How to Answer Career Aspirations in a Job Performance Review

Always discuss career aspirations with your boss in person.

Performance reviews provide the ideal forum to talk with your boss about how you can progress in the company. Don't be caught off-guard with your chance to discuss your career aspirations. Approach the performance review, and the discussion of your career aspirations, with the appropriate mindset. Remember that your boss wants to provide you feedback on how you can serve the company better. It's your job to bring up the topic of how your improvement will move you up the company ladder. Prepare your aspirations beforehand and be ready to discuss them intelligently and in detail.

Instructions

1. Write a career vision statement and goals that fall in line with your vision statement. This vision statement should outline, in three to five sentences, your ultimate career goal. The goals describe the steps along the way that will get you there.

2. Identify positions, projects or accounts within the business that will help you achieve your goals and vision statement. For example, if one of your goals is to head up a team of 10 people, identify a position in the company that helps you do this.

3. Mention your ultimate career aspiration – the subject of your vision statement – then follow it with what you think the next step is when talking with your boss. Be specific. Take no more than 30 seconds discussing your vision statement and the next step.

4. Ask your boss what you must accomplish to reach the next step. Write these things down. Find a way to measure each accomplishment. For example, if your boss says that you need more training, press for what kind of training and how much.

5. Thank your boss for discussing your aspirations and how to achieve them. Ask if you can check in at a future date and how your boss prefers you to check in – such as via face-to-face meeting or email.

Tips & Warnings

• If your aspirations don't match up with the company, it may be time to leave. For example, if you ultimately want to write content for the company's website but it contracts this work out, you may need to find a new job.

References

• Joan Lloyd: Communicate Your Needs and Career Goals Openly with Boss
• UC Berkeley Human Resources: Goal-Setting: Developing a Vision and Goals for Your Career Plan
• Career Bright: How to Talk to Your Boss About Your Career Goals