Career Planning - Managing Your Future Today

WHAT is Career Planning?

PSP’s Career Planning is designed to help you develop the knowledge you need to make sound decisions about career direction and goals based on:

• what you have to offer, in terms of your talent, work style, and interest patterns;
• what types of jobs and careers are likely to offer you the best chances for success and satisfaction;
• an integrated career plan that covers schooling, occupational trends, and personal considerations.

PSP’s role is not to do your thinking for you, but to provide you with the necessary information to make sound career choices and develop a systematic career plan for yourself.

WHO can benefit from Career Planning?

• the high school student considering choices for further education or work, college or business/technical school, one course of study or another;
• the college student with questions about the selection of a career or choice of a major;
• the unemployed adult entering or reentering the workforce, seeking to identify his or her marketable skills and developmental needs;
• the employed adult frustrated with work activities or progress and considering change into either self-employment or a different corporate setting;
• the future manager in a family business, determining the optimum role for himself or herself in the business and how to prepare for that role;
• the outplaced adult deciding whether to remain in the same occupational field or to undertake a new direction;
• the retired adult looking for fulfilling leisure activities or a second career;
• in other words, anyone who wants to choose a course of occupational or educational action related to his or her capabilities, personality and interests.

WHY consider Career Planning?

While most people have some understanding of their own intellectual and behavioral make-up, they nonetheless find it difficult to consider and use this self knowledge objectively. PSP’s Career Planning offers these features:

• PSP’s process of interviewing, assessment and counseling will give you a broader and deeper look at yourself than most people are able to take on their own.
• PSP understands jobs and what is required for success in those jobs. Our staff has worked with hundreds of business, industrial, service and public sector organizations. Our clients range from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations.
• PSP’s feedback and counseling is a two-way process. We will discuss your results in detail and answer any questions you may have about them. We will give you our suggestions about career direction and help you evaluate your own ideas.

WHEN should Career Planning occur?

Career Planning is likely to be most helpful early in your decision making process, when you have time to weigh the information carefully before committing yourself to a new course of action. For example, an employed adult should undertake career planning when he or she is first considering a job change, rather than after leaving the job and under pressure to find another. Likewise, a high school student could benefit more in his or her junior year than late in the senior year, when pressed to respond to interested colleges or employers.

HOW is Career Planning done?

At PSP, you will fill out a personal history questionnaire which will serve as the basis for a discussion of your school, work and outside activities. Then you will have a background interview with one of PSP’s Psychologists, which will help to:

• define your career planning;
• gain insight into your background and experience;
• tailor PSP’s assessment program to your specific needs;
• provide a context for interpreting the assessment results.

The assessment program will focus on three broad areas:

• abilities and aptitudes, to help you understand how to develop and capitalize on your talents;
• personality and motivation, to help you determine the settings in which you can most comfortably and effectively use your talents;
• interests and values, to identify the types of career or educational activities which you are likely to find most enjoyable.

After you have completed the assessment, you will receive detailed feedback and counseling. The PSP Psychologist working with you will explain the results of the tests and their implications for your career decisions. The pros and cons of different careers, both those you have considered and any others which may be indicated by your assessment profile, will be considered. With PSP’s professional staff, you will discuss your plans, what you need to do and how you will need to do it, what insights you have gained, and what choices you must now make.

Although PSP can put potentially useful tools into your hands in the form of self knowledge and awareness of career options, you must use the information from Career Planning to make things happen in your life. You provide the motivation and effort to use the tools you will now have. If you are pursuing a career path that excites you, motivation comes easily. With the career information obtained from PSP, you will be ready to research and weigh your alternatives, and pursue the necessary education and development opportunities for seeking suitable employment. Being well informed and optimistic about your chances of success, however, should make it easier for you to do all of those things.

ANSWERS to frequently asked QUESTIONS about Career Planning

How much time does Career Planning take?

Usually one full day is required for career planning. PSP can schedule to meet your needs – one or two days, several half-days, etc. Your first appointment can probably be set up within a week after you call.

After I complete the Career Planning process, will I know exactly what I should be doing with the rest of my life?

During your career planning sessions at PSP, you will probably identify two or three careers that would offer you the best likelihood for success and satisfaction. You will also know which vocations you should avoid. A PSP Psychologist will discuss with you the reasons for both conclusions. The final choice will then be up to you, based on what you have learned from the process and from your own investigation of your options.

What record will I receive of the Career Planning process?

Following your feedback/counseling session, PSP will give you a printed report summarizing the assessment results, career options identified, and suggestions for development.

Who has access to the results of my Career Planning?

You have the first opportunity of learning of the findings and discussing them, and you control who has access to the test results. Students usually find it helpful to involve their parents in the Career Planning process. When Career Planning is sponsored by an employer, the results may go to that organization for use as a developmental tool. These arrangements are agreed to by all involved, before the process starts.

Is there any follow-up after the Career Planning report is sent?

If, after you leave PSP, you think of questions you’d like to ask, a follow-up conference is available to tie up loose ends, as part of the basic Career Planning package. Feel free to contact PSP to arrange a return visit.

Will PSP help me find a job in my new career area after my Career Planning?

PSP does no job placement; we are not an employment agency. We will, however, make suggestions about job-hunting strategy and self-marketing techniques. If it happens that you are likely to succeed in accounting, for example, we will advise you on the types of settings in which accountants work, the types of organizations that employ them, and what employers are likely to look for in terms of individual qualifications.

About PSP

PSP is an international consulting company that has served business and the community for more than 55 years. Its services include employee selection, succession planning, career development, employee opinion surveys, organizational development, and test validation. PSP works with all employment levels and has customers in 48 states, Europe, Canada, Mexico and the Pacific Rim.

For more information, visit the PSP web site at www.psp-hrd.com or call our office at 412-261-1333.

We Are Easy to Locate

PSP is located in Suite 470 on the fourth floor of Two Mellon Center (the Union Trust Building), which is situated between William Penn Way and Grant Street, and between Fifth Avenue and Oliver Street. Coffee, tea, water and soft drinks are available in our kitchen. There is a deli in the building and we can provide information about other nearby restaurants for your lunch break.