When you were little, it was easy to answer who you wanted to be. In fact, you had a new career ready every other day!
However, as adults, figuring out what we want to do next professionally isn’t as fun or straightforward, especially when you have no clue what an ideal career path even looks like for you.
Let’s change that. This post will give you several good pointers on the types of career paths out there, along with some tips to figure out what progression should look like for you.
What is a Career Path?
A career path is a collection of roles and titles you cycle through during your time in the workforce. In a broader sense, a career path also reflects the direction you want to take and the steps you’re taking for that, like learning new skills, changing careers, or adding extra side jobs.
Having a defined career path helps you:
- Make deliberate moves, instead of default ones. You choose roles because they compound, not because they’re convenient.
- Avoid career drift. Think chasing titles without direction or haphazardly jumping between industries.
- Spot your blind spots early. So that you know when and what type of training you need to address your skill gaps.
- Advocate for yourself. You can articulate what you’re ready for next and why you’re a great candidate for this opportunity.
- Build a career that holds together over time. One that delivers both satisfaction and long-term job security, not just short-term wins.
Even if your path changes (and it often will), having a two to three-year direction gives you clarity and control.
How is a Career Path Different From a Job?
Think of a career path as a long arc. It’s how your roles, skills, and decisions connect over time, anchored in your interests instead of job titles.
A job, on the other hand, is a single position you hold at a given moment. Think of a job as one step — and your career path as the entire staircase.
Types of Career Paths
Many people assume that a career path only moves upwards, but modern careers evolve in multiple directions. Here are the three main models:
Vertical (Linear) Career Path
A vertical professional path (also known as a career ladder) is a steady, upward progression from entry-level to senior roles within the same function or industry.
For example, from Marketing Coordinator → Manager → Director → VP of Marketing.
Vertical career trajectory seems the most straightforward for many because that’s the way our parents (and grandparents, too) did things. But today, things are a bit more varied.
Positions at the top are limited. And the fight to get them is often gruesome, with work-life balance, mental health, and other sacrifices made along the way. In fact, only 30% of workers, fewer than ever, say they want to reach a “manager” position in the next several years. If you’re not among this cohort, you may want to consider alternative options.
Pros of Vertical Growth
- Clear progression and defined milestones
- Higher salary and more leadership opportunities
- Predictable expectations and skill requirements
- Often supported by formal promotion processes
Cons of Vertical Growth
- Can feel restrictive or slow in some industries
- Often tied to tenure, i.e., time with the same employer
- Competition for advancement can be fierce in smaller organizations
- Not always aligned with your evolving interests
Lateral Career Path
Lateral career moves let you grow professionally by shifting across functions or industries.
For example, Junior finance advisor → Sales coordinator at a fintech company. Or corporate work → entrepreneurship.
Going for lateral moves makes sense when you feel uninspired or burned out in your current role. A switch-up can put you in a position that’s more aligned with your values.
Or you’re still early in your career and want to try your hand at more things and build up a bunch of transferable skills along the way. Many people also seek horizontal career moves to escape stagnation in their current position or move to a healthier work environment.
Overall, such moves aren’t uncommon. About 40% of employees are choosing a “non-linear” career direction, which involves changes in sector or role within the same company.
Pros of Horizontal Progression
- Expands your skill set across multiple domains
- Opens new long-term opportunities
- Often accelerates professional growth
- Keeps work stimulating and aligned with your interests
Cons Compared to Vertical Progression
- May require upskilling or starting at a lower level
- Less structured than vertical paths
- Can feel riskier or more uncertain
Dual-Track Career Paths
Lastly, many employers recognize that not everyone can (or wants) to be sitting in a managerial role. And they’re redrawing their succession plans to offer dual career tracks, meaning workers can advance either as:
- A manager who deals more with people leadership, operations, or the strategy side of things in their day-to-day
- An individual contributor (IC) with deep technical or functional expertise and respective compensation levels
Here’s a quick dual-track career path example for a software engineer:
- Manager track: Software Engineer → Team Lead → Engineering Manager
- IC track: Software Engineer → Senior Architect → Principal Engineer
This way, at some point, you get to choose whether you want to keep growing as an IC or step into a leadership role.
