Planning your way to success

By Joe Opaleski & Olivia Kozlevcar

Every industry has a “trick to the trade,” but strategic planning is one way to guarantee success in a wide variety of career paths.

At Charles Aris, our business model relies on having meaningful conversations with existing and potential clients/candidates every day. Approaching our schedules with a strategic plan that ensures we are having the maximum number of meaningful conversations is how our recruiters land top talent for their clients. If you’re interested in learning more about how to implement strategic planning into your workday, consider these tips:

Learn what takes priority:

Task prioritization is a learned skill. When you start in a new role, it’s not always clear what projects you’re supposed to complete first and which ones you can work on in the background. To know what takes priority, you must have a clear understanding of your projects and their timelines. Some projects may not have hard deadlines; set them for yourself. If there is a hard deadline for one project and not others, ensure your tasks are scheduled to prioritize it. Also, prioritization requires organization. If you’re struggling to properly organize your work, it’s time to call on your resources.

Find resources that work for you:

A resource could be anything from a meticulously organized calendar to a knowledgeable colleague’s advice, and there are endless workflow applications and tools for any type of role or industry. Our recruiters live by their calendars, but that’s not always enough to stay on track. Handwritten planners, Excel spreadsheets and workflow applications are a few ways we stay organized. No matter which option you choose, ensure your resources match your working style. For example, a visual learner may benefit from a color-coded schedule or graphically appealing planner. Research your options to find what will work best for you.

Play to your strengths:

It’s up to you, and only you, to ensure you’re following the optimal planning process to achieve success. If you know you’re most productive during the mornings, plan to complete your critically important tasks during that time. Then, when you hit the afternoon slump, you can focus on less intensive tasks like note taking or data entry. The onus is on you to plan your days, so don’t be afraid to make your schedule work for you.

Set time aside to plan:

After you decide exactly how to make your strategic plan, dedicate a consistent amount of time every day to focus on this task alone. Charles Aris recruiters will often spend an hour or two in the evening or early morning planning for their day. Using this exact window of time on a consistent basis will help you form a habit of planning, which will make it easier to execute on your strategy and eliminate the question of “what now?” when you sign into your job the next morning.

The takeaway:

Planning is a discipline that guarantees success in any career, if properly utilized. Having a solid understanding of your work to prioritize tasks and using tools and resources that will aid in your day-to-day schedule will help you create an effective planning strategy. Once you have this strategy locked in, play to your strengths by taking an honest look at your working style and schedule tasks accordingly. Finally, designating a specific window of time every day to planning will drastically increase your odds of executing this strategy and finding success in your career.