Free Career Development Plan Resources

As we all continue to adapt to our “new normal” of practicing social distancing and building new WFH routines, our team has been sharing which resources and tools have been making their lives easier in this transition here.

The online community has really come together from around the world and there is now an abundance of free courses, live streams, and workshops to optimize this ‘gift of time’ we now have at home.  

What is Career Development

According to the Missouri State University, career development is the process of self-knowledge, exploration, and decision-making that shapes your career. It requires successfully navigating your occupational options to choose and train for jobs that suit your personality, skills, values, and interests.

Career Development Plan

A career development plan is a tracked list of short and long-term goals related to an employee's current and future job. Managers and higher tier members of an organization tend to foster person and career growth because it will help increase efficiency and production.

Often, a career development template (SOURCE)consists of

• A short-term career goal (1-5 years)
• A long-term goal (5+ years)
• Summary statement, developmental activities, job assignments, education and training

We have curated a list of our favorite and mostly FREE resources for you to upskill your career skills, connect with community, or workout and wind down, all from the comfort of your home.

Career Development Resources

Learn new Skills

Optimize your quarantine time to level-up your skill set and advance in your career. Think long-term value for your career as you take the opportunities to obtain knowledge today.  

• Skillshare: Skillshare teachers are icons, experts, and industry rock stars excited to share their experience, wisdom, and trusted tools with you. 
• Free Two-Month Access to Skillshare
• LinkedIn Learning: Learn in-demand skills with over 14,000+ online courses taught by real-world professionals.
• Free One-Month Access to LinkedIn Learning  
• Free Resume Review and Interview Prep: Connect virtually with any of our Technical Recruiters to connect virtually to answer your questions about what we’re seeing in the job market, free resume review, best practices developing in WFH and remote interviewing scenarios.
• Connect with an AG Recruiter

‍Join a Webinar Community

Webinars are a great alternative to getting a real time workshop experience. They usually focus on a specific topic in under an hour. There are hundreds of organizations and brands that are offering webinars right now, here are a few to start with if you’re looking for free options:

• Career Confidential: Get topical job search training on live webinars with Peggy McKee, CEO of Career Confidential.
• Career Confidential (Free with Registration) ‍
  

‍Practice Mindfulness

Living well and being mentally healthy is important to us all. Connecting with our breath and practicing mindfulness can assist with staying calm and grounded, especially with all the noise in the news and social media right now.

• Headspace Meditations: Weathering the storm meditations It includes meditations, sleep, and movement exercises to help you out, however you’re feeling.
• Free Headspace Weathering the Storm Meditations
• Calm App: Compiled resources for mental and emotional wellness through this time, sleep meditations, mindfulness resources, etc.
• Free Calm Meditation and Mindfulness Resources
• Alo Yoga: Free mindfulness videos for kids  
• Alo Gives

Work Out At Home

Want to feel better and have more energy? Love that feeling of accomplishment AFTER a workout? The health benefits of regular exercise are hard to ignore. Check out these motivating home workouts you can do anywhere.

• Peloton App: 90-day trial for their workout at home app  
• Peloton App
• Orangetheory: 30-minute workouts don't require any special equipment but may feature everyday household items.  
• Orangetheory at-home workouts
• YMCA 360: On-Demand Videos: 60 free online classes such as boot camp, barre, yoga, weightlifting, boxing, Tai Chi and more  
• YMCA 360: On-Demand Videos

Get Lost in a New Book

Reading helps everyone grow in many aspects. Every book gives you the opportunity to explore new ideas and learn new things. Take this chance to dive into a new topic, author, or genre of literature.

• Audible: Take your pick of free audiobooks and learn from your favorite authors!  
• Free Audiobooks for Everyone
• Scribd: Get lost in a new book. Scribd is offering their entire library free for 30 days!
• Free Books/Audiobooks
• Libby App: More free audiobooks and ebooks from your public libraries!
• Libby

‍Financial Literacy

We can always learn more about managing our finances in today's digital age.  By gaining awareness and learning new strategies one can secure a promising financial future.

• Money Bliss: Tools & resources to manage your money. Download our free guides to help you!  
• 7 Tips on How to Survive a Sudden Drop of Income
• 10 Money Management Tips in Crisis Times to Help you Stay Afloat
• Clever Girl Finance: All courses are free to support our community navigate life and finances.  
• Free Clever Girl Finance Courses

‍Travel Virtually

These tours offer so much to individuals by connecting us to the entire world and its history. Enjoy this creative way of absorbing information and learning through a tour of the national monuments, museums, and galleries you've always wanted to visit.

• Google Earth: National Parks Tours:Experience the views of nature without leaving home.
• 360 tours of US National Parks
• Google Arts and Culture: See something new today! Visit galleries and museums from around the world without ever leaving your couch.
• Museum and gallery tours you can take on your couch.  

Career Development Quotes

Some inspirational quotes to help get you started on your career development journey:

“It is not what happens to you that determines how far you go in life; it is what you do with what happens to you.” - Zig Ziglar

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

“The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing.”  - Michael E. Gerber

“You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.”  - Diana Ross

“The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” - Lee Lacocca

“Where I am today is my starting point. Who I am today is my starting point. My failures and successes of the past, my fears and hopes of the future are all shadows. Today is my reality, and I’ll use it to create my world.” - Taylor Stevens.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it.” - Michaelangelo

Want more career resources? Have questions?

We will continue to add more resources that our team enjoys but are also beneficial to our AG community.

We continue staying true to our purpose of Connecting People to Opportunity. We are available to answer your questions about what we’re seeing in the job market, even if you are not looking for a career change.

The even better news is clients are still hiring!  We’re helping them adapt and facilitate remote interviewing, on-boarding, and orientation.  

There are also best practices developing in WFH and remote interviewing scenarios which we’re helping candidates prepare for and benefit from.  

We're here to help, the future is still bright. We're all in this together.