Career planning is essential to achieving satisfaction and success in

your chosen career. Whether you are aiming to be a contracts

administrator in a small construction firm or the finance director of a
multi-national corporation, knowing how to set career goals and
defining what is required to get there will help you to achieve your
ambitions.
Career planning is a basic, yet key principle used in business by
successful people. So why not apply the same principles to managing
your career by formulating a career development plan to control your
direction?

What is a career goal?

A career goal is a clear statement that defines the ultimate job you
aspire to throughout the course of your career. Provided it is realistic, a
clear career goal allows you to then set yourself an action plan, or
personal development plan, to work towards to achieve your
professional ambitions

Steps to set and achieve career goals

To help you achieve your ultimate career ambition, there are several
steps you need to take along the way. From determining and defining
your end objective, to plotting a personal development plan of action to
ensure you get there, smart management of your career takes more than
just motivation – it takes careful planning.
1. Explore the possibilities
You may be someone who has known for a very long time exactly what
occupation you aspire to. Or perhaps you have several careers in mind
with no clear understanding of which one is best for you. Either way,
the initial step in formulating a career plan involves exploring in more
detail the occupation/s that interest you and ensuring you are
comfortable with the reality of your options.
To do this, research and explore your occupational preference/s to
determine the qualifications, typical career paths and specific skills
required.
Ask yourself:
 What training and qualifications are required to enter the
occupation/s?
 What skills and interests are required to succeed in the
occupation/s?
 How do my skills and interests match up? Where are the gaps?
 What do I find particularly inspiring about the occupation/s?
 What training, support and resources could I expect to receive?
Will these help or quicken my success?
 What is the typical work environment like?
 What are the standard responsibilities?
 What advancement opportunities are available?
 Where is the work located?
 What is the typical salary?
 What level of work-life balance is achievable?
At the end of this step you will have greater insight into your identified
occupation/s.

2. Compare options
The next step involves comparing your options to narrow down your
choices. Ask yourself:
Ask yourself:
 What occupation suits me best and will satisfy my professional
and personal ambitions?
 What occupation best matches my skills, interests and values?
 What occupation is likely to be in greatest demand by employers
in the future?
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
  In which occupation can I achieve my desired salary and work-
life balance?
 Which occupation can I picture myself doing day-in, day-out?
When considering these questions, objectively think about what is
required to succeed in each job. What weaknesses would you need to
overcome to succeed? What strengths would see you thrive?
Also consider if each job feels like the right ‘fit’ for you.
At the end of this step you will have narrowed down your options and
identified the one occupation that you ultimately aspire to.
From this, you can define what you want to achieve in this chosen
profession. Write this goal down so that you can then devise an action
plan to achieve it. For example, “In 15 years’ time, I want to be the
financial controller of a large commercial organisation”.
Writing down your goal gives you a clearer direction and focuses you
on the big picture of what you ultimately want to achieve in your
professional life. Our Career Goal Planner contains a template to help
you plot this out.
The process of setting career goals isn’t over though once you have
defined your end-game. For it to become a reality, you must then plot a
plan of action, or a personal development plan, to ensure help you
achieve the goal you’ve set for yourself.
3. Establish short-term goals
That’s why the third step involves creating a set of short-term actions
that will start you down the path towards your career objective. Focus
on what you need to achieve in the next three to five years or so,
specifically in the areas of:
 Learning: To enter or progress in your preferred occupation, do
you need to earn certain qualifications? If so, what courses
should you consider?
  Experience: What experience do you need to acquire to become
a suitable candidate for your next promotion or to gain your first
entry-level role in this field?
 Skills development: What specific skills should you develop to
make yourself a suitable candidate for your next promotion?
 Ideal next job: What role represents the next sensible step
towards achieving your career goal?
 Professional membership: Would professional membership aid
your career advancement?
Before answering these questions, it’s worth reviewing job descriptions
for the next role you aspire to. This will highlight any skills or
competencies that you need to focus on developing in your current role
before you commence your next jobs search.

