Management Advancement Plan (MAP)

The Management Advancement Plan is your personal strategic plan that “MAPs” where you presently are in professional knowledge and skills, where you want to go in ten years, and how you plan to get there. This assignment is a rare opportunity for you to reflect upon your life and career in public service. Your MAP should be typed in 12-point font, double-spaced, about 5 pages, and organized in the following sections:

Ten-Year Vision. Explain your professional goals. While you do not need to know exactly what you will be doing in ten years, you should be able to reflect on the elements of a career that are most appealing to you. What do you think you want to be doing ten years from now? Why do you want to do this? What would you be able to do if you had this job? What does this job mean to you? What rewards do you see yourself deriving from this job? What professional and/or personal disadvantages and obstacles do you expect to encounter in gaining and holding this job? (1 page)

Vision Requirements. Identify what specific knowledge, skills, values, and abilities you think you need to have to succeed in this job. (1 page)

Skill Assessment and Learning Plan. Find a specific position most representative of the job, or type of job you wish to pursue. Using an actual current position description* from an ideal organization, examine your strengths and weaknesses for each of the core job requirements/qualifications. Which may be tougher to acquire than others for you?

Once you have assessed these core requirements, take your current resume and add another ten years to it. List out the positions, organizations, amount of time, and duties you will need to have in place at on your way to the 10-year job you are analyzing.

For each job along the way, write 1-3 sentences about the key skill this position will give you. Be frank and honest in your assessment; you are being graded on the quality of your assessment and plan, not your present level of knowledge and skill. Do not take the easy way out and simply say you need more experience. Identify specific ways you will get the type of experience required for the position. (3 pages)

Resume. Finally, present a current professional resume. (1-2 pages)

* If possible, you should attempt to contact a person actually working in this position and discuss their career path with them. This is an opportunity to build your professional network while also completing the assignment.