Career planning is a multi-step process that starts with self-assessment and ends with a successful interview and a subsequent job offer. In between these first and last steps come other phases such as regarding ethics, writing powerful cover letters and resumes, and following up with an employer after a job interview. In this brief paper I will discuss the important points in this process by primarily referring to material from "Interviewing Strategies" by Dr. Borsioff.
Self-assessment is a careful analysis of your experiences, strengths, weaknesses, and personality. Important questions to ask yourself are: Where do I thrive? What are my talents? What has made me successful? This purpose of this analysis, which is based on your preferences, is to narrow down all the options available. This will allow you to focus on and target a particular industry or field. Self-appraisal is also preparation for questions that employers will ask during interviews. Many interviews are behavior based and being able to articulate your personal attributes is a key component to communicating effectively with an interviewer.
Since it has become increasingly common for ethics to be violated during interviewing, it is important to prepare for an interview by understanding appropriate ethical standards in business communication. While texts that provide students advice on successful interviewing advise not to lie, they often suggest distorting one's attributes to appear in a more positive light. Often students are advised to conceal their real interests on an interview to create a favorable impression of themselves. For example, Adler, in "Communicating at Work" tells readers to do everything in their power to sway the interviewers opinion. .
While advice such as Adler's does seek to help you in preparation, it is important to take this help with a grain of salt. You should define the concept of a "successful interview.