step is to experience the abilities and potentials which can help in achieving the set goals and ambitions. This experience is obtained when someone gets such opportunity during his educational career (Covey 2004). I had experienced this thing when I was in my Bachelors program. The professors gave us various opportunities to show our presentation skills through different academic projects, presentations, research studies, and others.

PLANNING THE FUTURE

Planning for the future is not one time decision -- it starts at when someone gets admission in the bachelors program and ends when he obtains his degree and searches for some suitable job. Planning for the future is basically a process which lets an individual think what he wants to become in his life or what career he would like to prefer when he will complete his degree. Many students get opportunity to start their professional career while they are in the middle of completing their degrees (Kozubska 1997). Research suggests that such types of opportunities should not be availed unless they are attractive and exactly relevant to the ambition of the student (Palgrave 2013). This is because such opportunities faint the direction and ambitions of the students if they are not still confident in regard to selection of their career (Covey 2004).

When I was studying in my bachelors program, I got several job opportunities in some renowned companies. However, the job positions offered to me were not attractive enough for me to make any commitment with the companies. Now when I have chosen my career path and studying in the final stage of my post graduation program, I am looking for a career that will take me to my ultimate goal, i.e. A top level managerial position in the Human Resource Management department of a renowned national or multinational corporation.

ACADEMIC ADVANTAGES OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

I have reaped the following academic advantages from my personal development planning:

I have a clear and focused professional development path in my mind which has largely helped me in selecting and presenting academic projects which are exactly relevant to my field of study.

I have seen significant improvement in my interpersonal and professional skills after defining my career path and keeping my focus on my ambition in life.

I have learned the way I can improve my academic performance as well as achieve my desired job position in the shortest span of time.

Personal development planning has also helped me in overcoming the stress and pressures which most of the students face while they are in…