10 Key Steps to Define Your Career Goal



1. Design your ideal job - role, responsibility, salary, hours of work, place of work, team/individual, international travel etc
2. Analyse your career strengths - the things you are really good at and the skills you posses which make a difference to your organisation.
3. Note down your positive qualities - the things about yourself of which you are particularly proud
4. List your major experiences (in and outside work) - by writing down all the jobs, voluntary and unpaid posts you've had (like parent), you'll enrich your profile and maybe identify transferable skills
5. Reaffirm your values - be clear what's important to you in life as this will steer you to the companies which share those values
6. Set boundaries around what you don't want to do - be clear about the types of work, places of work etc you don't want and also the areas where you are prepared to compromise
7. When you have all the above information, put it together into a profile of you and the opportunity you're looking for - you can use this as a comprehensive document which is the basis of your search
8. Identify opportunities in your current workplace to find such an opening - this may not be in your current department or at your current level. Ask questions to find out where these opportunities exist and do some networking to get connected and get some ideas from others
9. Identify opportunities in the wider job market for such an opening - even if you don't really want to leave your firm just yet, have a look around and see where you might find your ideal job in another company or sector
10. You now have an inspiring goal but you need to know how to achieve it. Devise an action plan for 8 &/or 9 - this depends on whether you only want to pursue opportunities within your current company and/or look elsewhere. Whichever you choose, you need a detailed strategy to get to the ideal job.

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