Career Path Plan

How to Make a Career Path Plan
Mission or Purpose
I perceive that my purpose in life is to serve others by using my training, experience, knowledge, skills, and talents and applying them in a way that helps others to achieve their goals. This perception is based on my experience as a leader in the military, where I have given a great deal of my life in service to my country. For me there is no better calling than to serve others, to put oneself at the service of a country, an organization, a group, family, friends, or community.
Personal Philosophy of Work
My beliefs about myself, people and work are that we are all here to work. I do not sit around and dream of holidays and think about how I cannot wait for the work bell to ring so I can go home, sit on the couch, and turn on the TV. Rather, my thoughts are focused on work, and my work focuses on supporting other people in the mission and aims of the military that we all currently serve in together. It is not a job that we do alone or that we can disappear into. I communicate with my colleagues, with my superiors and with my inferiors, and they communicate back. There is a constant flow of information that keeps us all linked together and all on the same page. I believe that being on that page is very important and I cannot think of anywhere else I would rather be. At some point, the page will turn and a I new chapter will begin—likely outside the military. But it will be a new chapter full of new people and new work duties, and it will be a new pursuit and a new opportunity to put myself and my skills to good use.
My work ethic is based on my desire to succeed no matter the task. I am self-motivated, self-actualizing, hard working, and capable of focusing on multiple tasks at the same time. I finish work promptly and never leave a job half-done. My philosophy of work is that every man has to do his part and together a team can achieve more than one man can on his own.
My beliefs about organizations and the industry with which I am currently affiliated are that the military is a great placing for molding minds and disciplining oneself. Structure, hierarchy, camaraderie, and a spirit of mission all help to instill a sense of purpose and appreciation for the work that others put in and the importance of lending a helping hand at all times. These beliefs will carry over into the field I expect to get into once I leave the military—the field of education.
My philosophy as a worker is that when duty calls it is all hands on deck. There is no time for lollygagging, procrastinating, or bumbling around. One should be prepared—and if one is caught off guard through no fault of one’s own, then one should always quickly seek assistance from a supervisor or a colleague. As a supervisor, my philosophy is that I am there to help those whom I oversee. My role is to guide, lead, support, and communicate, and assist them as they put their talents and industry to use in the service of the mission. As a colleague, my philosophy is that I need to be ever-ready to fulfill my role so that my colleague can fulfill his—because no matter what you are part of, whether it is the military or an organization in civilian life, everyone has a role and every role feeds into a much larger picture like a puzzle. If you cannot get your puzzle piece where it goes, the picture cannot take shape—so I value being a good colleague by fulfilling my role and assisting my peers in fulfilling their roles whenever I can.
Career Plan
My career plan is to transition from the military into the education field by serving as a teacher or an administrator. In my current career, I am very happy with where I am because I am putting in the time and will be able to retire from service with a great pension. However, I want to apply my skills in the civilian world, and given my demeanor and desire to serve others, I feel I would best be suited for a position in education.
My two year goal is to still be working in the military and strengthening my skill set. My four year goal is to be readying for retirement from the military as a Lieutenant Colonel. My eight year goal is to retire from the military and transition into higher education as a professor or administrator. My ten year goal is to be working in a university.
The ELFH 616 Capstone class and other Program activities are related to my goals in the sense that they have given me the ability to develop a vision for myself and for the future that I might not otherwise have been able to develop so fully. The fieldwork project and other activities have given me the knowledge of myself and my skills to realize that I would be a great fit in the university system and that my military experience and training would allow me to complete a smooth transition into education after I retire.
Goals
Career Path Goals
The different career paths that interest more are all in higher education. Right now, my aim is to retire from the military as a Lieutenant Colonel and use my military resume and background as a leader to take one of two paths—one a path towards becoming a professor at a university or a path towards becoming an administrator at a university.
To become a professor at a university, I will need to obtain my Master’s degree, which I am currently working on and intend to finish within the next 2 years. I would also like to obtain a second Master’s degree or a PHD in a field that I am interested in. I may like to teach history or military history, since that is my background. Obtaining a Master’s or PHD in Education would allow me to have an excellent set of qualifications for helping me to obtain the professorship position that I desire. To assist in reaching this goal, I will want to beef up my resume by obtaining teaching positions in the military over the next 6-8 years so that I can show extensive experience as an educator. I would also like to have as much professional experience in the field to make sure I am happy with that path.
To become an administrator, I could use my military skills to go in a different direction. Instead of seeking a Master’s in an educative discipline I could go for a degree in Human Resources or Management and even obtain a PHD in either. This would allow me to have the necessary credentials for obtaining a good administrative position in a university. In terms of professional experience that I could obtain to help me reach this goal, I will also be focusing on gaining administrative experience in the military over the next 6-8 years. This way I will be able to compare my thoughts and feelings on whether I prefer the administrative office side of things or if I prefer to be in front of a classroom, teaching and training students about different topics and subjects and having that on-the-ground or front-lines relationship with others.
