la dolse stories: Setting Career Goals

One of the toughest issues in making a good career choice and career goal setting is identifying what it is that you want. Even when it seems that you know what you want, you may still have doubts on if your career choice is the right one for you.

Reaching clarity in those issues may be the most important thing you can do in your career planning and goal setting. Here are a few career goal setting guidelines that can help.

Most people, even very successful ones, have some periods in their career path when they seem unsure about their career choice and goals. It is totally human to feel that way.

Often, such periods just come and go. For example, they come when you face some overwhelming obstacles on your way. It is all over as soon as you get through these obstacles.

That situation by itself is not a problem of choosing a career, only a test of your perseverance in seeing it through but what if those doubts persist, or if they always live somewhere in the background of your thoughts? If it just does not feel right?

If this is the case, then it is time to look more carefully at your career choice and overall career objectives.

Often we choose or are placed in a career because it just seems like the right step to make or that is what your studies have focused on.

The only problem is that sometimes that passion that we once had as a young adult are now gone, or the realism of the job has taken the interest and joy out of it.

That is when it is time to set a new career goal or objective. Choosing the right career goal to sink into requires a great deal of soul searching. You need to ask yourself these questions beforehand:

Career Goal Setting Plan

The following table provides you with a simple outline of the factors you may want to consider and identify when setting and analyzing your career goals in a step by step format.

Career Goal You must Define and write them down in order of priority.

Benefits and Advantages of achieving this goal. Listing these may help to motivate you. Key Steps That you Need to Take. When Will I do This? Give Yourself deadlines. Support and Resources (What support and from whom do I need, what resources, such as time, money, contacts). Outcomes and Reflection (Record whether you achieved the goal and what worked or did not work along the way for future reference) .

The above table sort of shows you the who, what, where, when, and how of career goal setting. It is just like finding the facts for a story. Journalists have to answer all of these questions in order to get the full story.

That is the same thing that you have to when setting career goals. Let me show you in exact detail in the next diagram.