Applying Marketing Strategy and Personal Value Analysis to Career Planning: An Experiential Approach

Those of us who teach marketing strategy can readily apply strategic course material for the benefits of career planning of our students. The experiential learning approach permits learning by discovery and self-development under the guidance of the marketing educator. It proceeds in analogy to developing a strategic marketing plan for a company through the steps of assessing a student's past achievements (the cognitive realm), understanding the role and priority of his or her personal values (the affective realm) and building on his or her preferred activity style and personal strengths (the conative realm). Subsequently a student's professional expectations are compared with expectations by (prospective) employers. Based on the personal out-look on life exogenous and endogenous factors affecting a student's instrumental and terminal values are evaluated. The result is the development of a personalized and realistic strategic career plan and range of career options.