How to Find Your Career Path in 5 Steps
As Lewis Carolle once wrote: « If you don’t know where you want to go, then it doesn’t matter which path you take. »
You don’t have to have your entire career planned out for the next decade here and now. Life often throws in surprises, and you change as you grow more mature.
But having at least a general sense of direction helps you be more intentional about how you move around in the workforce, and more importantly, it helps you stay content.
When you know where you want to go, you’re not weighed down by FOMO about potential new opportunities or, on the contrary, feel stuck in a role.
To get a greater personal clarity about your career path, here are five steps you should take:
- Do a self-assessment of your skills
- Define your vision and goals
- Take note of your goals
- Research roles and industries
- Wrap it all into a plan.
Create an Inventory of Your Skills
To understand where else you could excel, you gotta realistically evaluate your competency levels. I may dream of being the next CEO of Amazon, but I certainly don’t have the chops for that (at least not yet).
So look at where you’re at now in terms of your skill set. Make a list of your technical skills, soft skills, and other strengths that people often recognize in you. If you’re stuck on ideas, ask a few colleagues, mentors, or friends for honest feedback.
Then think about your broader preferences:
- What types of work energize you?
- Which environments make you feel inspired?
- What kind of impact do you want to make?
- What type of things do you want to do more of?
This kind of self-reflection is great to work out who you are now as a professional — and how a favourable change may look for you.
Define Your Long-Term Goals & Vision
The next step is to think about your career goals, milestones towards which you’d want to gravitate. But don’t just put generic stuff like «getting promoted » or « earning 100K ».
Be as specific as you can. For example: “Within 10 years, I want to transition from X role to Y role and increase my salary by at least Z.”
Our brain loves picturing things. SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) goals help it better visualize both the progress towards and the gains it will give, which aids with motivation.
A recent study found that setting SMART goals, people follow better lifestyle prescriptions, like diet and exercise changes. And if this technique helped people reduce their sugar intake (which is hard), it sure can help you become more deliberate with your career goals.
To stay on track, keep a checklist of your step-up goals for the year somewhere close. For example, you may commit to taking on extra responsibilities, learning a new tool, or regularly talking to recruiters.
Consider Your Core Values
Another reason why so many people “feel in a rut” is that their initial career choice no longer correlates with their values.
History knows plenty of highly-successful corporate lawyers who at some point switched to working at NGOs or doing other, more meaningful work (despite a significant pay cut).
Self-assessment tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or Values in Action (VIA) Survey can help you identify what you value the most at the workplace (and in life, too!). Having these insights can help you better prioritize new opportunities and evaluate potential employers. Speaking of which…
Research Roles, Industries & Market Demand
Now that you know where you stand and where you’d want to get from there, let’s evaluate your options.
Hop on LinkedIn and scan descriptions for the roles you’d want. Pick up on the most in-demand skills among employers. Do these match with your personal list, or are there any gaps?
Next, scoop up the wider trends in your market. Are there any particular skills shortages? Is it something you might want to learn to do?
Likewise, pay attention to emerging trends. Do more JDs mention experience with specific tools? Are employers looking less at X and more of Y? Check LinkedIn profiles of people already doing the work you want to do and see which competencies they’re marketing the most.
Lastly, read up on some industry reports on top skills and in-demand competencies. There are plenty of free insights you can use to better understand employment trends.
By doing some investigative work upfront, you ensure that your next move fits with your growth potential and is market-aligned.
Map Out Your Milestones
All of the previous steps built up to the main part, establishing personal milestones. A career path only becomes real when it’s broken into a time horizon. So where do you want to be in one year, three, five, and ten?
If you need to upskill or want to explore an alternative career path, write out how you’ll manage that along with your full-time or part-time jobs.
