It is fine to start with career goals, but would encourage do so in other areas of your life. After reading this article, you should be able to communicate your career:
Long term goals (10 + year career or self employment, etc)
Mid term goals (career change that will lead to your long term goals)
Short term goals (steps that will allow you to reach your Mid and Long term goals)
When setting your goals, be as specific as possible. Write them down and post or save them somewhere that you will see them regularly. It helps to have someone else read them or if you don't have the courage, read them aloud to make sure your goals are clear. How will you know when you reach your goal? It is vital that you have some sort of number, event, or signal that you have been successful in attaining your goal. It is also important that these are your goals and not due to someone else's influence or goals for you.
Are your goals realistic? This can be a career planner's biggest stumbling block. Try to take a step back and think objectively. This is an excellent time to consult someone you trust or an expert whom you can consult. As an aside, I think of the Chinese man I heard about who spent ten years of his life with the goal of using playing cards cards to slice more fruit and vegetables than anyone else. Who's to judge?
Once you have your long term goal(s) set, it is important to set the annual,monthly, weekly, daily goals that will help you move toward long term or mid term goal(s). You will need to be clear on how these lesser goals are relevant to your long term goal to keep yourself moving forward. This especially important if you are "stuck" in a job or program that you dislike, but if endured will reward you by moving you closer to the long term goal.
Finally, each of your goals should be accompanied by a realistic time frame. These can be adjusted, but should be used to motivate you to stay on track with your lesser goals. It is easy to have time slip away on you only to find that YEARS have passed without your working toward your short term goals.
Here is an excellent article I often use to get my clients started with their goal planning. I think it does a great job breaking things down and giving you a road map on how to set long and shorter term goals.
These are your goals, you own them! That having been said, I am available via email (or phone or internet meeting if you need) to help you work on these if you need me.
What are your:
Long term goals (10 + year career or self employment, etc)?
Mid term goals (career change that will lead to your long term goals)?
Short term goals (steps that will allow you to reach your Mid and Long term goals)?
I'd love to hear from you!
Other articles that may be of interest:
Aug 03, 2012
That will surely ruin any chance they might have had to be interviewed and potentially offered a job, they think. Job search is partially a numbers game: The more you do to work toward your goal the better your chances.
May 09, 2012
When planning goals it is most often easiest to start with the long term goal and then back up to identify each step you need to take to reach it, followed by when you could hope to accomplish each step. You may be able to ...
Aug 23, 2012
Make a list of employers you would like to contact; Generate a script or at least a goal of your conversation; Obtain contact information for each; Research each for as much information as you can gather - cold calls sometimes ...
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