Career goal is the first step on the road of career, next steps being plan and goal. A career goal is itself a well-defined statement explaining how you intend to pursue throughout your career. It is essential for every employee or job seeker to clarify their career goals, which further helps them develop practical action plans.
There’s nothing worse than aimlessness.
SMART goals are what we are looking for. It is an acronym that stands for:
Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic. Timely
Essentially, the idea is to break down one significant goal into smaller fragments that help follow these notions. As you organize the steps and schedule out your intentions for each milestone consistently and patiently, you’ll be amazed to see how much easier they are to reach.
A career goal can have short-term or long-term objectives. Former are those that can be achieved within six months to three years, while latter might take three to five years or more to complete.
Short Term Goals
1. Gain a new skill – Don’t stop keep trying your luck to new things. The more skills you have, the more your worth is. Keep in mind how can your skills and resume be better than others. And even ask yourself why the company should choose you over the others and what skills you have that others don’t have. Keep learning!
2. Communicate with your coworkers more – Stay connected with like-minded people, people of your field, also the people who have just started their career path, and the people who are above you. Discuss ideas. Keeping a network with people in your field is essential. It has the potential to open up numerous opportunities and get your name out there. Don’t disconnect with them. Walking alone might not do the thing.
3. Earn a new certificate or degree – Do whatever internship you get your hands on. It will give you a certificate and add up to your resume and help you learn a lot about how things are done. Virtually all professional fields are gradually changing with new technology. This is why constant learning is an important short-term goal.
4. Start a personal project – While the process might be considered more of a long-term career goal, nothing is stopping you from at least starting it today. We always have enough time. Remember, it’s never too late to start anything. A side project is likely to keep you creative and in a cheerful mood, making difficult workplace experiences easier to cope with, and when you will have nothing in your life, you will have this project or business of yours by your side.
Long Term Goals
1. Become the expert in your field – Be the master in your area that no one can beat you. Learn from your failure and share the credit of your success. Keep working hard. The sky is the limit. Adapt to changes such as the growing tech industry, social media usage, sell what people are buying in the market. Keep evolving with time.
2. Get recognized – A person on a deathbed once told me no one would remember you once you die, but they will remember the work you have done for your field. Later I learned that she was a doctor who has done a lot of research work for medicine.
Whatever your field is, get recognized for it. Maybe your art, sketch, a donation you made, an NGO, a book you wrote. Leave something as a legacy. An award will do too. A good LinkedIn profile or portfolio will do it.
3. Switch your job/career – If you are not satisfied with your work, switch it! If you feel like you’re in a dead-end role with no room to move up or grow, you feel like your life is falling apart, then switch it. It will take courage to do that, and it is not as easy as it sounds, but it gives it a shot.
4. Improve efficiency rates – Now that you know how to do that certain thing, what matters is how you can do that efficiently with less input and more output. It’s a fundamental long-term career goal, and you can only achieve it if you have work for a longer time in that field.