Choosing your career path has long-term effects on your happiness, health, and financial situation. However, many people are unsure how to take control of this process. As a result, they leave factors like a suitable job offer from a friend to dictate the focus of their careers.
What are Career Goals?
Career goals are where you see yourself in your future career path. What would you like to be doing in 5 years or 10 years? What interests you? What is your ideal job, and how can you achieve it? When you set goals, you determine the direction you want your career to take and how to get there.
How to Set Career Goals
The process of thoughtfully setting career goals can be broken down into the following steps:
1. Self-Assessment
Taking inventory of your interests, professional values, skills, and personality traits can help you formulate your own criteria for a desired job. Connecting with a career counselor at your school, college, or in your community can help you reflect on your background and establish the foundations of your future career. Create a professional profile and review your academic and work history. Which lessons, projects, jobs, internships, and volunteer roles were the most fulfilling and successful for you? Make a list of the activities that excited you the most and where you made the biggest impact. Identify your strongest skills and ask yourself which skills helped you achieve those successes. Then, think about the interests or values that made the work meaningful or motivating for you. Create a list of the strong skills you enjoyed using as well. Detail any personality traits that made the activities feel natural to you.
Example of self-assessment:
Jane, a recent graduate, struggled to envision a career path that suited her. She recalled her role as the chair of the social committee of her sorority and remembered that she had coordinated some of the best parties, membership activities, and fundraising efforts in the organization’s history. She really enjoyed leading a team of peers, developing ideas for events, organizing logistics, and promoting events.
2. Gathering Career Options
Take a career test. There are many free online tests for personality and job types that you can take to get ideas about jobs that may suit someone with your interests and qualifications. Hold a brainstorming session. Resources that offer a variety of career opportunities can help you create a list of options worth exploring. Try the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for job profiles and data across various fields, or use our lists of job titles to shape possibilities. Search online using keywords like “jobs in healthcare,” for example, or any field that interests you. Aim to identify 10 jobs that intrigue you enough to spend some time conducting further research.
Example of gathering career options:
John had no idea what fields might interest him. He began looking at the Occupational Outlook Handbook and found himself leaning toward healthcare jobs. He searched online for the best healthcare jobs and found several websites offering options.
3. Researching Job Options
Once you have a preliminary idea of some jobs worth exploring, you’ll need to research them in detail to assess their fit. Start by reading about each field on your ideas list. Check job profiles and review entry requirements for each field and ensure you’re prepared to complete any necessary training, certification programs, or education degrees. Talk to people in the field. Conduct informational interviews with professionals in those jobs. Reach out to college alumni and contacts in your personal, social, and professional networks to arrange one-on-one or phone consultations. (Here’s how to get started networking.) Take notes on what you learn during your research and compare it against the list of interests, skills, and values you created during the self-assessment stage. Prepare a list of options that still deserve consideration.
4.
Try Job Shadowing for Insight
If a job continues to pique your interest after reading more about it and speaking with professionals in that sector, try to arrange a job shadowing experience to observe the work and get a feel for the work environment. Spending time in the workplace can give you an idea of whether the job might be a good fit for you or not.
5. Consider Internship or Volunteer Opportunities
Internships aren’t just for recent graduates. If you want to gain practical experience, expand your network, and better understand the field, an internship can be invaluable. If you can’t arrange an internship in your field, consider relevant volunteer work. You’ll build your resume and network at the same time. You might even find your next job this way.
6. Start the Decision-Making Process
You should be prepared to make an informed decision at this stage. Create a list of the pros and cons for each remaining option on a separate sheet of paper and evaluate the options. If you’re still unsure, seek help from a guidance counselor at your high school or a career counselor at your college or a professional career coach.
Example of a decision-making process:
Sherry read all the possible information about physical therapy and was still excited about the field. Her mother used the services of a local physical therapist and provided an introduction for an informational interview. Sherry was enthusiastic about what the therapist and colleagues shared about the field and thought it aligned perfectly with her key criteria, which is a care profession based on her understanding of biology and physics.
Key Takeaways
Be intentional in the process. Take the time to clarify your career goals, qualifications, and preferences. Don’t hesitate to seek help from guidance counselors, career advisors, and professional coaches to help you identify your preferences. Gain practical insight by conducting informational interviews, job shadowing, or volunteering, or working with a professional career coach.
Source: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/step-by-step-guide-to-setting-career-goals-2059883
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