How to Establish Short Term & Long Term Employment Goals
According to Businessdictionary.com ("Business Dictionary"), a goal is a dream with a deadline. When establishing short- and long-term employment goals, it is important to evaluate your skills, education, personal interests and objectives for the future. While it can be fun to dream big, you also want to consider which career options are available, based on your work experience and educational background, and how long it will take you to achieve them. Use this information to focus your efforts on tasks that you can track and measure to see how well you progress over a period of weeks or months. Using a few simple techniques, you can create a list of short- and long-term goals that allow you to work more effectively and achieve the success you want for your professional career.
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Instructions
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Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your professional life and determine changes you can make to improve your career in the immediate and long term future. Brainstorm measures you can take to improve your salary, position or number of work assignments, for example. Choose actionable measures like completing a training program, working with a career counselor, working more hours, requesting a performance review or engaging in career planning and networking activities at work. Look for areas that require a change in order for your professional life to improve overall.
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Allow your long-term goals to determine the short-term steps you take to make them happen. For example, suppose you want to get an increase in your salary. To do this, you must attend weekly staff meetings, reach a weekly sales quota, and complete 50 hours of additional training. These actions should serve as your short-term goals.
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Write out your short-term goals on a piece of paper. Using the above example, your short-term goals would be, "attend weekly meetings," "reach my weekly sales quota of 100 units" and "complete 50 hours of additional customer service training." By writing out your short-term goals, you know the exact steps you must take to reach your end goal. You also take the guesswork out of measuring your success. (You will transfer this information to a larger chart later.)
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Determine how long it will take to achieve your short-term goals. With this step, you want to create a realistic timetable that will keep you accountable. Just because you can complete 50 hours of training in one week, doesn't mean it's the best choice for achieving your end goal. Instead, establish a timetable that will keep you focused, rather than hurries you to an end goal.
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Create a measuring stick for your career goals. Decide how you want to measure your success. Common barometers for success include performance reviews, ability to work to deadline and positive feedback from management.
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Decide when you will check in to see how you are coming along. Consider evaluating your progress weekly or monthly. Checking in daily may be too often to recognize real progress, while checking in yearly could be too long to keep you motivated and modify your goals if needed.
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Create a chart listing your short-term goals, which you can mark off when each is achieved. Give yourself a target date for finishing each goal, with each building to your final, long-term goal.
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Write it all out using the chart you created in Step 6. Now that you've considered your goals, estimated how long it will take to achieve those goals and established a measuring stick for your success, it is time complete your chart. Divide your goals across the weeks or months leading up to when you expect to achieve your long-term goal.
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Tips & Warnings
Write out your goals along a timeline, so you can see the chronological order you want to take for each step. For example, you may need to complete a training course before you are eligible for a bonus. In that case, you would make the training course your immediate goal. Your desire to receive a bonus could be another step toward a management position or some other larger goal.
Define specific achievable goals. Replace abstract, general statements such as "Perform well at the office," with actionable objectives. A good example is, "Complete all assignments according to company guidelines and submit them for review at or before the deadline."
