If you’re like most people, you’ve made some goals for what you’d like to accomplish this year. I hope that you included your career goals; yes, these need to be made and updated on a yearly basis. Doing so helps to set the bar higher for your performance, new positions you want to attain, and skills you’d like to add or hone. Not doing so will keep you on ‘cruise mode;’ somewhere along the way, you will start to feel bored, frustrated, stressed, overwhelmed, a hostage, and the like.
When you set goals for your career, you will be in control of how it progresses and gives you direction on where you’d like it to go. Even though it may not seem like it, you do get a choice in the types of jobs you take, the company you work in, and how far you’d like to go. Expanding your thinking in this area will help you to see more possibilities you can aspire to achieve. Here are some areas to consider:
- type of job – this can include a particular occupation or industry you’d like to work. Include why you’re passionate about this or what draws you to it as it will uncover motivation and appeal. A goal might include researching the job and what it takes to be in it; talking/interviewing 5 people who are in this occupation to get their view and advice
- a particular company – you may have a desire to work for a large company, like Apple or Google, or perhaps you want to work for a cruise line. Again, knowing why a particular company appeals to you will help you to do the work to get there (yes, some of these take effort to get hired by them). Doing research as to the benefits of a desired company will uncover their mission and values, the type of leadership they have, perks of the job, and what employees (or former employees) say so you can get a feel for how you workplace and culture will be
- the position you want – maybe this year you would like to get into a leadership position, or perhaps move into Human Resources (HR); knowing your next position (or job title) will allow you to work toward the skills it will take. One way to do so is to get the job description for that title and see what they are looking for; the next would then be to take on more projects, raise your hand to help out, and to just have a great attitude, all of are employers want
- the money you want to make – we all have a desired money amount we would like to make so keeping that figure in front of you helps you to remember what you are working for. Maybe this is the year you have to ask for a raise; if so, begin writing down your accomplishments and outcomes of the work you’ve done, classes or trainings you’ve taken, recognitions, beginning with what goals you’re boss set for you in your last performance review. You can also include alternative ways to get to that money figure, such as taking on a second or part-time job, doing some freelance work, or looking at several other ways to take on side-work (monetizing your hobby, selling stuff, such as on eBay or Amazon, etc.)
- skills you want to improve on or learn – we all need to be the best in our work, no matter if you work for yourself or for a company, so why not look at particular skills or a new trade you’d like to learn that could improve or add to those you currently possess. If you work in IT, take a coding course; if you work in HR, get a coaching certification; if you are in personal development, take a certification course in an assessment tool (MBTI, Fascinate, 360 Assessment, as examples). We all need to improve our skill-set, as we can become ‘rusty’ over time so setting a goal in this area can revitalize how you feel about the work you do
It’s important to recognize that you don’t need to just set one goal; I’d challenge you to have a goal in each of the areas described. One other to add could include moving into starting your own business, or retirement. Having goals, and then breaking down the actions that will take you to reaching them, will keep you happier about your career and the current work you do. Isn’t that a compelling reason for having them?
If you’d like help in managing your career, whether that is being better in the one you have, or moving into a new one, let’s chat; contact http://www.cyscoaching.com to get started today!
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