If you are more interested in pursuing vertical career growth at your current workplace, get more proactive. Find an opportunity to discuss your career objectives with your boss. If they are keen to keep you on board, then they should be more than happy to help to keep you moving up your career ladder.
A clear plan gives you something to measure against, and just as importantly, something to revise when your priorities change. Because they will.
Helpful Tools & Frameworks for Career Path Planning
The above tips can be applied much more effectively with a bit of structure. The frameworks below provide simple ways to pressure-test your assumptions, clarify trade-offs, and turn abstract goals into actionable next steps.
Ikigai Framework
Despite having a Japanese-sounding name, the Ikigai Framework (also known as the Purpose Venn Diagram) comes from a Spanish author, Andrés Zuzunaga. And it was later made popular by life coach Marc Winn (also, now known as the Ikigari Guy).
Source: Johns Hopkins University
This tool helps you map the ‘sweet spot’ of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. So that you can better guide your work choices. For example, seek roles that are most likely to bring long-term motivation and meaning to your life.
How to use it: Block some time on your calendar for an introspection session. Grab a pen and paper, and work through four prompts:
- What do you enjoy the most?
- What are you good at?
- What does the world need now?
- What people are willing to pay for?
Write everything that comes to your mind. You’ll edit later.
Once you’ve dumped all ideas, step aside for a quick break. Then have a second look at your list and scan for patterns. The most telling signals usually sit at the intersections.
For example: You’re energized by teaching, but also love learning about new technologies and taught yourself to code. But you’ve noticed a lot of people actually struggle to pick up the same skills. So perhaps you can switch from being a teacher to educating others on how to adopt new technology. There are plenty of roles for that, like solutions consultant, customer success manager, or enablement lead.
70-20-10 Development Model
70-20-10 is a well-documented method organizations use for workforce development. But you can as easily adapt it to your personal career planning. The premises are simple: To make the most progress, you need to allocate:
- 70% of your time is spent working solo on new, challenging tasks and projects at work
- 20% towards building new relationships via mentoring and networking
- 10% towards formal training, such as new certifications or workshops
How to use it: First, determine the skills and experiences you need for your next role. Then get more intentional about channeling your time into cultivating these using the 70-20-10 allocation model.
For instance, a business analyst may choose to do a new cross-functional project with the procurement department as the main goal (70%). Then, commit to having two monthly mentorship sessions with a Senior Data Scientist as a secondary goal (20%), and complete a Python course as the final goal. (10%)
Skills-Based Matrix
A skills-based matrix is primarily an HR tool for evaluating workforce competencies, but you too can use it to map your strengths and weaknesses. The matrix evaluates your current skill set against the requirements for new roles. Here’s how to create one:
- On one side, list the skills that matter: technical know-how, soft skills, leadership behaviors, domain expertise, etc.
- On the other side, map proficiency levels or specific roles you’re aiming for.
The result is a simple grid that shows, at a glance, where you’re strong, where you currently underperform, and what needs work before your next move makes sense.
Having a visual benchmark helps you keep your skillset current. Expectations shift, tools change, and “nice to have” skills become table stakes. Updating your matrix over time gives you an honest snapshot of your readiness, whether you’re eyeing a promotion, a lateral move, or a pivot into something adjacent.
How to use it: Start with a basic skills-matrix template. Don’t overthink the format. List the core skills required for the roles you want, then rate your current level as candidly as possible. Compare that to the bar set by the role. The gaps that show up aren’t a judgment. They’re your to-do list.
To Conclude
Finding your career path doesn’t mean you have to commit to a rigid, ten-year plan here and now. But rather it’s an exercise in building clarity and becoming more deliberate in your day-to-day work.
Also, remember that the frameworks in this guide are tools, not tests. Used well, they help you understand where you are, where you want to go, and what needs to change in between. Revisit them as your priorities evolve. Careers aren’t linear, and progress rarely looks as tidy as people’s LinkedIn profiles make you think.
The goal is to build a direction for yourself. With that, even the next small step can compound into something meaningful over time.
The post How to Find Your Career Path: Tips and Frameworks appeared first on Freesumes.com.