John is interviewing for a new job. He is asked, "Why do you want to work here?" He looks surprised, then after a thoughtful pause says, "Because I saw the ad in the paper and thought it would be fun." The interviewer later asks, "Where do you see yourself five years from now?" Again, John thinks for a minute, and then hesitantly answers, "With higher pay?"
Later that day Kathleen is interviewing for the same job. When asked her goals, she leans slightly forward, and states, "I have always wanted to work in this industry, which is why I got my degree in a related field. I plan to take the following courses for certification in my field (she briefly lists courses she has taken and is planning to take to increase her credentials). Within five years, I plan to be mentoring others in my area, and to have increased job responsibility at this company because of my credentials and increased skills."
Who do you think will get the job?
The above scenario is not as far-fetched as it sounds. A surprisingly large number of people never define what their personal career goals are, or even investigate what type of work is best suited for them personally.
Define Your Goals
The first step in starting any job search is defining your goals. Simply put this means looking at "What do I want to be?" and "What am I qualified to do?" The closer these two are to each other, the greater the chances of getting the job you want (and being happy at it!). This means doing the necessary research and self-evaluation to understand what type of job is a good fit for both your interests and experience. Having well defined goals will assist you in focusing your job search and not wasting time interviewing for jobs that are unsuitable for you.
Self-Assessment: A Key to Setting Career Goals
A self-assessment can help you determine the type of job that would be a good fit for your talents and personality. The following exercises will help you not only in defining personal goals, but will also help when the company interviewer asks you the standard questions, "Why do you want to work for us?" "Where do you see yourself in five years?" and "How do you plan to reach your goals?"
Skills assessment
Take a piece of paper and make out two columns. In the first, write "skills". Under this heading, you will be listing different skills that you have collected in your lifetime, whether from formal education, college courses, personal interests, or work. Summer jobs, internships, and any jobs that you have held will include skills that should be listed. This is an area to list your greatest strengths and abilities, such as mathematical ability, communication skills, computer expertise, or creative projects completed. Skills can range the gamut from technical to physical, and will vary with a person's individual experiences.
Values/interests assessment
In the second column, write "Personal values/interests". List the values that are important to you personally, including your ideal working conditions and your "dream job". Everyone has different things that are important to him or her. Do you enjoy security, routine, and detail-oriented work? Or are you a restless, creative, independent type? Invite feedback from others who know you well, such as family, friends, and teachers, or those who have worked with you.
Are you a risk taker? Or perhaps you're a people person? How important is money to you? What about personal prestige? Do you enjoy supervising others, or following orders? Do you enjoy teaching others? Are you a team worker, or do you prefer working alone? What locations are acceptable? Is your dream to live and work in a rural setting, or in a major metropolitan center? How many hours of work per week are acceptable? The answers to these questions will help you to define what type of job you should be seeking.
Help from Uncle Sam (The Department of Labor)
In "Guide for Occupational Exploration"(1979)(1), all jobs in the US were defined as falling into one of 12 areas based on interests:
This list can be an excellent starting place to help you define your personal interest areas.
Now look at the two lists you have made, of skills and interests. Is there an overlap, or a huge discrepancy? If the two are very different, it may mean that you have been working at a job that did not match your values, and you will want to consider changing careers. If the two overlap a lot, chances are that your interests and skills have been a good match in the jobs you have held, and you will want to consider pursuing your career in this field, or a similar field.
Using these assessments that you have done, you can now create a third list: job desired. Write down jobs that you believe you would be suited for, based on the information you have obtained. You are now ready to do the next step.
Research: Key to Defining Career Goals
You will want to research the job market and find out what skills and education are needed in the job category you are seeking. You can find good information on this from on-line sites for companies in the field, library books, trade journals, and help wanted ads. Try to find answers to questions such as:
Is a specific college degree needed? What about certifications? What kind of work experience is needed? Can I get on-the-job training? These will help you to determine educational goals that will help you reach your career goals. You will also need to consider whether you are willing to put the time, money, and effort into obtaining the necessary education for a certain career.
If hired in this job field, what are the chances of advancement? Where do I want to be in five years? Ten years? The answers to the last two questions are your personal career goals, and will determine the steps that you take after being hired.
You may want to try going on some informational interviews, in which you meet with a representative of a company in an occupation that you are interested in exploring. The goal is NOT to be hired (although that would be nice!), but to learn more about the skills, education, and background needed to work in this field. This type of interview is also a wonderful way to develop contacts in the industry as well.
Summary
One result of doing the above analysis, research, and defining of goals, is that by the time you have done this, you will have an excellent idea of:
Once your career goals are defined, you can go to the next step: narrowing your search to specific companies, and beginning the process of preparing for interviews.
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