Career Action Plans: Using Goal Setting to Get What You Want Out of Work

A career action plan is a series of steps to help you attain a specific career objective. This objective is as individual as you are but could be a type of occupation, a particular position within your company, or a certain level of income.

Short- and Long-Term Goals

Short-term goals are ones that can be accomplished in three years or less. As the name implies, long-term goals will take longer to become a reality; generally speaking, you are looking at between three and five years for these to come to fruition.

You probably don't think of it, but you set short-term goals for yourself as part of your daily life; you decide that you need to clean your home, run errands, or complete an assignment at work or at school. Then you figure out what you need to do to accomplish these tasks, and take the appropriate actions to get them done. The same principles apply to making your career action plan.

Be Specific

When it comes to setting goals for your professional life, you need to be very specific about what you want. It's not enough to say, "I want to make a lot of money". What does that mean to you exactly? Get a fixed dollar amount in your mind to focus on.

Make sure that when you set a goal for yourself that it is something positive, not something you are trying to avoid. Include a specific timeframe to reach your goal. Here's an example: "In six months I want to be working for a different company and earning at least X dollars per year" as opposed to "I don't want to be stuck in this dead-end job forever".

Don't Set Yourself Up to Fail

Be realistic in your goal-setting. There is nothing wrong with having ambitious goals for yourself, but you do need to make sure that your goals fit in with your talents and abilities. For example, you might want to get a promotion to a management position in your company but do you have the education and experience necessary to take on that challenge? If not, what do you need to do to get the education or add to your experience?

Take Action

If you don't have the education (yet), make a plan to get more training. Investigate what options are available to you, including cost, time involved, and whether you qualify for financial aid. Some employers will provide assistance with the cost of tuition for work-related program of study. You may also want to apply for a lateral transfer within your company to get some experience working with different people or take on some different projects to demonstrate to your employer that you are ready to branch off into a different area.

Figure out the steps necessary to reach your professional goals and take action. By keeping these steps in mind and implementing them, you will greatly increase your chances of reaching your career goals.