4. Establish long-term objectives

Once these short-term objectives are in place, you need to the next step
in career planning involves turning your attention to longer-term
planning objectives. Plot out a realistic career progression pathway that
defines the jobs and their increasing level of skills, responsibilities and
seniority that will allow you to reach your goal. This is essentially your
roadmap for how you are going to advance your career to get to your
ultimate end goal.
Before you can chart your course towards your future, most people need
to research typical career pathways in their field. To do this, you can
talk to a recruiter to understand the typical career paths for the role you
aspire to. You can also reach out to any LinkedIn connections who are
on the pathway you aspire to. Your mentor can also provide useful
insights, as can a review of relevant job descriptions.
Based upon your research, you can plot your longer term career
pathway and the specific jobs you’ll need to advance through. For each
job define:
  Technical skills to acquire: This covers the specific learned
abilities you’ll need to pick up and use in each role.
 Soft skills to cultivate: Identify the non-technical skills related
to how you work that you’ll need to develop in this role, such as
teamwork, networking, conflict resolution or adaptability.
 Competencies to learn: List the knowledge and behaviours you
need to acquire in this job, such as commercial awareness,
negotiation or conflict management. If you aren’t sure of the
differences between technical skills, soft skills and
competencies, this breakdown will help.
 Specific experience to gain: What precise experience should
you gain and what successes and achievements will allow you to
quantify this experience to future employers?
 Personal or professional development: How can you
personally and professionally grow in this role? For example,
could you participate in a professional membership body,
undertake accreditation or upskill in new technology?
 Ideal length of tenure: How long do you need to spend in this
role to develop the necessary expertise and experience to
become promotion-ready?
At the end of this step you will have set out the career progression
pathway you need to take to get you from where you are today to where
you ultimately want to be. Again, our Career Goal Planner contains a
template to help you set this out.

5. Write SMARTER career goals

When formulating your action plan, remember to set clearly defined,
short objectives you can work towards. To do this, the SMARTER
system can be useful:
 Specific - Be as clear as you can and avoid ambiguous
statements.
 Measurable - Quantify what you must achieve.
 Achievable - Motivate yourself but also keep your goals
reachable.
  Realistic - Be reasonable and focus keep your goals attainable
so progress is attainable.
 Timely - Create timeframes for completing steps.
 Empowering - Ensure your goals feel right for you and help you
make the changes you want.
 Reviewable - Keep your goals flexible so you can adjust to
changing market conditions

6. Be flexible and measure your progress

Finally, be flexible. Your priorities and objectives can be altered or
amended over time, either because of your own changing personal
circumstances or due to external factors outside your control, such as
technological innovations or fluctuations in the skills employers require.
Therefore, check in from time to time to make sure your goals are is still
achievable and your short and long-term objectives remain realistic. If
they aren’t, tweak your plan accordingly to keep you on track.
As part of this review, make sure you measure your progress.
Congratulate yourself for achievements you are particularly proud of.
You should also use this time to identify any areas where you are falling
behind and then allocate time in your schedule to dedicate to
improvements. Consider if you require any support to make these
improvements, such as from a mentor or by enrolling in a training
course. Stretch opportunities in your existing role are another way of
developing skills. Read more upskilling tips.
Whether you complete a monthly, quarterly or bi-annual review, make
sure you schedule it in your calendar as a recurring meeting. Do not
cancel this appointment when it comes around. Instead, use it as a
genuine opportunity for self-reflection.

7. Write down your goals

Career planning or goal setting will only achieve its purpose if you
follow the path you have planned. This means it is important to write
down your career goals.
The process of putting pen to paper allows you to keep a clear focus,
identify achievements and make any necessary alterations as and when
required. Imagine you are planning an overseas trip – think about how
much time and energy you would devote to it. Your career will probably
span the next thirty years of your life and it deserves just as much
focused planning, if not more