Career goals are milestones that you set for achieving in the career path. They are short-term, Midterm, and Long term. Short-term goals can be achieved in five to six months, mid-term goals in six to two years, and long terms in three years and above.
Long-term goals require a lot of thinking, preparation, and understanding of the job role. They are difficult because you need long-term planning for a career. Life depends upon what are your long-term career goals, so give proper thought before deciding and work to achieve them.
Long-term goals could be a senior management position in the next five to six years, starting your own business, or being CEO of the company in the next twelve to fifteen years. These are just examples; goals can be diverse and several as per the candidate’s career planning.
Planning for long term career goals
Assessment of current job role
A candidate needs to understand how satisfied and happy he/she is with their current job and what career goals in the next five or six years in the current company. Some of the questions would help in deciding, such as:
- Are you enjoying your current job role?
- What do you like about the job or company?
- What do you not like about the job or the company?
- Do your colleagues like their job and enjoy their work?
- What is their take on company and job roles?
- Are you ready to take a certification course to add additional skills for career growth?
These questions will help in deciding what are your long-term career goals in the current company and how you want to pursue the career interest.
Working towards achieving long-term goals
Deciding career prospects in your current job, where you want to be in five to six years, is the first step towards achieving long-term goals. You have done the hardest work; now move on to the next step to achieve that milestone.
Steps to research about your target career path:
- Search and interact with people who are working in the target job role. Understand their journey for reaching there and their suggestions.
- Experience requires a skill-set for the target job role and how you will achieve them
- After knowing required skills, upgrade yourself with certificates and diplomas to excel in your career path.
Be proactive towards goal
As an aspirant for a job or an employee who wants to switch jobs for long-term career goals, you need to look for opportunities from various sources and grab them to outshine the competition.
If you want to grow in the current organization, talk to HR and Senior Manager and explore opportunities. Several companies provide skill training; attend them if they are relevant to your career goals. They also can suggest or help you with long-term career goals, and if you have a good rapport with management, they can also endorse your profile.
Conclusion
The most common question of the interview is, What are your long-term career goals? So if you prepare goals as per the process given above, you can also excel through interviews and get the job. Long-term goals are essential to plan both for job seekers and on-job professionals.
