Developing Career Goals

Answer 1

Most people will change careers several times during their lifetimes, so it is very important to develop career goals to focus on a specific career path. Whether a person is just beginning their career history or changing careers later in life, developing career goals is vital to finding the right path. It is important to remember that as a people change, their career goals will change with them, so they need to review and update these goals periodically.

There are several things a person can do to develop career goals. First, it is beneficial to take time to reflect on interests and expectations. A person needs to know himself/herself to be able to choose the right career path. Taking some time to figure out what a person wants out of life and how personal interests can fit into different career paths will help in narrowing career choices.

Once a person has narrowed these interests into a few careers, he/she should do some research into each of these fields. There are many ways of doing this, from a simple internet or library search to interviewing people already involved in these fields. If possible, internships in the different areas can also help to both investigate if the career is a right fit and to gain experience. Research should also include job trends in these fields.

A person also needs to assess his/her own skills and those that still need developing. Skills are gained through a variety of experiences, not just limited to work experience. In doing this assessment, life experiences and past education also need to be taken into consideration. For those skills the person wants to develop, he/she should look at the choices available such as what courses to take and the costs and duration of these courses. There are also career self-assessments a person can take to assist in pinpointing his/her skills. This will help in further narrowing career choices and ease the creation of career goals.

Finally, when the person is clear on what career is best based on his/her interests and skills, the person needs to develop short and long term career goals with specific timeframes. What does the person want to accomplish in six months, a year, five years? What does the person need to accomplish these goals? Once these goals are written out, the person can revise his/her resume to fit the goals he/she outlined.