Education Goals
The education goal I have is to complete my PHD in Education. I would also like obtain a Masters or PHD in Management or Human Resources so that if I want to take the administrative route that pathway will be open to me later on. First, however, my focus will be on obtaining the PHD in education and selecting a concentration area that I could pursue.
I do not have a specific type of skill in mind that I would like to teach, but I would enjoy teaching a variety of different subjects, such as military history, education, HR, and so on. To obtain the type of position that I want to have in university, what is important is that I get my PHD, which will open up many doors in the academic field and allow me to consider a range of options. My PHD will require me completing a dissertation, which essentially is a self-directed learning project, though there is a guiding process that PHD candidates can use during their candidature. The same goes for obtaining a Masters in another discipline, whether it is in Education, Human Resources or something else, like Psychology. The Masters requirement is usually to complete a thesis, which is similar to a dissertation but shorter and less intensive.
To acquire a Masters and PHD, I will need to read very many different books and scholarly articles, especially when it comes to completing the thesis or dissertation. I should be able to attend courses thanks to my military service, and any conferences or seminars that become an option will be learning opportunities to consider. Supplemental funding should not be an issue, since education is already paid for because of my military service. The only issue will be budgeting time. Time is the one resource that needs to be used very well and strategically as it is finite and there are only so many hours in the week that I will be able to devote to studying. Thus, achieving my education goals will require careful planning and balancing of my time, and I will need to determine exactly how I will be scheduling my hours over the next two to four years as this will allow me to see more fully where I need to focus.
Family Goals
My goal is to have a family, which means marrying and having children, and the timeframe in which I want to do this is the next four years. I would like, therefore, to be settled in the family department by the time I leave the military and transition into civilian life, as I believe this will help make the transition easier and more meaningful for me.
Having a family in place when I retire from the military will also give me an additional purpose, incentive and motivational drive to succeed in my education goals, as I will have a wife and children who need supporting even as they are providing assistance as part of my own personal social support system. Others in my support system will be my peers (friendship and relationships I retain after I leave active service), family and friends in my civilian life, and peers in the educational field I enter into.
Part of establishing a family will be laying down roots somewhere, buying a home, and connecting with the community. This will be a decision that I plan on making with my future wife, and I expect that we will look for a community that has a good school system for the children and that also offers good higher education opportunities for my education and career. I will want to have a home near the university where I work, and I want the community to be a safe one, but it is also important that it is near our families, because we will be relying on our families for support during this time period as well.
Service Goals
Since I believe in serving others, service goals are also very important to me. The service goals I have for myself over the next five years are: 1) to volunteer at my church organization and provide support for the social work that the organization does in the community; 2) to use my leadership skills to address the issue of drug abuse in the community by meeting with local leaders and coalitions to find ways to offer support for substance abusers so that they can clean up their lives and develop a support system of their own and obtain a level of self-actualization. I would like to support these groups both with my free time and with financial support.
I would also like to volunteer with a local organization that specializes in rebuilding homes of victims who have suffered from a natural disaster. Groups like Keller Williams often engage in these types of practices every year, so it is a one day or one weekend event in which volunteers pitch in to get a big job finished in a short amount of time. This is a great service opportunity because it shows the community that you care and it helps people and families get back on their feet after misfortune strikes. There is always an opportunity for this type of service and the key is to network with local activists and charitable or non-profit organizations using social media so that I can always stay abreast of these opportunities when they become available.
There is a strong relationship between my service goals and my family, career and education goals, as service is the big theme that runs through them. With a family comes duties and responsibilities, and I intend to honor them. A career and education also have duties that must be observed. The only barriers I foresee are time constraints, but with the right planning and with motivational support from my family and peers, I do not see these barriers as being insurmountable at all.
Leadership, Personal and Professional Development Goals
I want to be an educator. I see professorship as the ultimate goal, as it is a respected position and educators are viewed as sources of knowledge and guidance. I want to be able to give both to others and in that position I will be able to stand out and be recognized as one who has both to give. I find meaning in serving others, as servant leadership is the style of leadership I most identify with. The original servant leader is Christ, and He gave His life to His friends that they might find happiness, and that is the type of example I carry in my heart.
Thus the leadership images I am drawn to include ones of servant leaders, men like Herb Kelleher at Southwest or Richard Branson at Virgin—men who lead by serving others well. My personal images include my father and grandfather, both of whom taught me what it means to serve. My professional images include my own military superiors who have always served me well. I would like to proved leadership to the needy, to initiatives that go to support the community, and to those seeking education. I have already taken leadership roles in my military career, and I look forward to taking leadership roles in civilian life.
The activities I want to pursue that will help me develop personally and professionally are to involve myself more locally in the community and create stronger ties with the leaders of my parish. I want to obtain a spiritual mentor who will help to guide me in my transition out of the military into civilian life, as this transition can be bumpy for those who do not prepare well for it. I would benefit from a mentoring relationship by observing the guidelines my mentor would give me as I seek to take a new direction in life.