3 Tips to Help You Set Career Goals

Setting career goals is crucial to finding long-term success. Without a framework for growth, it’s impossible to see your vision come to fruition. Building the pathway to achieve your dreams might sound like a daunting task, but it begins with just a few easy-to-navigate steps.

With these three tips, you can start setting powerful goals that will help you to see your future career growth through to the ultimate prize that lies at the far extent of your dreams.

1. Start with your education.

Education is the primary driver of career development. Building a long and storied resume of traditional, additional, and professional development is a great way to hone in on opportunities for advancement throughout your career. To be sure, these educational opportunities are not always located within the classroom; learning is a lifelong experience that can take place in a variety of settings.

That being said, one of the best ways to build on past successes is with the addition of an MBA. Admission to an MBA program is a point of pride for many in the business world. As well, the experiences gained during your time at business school will stand by you as you progress through a long and storied career.

MBA graduates are well-positioned for greatness as they enter or rejoin the working world after their classroom time. Learning to implement best practices and cutting-edge strategies for continued growth in whatever industry you call home is just one of the many advantages that a Master of Business Administration can provide to you and your company. Speaking with professional MBA advisors about your circumstances and application package is the best way to improve your chances of admission into one of the many highly competitive top MBA programs around the United States.

Also, many MBA applicants are finding better results overall with the help of an online degree program. Utilizing an online workflow can give you unparalleled flexibility to continue your corporate role while adding invaluable learning experiences that will help you grow throughout your career. A commitment to lifelong learning isn’t always easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding, and an MBA will provide measurable results that never fail to impress!

In addition to traditional classroom learning, many in the workforce find that employee engagement is boosted by reading and other asymmetrical approaches to the task of lifelong learning. Some of the world’s greatest investors live by this approach; for instance, Warren Buffett is frequently quoted while speaking about his reading habits. Reading helps spark creativity and novelty in your daily approach to what often includes the same tasks played on repeat.

Reading and other avenues that promote learning are also fantastic outlets when it comes to identifying opportunities for continued growth. Setting long-term goals requires a vision that is often stifled by a lack of creativity. Making this a top priority will help you to promote a spirited internal dialogue for the maximum opportunity both now and in the future.

2. Remain on the job hunt at all times.

Whether you are thinking of a change of scenery or not, searching for jobs in your field will help you keep an eye on the competition and develop a sixth sense for market movements that haven’t yet come into the spotlight. Building a career—whether at a single firm or the American average of around a dozen different jobs—takes a continually evolving vision for what lies ahead.

Scoping out the competition is a great way to evaluate where your industry is headed and help you stay one step ahead of your rivals and colleagues for maximum exposure to promotion or poaching opportunities that will advance your career in a rapid fashion. Industrial sector employees, for instance, will benefit from the insights that FatJ provides to job seekers and readers of all backgrounds. This company specializes in transportation and logistics and is a valuable resource for job seekers within this space.

Even if you aren’t looking for new work opportunities, reading the listings that highlight key skills and knowledge areas can help you identify changing patterns in your sector. Building up these core skillsets before they become essential requirements within your company will help you maintain a competitive edge that will last throughout your career.

3. Implement a new way of thinking about goal setting and tracking.

Businesses of all types utilize a powerful KPI framework for goal setting and a metric-based approach to midstream tracking. The OKR framework (OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results) is a crucial tool for business success, and it can function identically for your career development objectives.

OKRs are a breakdown of the traditional goal-setting process that sees key results set and then blindly aimed at over the course of a month, quarter, or year. This new way of thinking was brought to Google by Andy Grove and John Doerr and it has made for uniquely powerful insights and constant metrics surrounding the goal setting and achievement process. By breaking your long-term goals into these two realms of achievement you can build a robust strategy for personal career success just like the titans of industry.

With these strategies, career development is a foregone conclusion. All that’s left is to contemplate where you want to end up.