Career Development Plan

We suggest that each faculty member develop a Career Development Plan (CDP) in conjunction with his or her mentor(s). A CDP helps a faculty mentee to clarify his or her goals, the activities that are necessary to achieve those goals, and the timeframe in which they are to be accomplished. The CDP serves a function similar to a roadmap; deviations from the initial route to the next destination may occur, but the initial routing provides a guide with respect to both direction and timing.

Development of a CDP accomplishes several goals: 

1. The CDP facilitates not only the development of an overall career goal, but a clear goal for each of the years that it encompasses
2. It provides a mechanism to clearly set forth the various steps that the faculty member must take in order to achieve his or her annual goals, which cumulatively will lead to the accomplishment of his or her larger career goal.
3. Because the CDP sets forth the educational and research activities that are required in order to achieve the enunciated annual goals, it provides a basis for a discussion between the faculty member, his or her mentor(s), and his or her department chair regarding the time and financial resources that the faculty member believes will be necessary to assist the faculty member in achieving his or her goals.
4. The delineation of a specific time frame within the CDP allows the faculty member, his or her mentor(s), and his or her department chair to plan in advance for upcoming events that may impact the faculty member’s time, e.g. anticipated sabbatical leave, maternity/paternity leave, etc. This also allows the department chair to plan ahead for course coverage.

Template for Career Development Plan

Career Goals: Please succinctly describe your career goals for each year for the next five years.

Career Objectives: For each goal, please specify two to five objectives that, when met, will result in your achieving your career goal.

Educational/Training Activity: For each career objective, please indicate what educational or training activities will assist you in meeting that objective, e.g., courses, workshops, seminars, conferences, self-study. Include projected budgets for each such activity.

Research Activity: For each career objective, please indicate any research activities/projects that will assist you in meeting that objective. Please append any research project descriptions and budgets to this document.

Products: For each objective, please indicate what individual products (degrees, publications, presentations, grants) are expected.

Timeline: Please construct a three-year timeline displaying the individual objectives, educational activities, research activities and products.

Below is a template to help map out these requirements:

*Adapted from Horwitz, S., Spilsbury, J.C., Papp, K.K., & Rudick, R. (2011). The career development plan: A tool to improve the mentored career development experience. In S. Loue (Ed.), Mentoring Health Science Professionals (pp. 67-84). New York: Springer Publishing Company.