Career planning and development begins well before you graduate from high school. In a sense it began in elementary school when you learned such basic skills as reading, writing and basic grammar.

In high school, however, you are much more developed as an individual than you were as a child. By the time you reach your mid-teens you have developed values and interests. You have likes and dislikes, as well as personality traits.

You have some idea of the sort of work you would like to do. This is where the more specialized stage of career planning and development begins.

You are most likely going to spend most of your adult years engaged in some sort of work.

Of course, it is important to earn the money you need to live. But it is also important that you do the kind of work you like to do and have an aptitude for. That is why career planning and development is so vital.

It begins when you are in high school and you choose courses of study that are going to be useful to you in the future. This is also a time in which you can “try things on”; that is, do courses in different subjects to see if you like them. You also have the opportunity to consult with counselors who can explain what is involved in various types of work and what you have to do to prepare yourself for a career in a particular field.

Quite likely you have had some sort of part time job. That is important to your career planning and development. The work you did, or are doing, at your after school, part time job might not be the sort of work you want to do for the rest of your life, but it can be very important to your future career.

Your part time job gives you work experience and teaches you such things as punctuality. It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate that you are willing and able to learn new skills. At some point you will be asking your employer for a letter of recommendation.

You would like that letter to say that you are a reliable, trustworthy employee who works well with fellow workers.

Career planning and development means knowing about yourself. What strengths and abilities do you have? Can you improve your skills? Do you present yourself well? A personnel manager is going to decide whether or not to hire you based on what is in your resume, and how well you promote yourself in an interview.

You must also become familiar with the labor market. Career planning and development gives you a system to help you find a job. There is more to it than looking in the want ads. Career planning and development shows you how to explore the “hidden” job market. It also directs you to training programs that will make you eligible for even higher positions in your chosen field.

An event planning career is something that is relatively new, being recognized as a management profession just a little over a decade ago. An event planner can also be called a conference coordinator, a convention planner, a special event coordinator or a meeting manager.

As corporations have grown and expanded worldwide, the logistics of company meetings have become much more complicated. People must now train for an event planning career in order to efficiently handle all of the tasks involved in such an undertaking. This is a complex service that requires professionalism.

If you are interested in an event planning career, you must be prepared to learn an assortment of duties. The event planner must choose a suitable site for the event. He or she must make travel, accommodation and food arrangements.

There will be registrations to oversee and programs to be planned. Preparation for an event planning career will train you to negotiate, plan and coordinate conventions from the municipal level to the international level. You might have to organize a small inner-company meeting, or you might have to organize a convention involving thousands of people from all around the world.

Some event planners are freelancers who are hired by corporations and organizations to arrange big events. They might even hire out their services for things like family reunions, weddings, school reunions or birthday parties. Many large corporations have event planners permanently on staff.

Some people who have chosen an event planning career work for hotels or large centers where conventions are held.

Young people interested in an event planning career are advised to take business courses. At the very least a Bachelor’s degree is required.

Some professional associations for people in event planning careers offer certification programs. You are also going to need very good English and communications skills. Learning a foreign language will also be very beneficial.

You will need strong management skills, and you will need leadership qualities. Successful people in this field have good marketing and sales skills and are very strong in public relations. This is one area where it certainly pays to be a “people” person. In an event planning career you will be working at times with hundreds of people doing a great variety of tasks, and that means the possibilities of problems arising are infinite. You will have to be a trouble shooter who can think fast and find solutions. You will work mostly indoors, but unless you are employed by a hotel or some other center where conventions are held, you will likely have to travel. You might find that you want to specialize in either event planning or event coordinating. Event planning is a growth industry. It is also one in which women have been very successful.

Perhaps the best advice in career planning for teens and other young people who have started thinking about a college/career path, is this: start in high school and continue in college. One of the myths about careers in general is that choosing a career path is a simple matter, almost as easy as deciding on a college major.

But, this far from the truth. Career planning for teens can be a complex process, a program of many steps that should be carefully considered and carefully taken. A number of companies and universities have developed programs that can help the teenage job seeker narrow choices and find the correct path toward career success.

Some universities provide such guides to students as well as to members of the public (usually for a fee). These guides can include questions that will help the young person focus on a career path, as well as descriptions of various careers. Well-developed programs can assist the job seeker in expanding career choices as well as narrowing career choices.

Most important, though, may be the help these programs give to young folks who are not sure where their choices may lead.

Experts in career counseling and teenage counseling urge young job seekers and prospective college students to choose a career path based on their individual skills and interests. This means that, during career planning for teens, much of the advice tends to steer the young person away from one of the “best” careers, unless it really fits that individual.

There are always lists of the best jobs for college graduates, the industries that are the hottest and have the best pay and benefits. But this does not mean the “best” careers should be an automatic choice for a teenager or other young job seeker. When going through the process of career planning for teens it is best to choose the college program and career path that is best for the individual.

Many young people feel that once they choose a career path they will have to stay with it for the rest of their lives. However, this is a real myth that comes up often in career planning for teens. People change careers quite a bit, actually.

Some change several times during their working life. So, making a choice based on a certain college major or training program does not mean that you will have to stay with that program forever. In addition, the choice of a college path does not mean you are forever committed to the career that comes after graduation.