Blog > Career Development

How To Set Career Goals

Jul 16, 2019

Setting specific, measurable goals can provide a path to improve your career and achieve certain accomplishments. It is crucial to both your personal and career development and should be done by everyone.

Why set goals?

Setting goals is important because it gives you a framework to achieve milestones. Wanting to do or complete certain things in life is a great start. Goal setting provides a path for you to actually do them.

Try consider setting goals that you can achieve in the short term, such as small projects or learning new skills. These can then help towards long term goals such as a promotion or a pay rise. This way you can recognise that you deserve to be paid more and that you're capable of more responsibility.

How do I set goals?

Whilst there are multiple ways to chose and set your goals, try using the SMART framework. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based.

1. Make it specific.

'I want to be able to use Adobe photoshop and illustrator for picture editing and to create my own graphics, that way I can apply for the marketing role I want'.

2. Make it measurable.

This has been slightly covered above, but you could break it down to completing 2 lessons on an e-learning platform a week.

3. Are your goals actually achievable?

Let's carry on with the example above. Perhaps you have never used creative software before, don't expect to be an expert overnight. Do you expect to be industry leading rather than competent over night? Create smaller achievable goals so you can stay motivated and on track.

4. Is your goal relevant?

Each shorter goal you set should contribute to helping your long-term goals. If you're wanting to move into a specific industry, or a specific role, ask yourself, is this going to help you be a better... 'x'. If not, you might want to change your goal.

5. Set a date.

Whilst it can be easy to say, 'I should learn how to edit and I will at some point'. Instead, set a time to do it. If you have a date in mind you're much more likely to complete the task, it's scientifically proven.

Additionally, use the power of others to create accountability. This can increase your chance of achieving your goals by 95% - read more here. Sign a contract with a friend saying you have to take them for dinner if you don't meet the timeline, this is a very powerful tool that will nudge you to complete your goal. Read more about a 'Nudge technique' here, it's powerful!

Setting both personal and professional goals will help give a structure and path to success. Many employers value candidates that have a record of setting and achieving goals. This shows that you can be a focused, goal-oriented employee. Employers often ask about goals in interviews, so you should prepare to talk about your goals and what you’re doing to achieve them during the hiring process.