A career is an individual's path through schooling, employment, and any everyday activity that may occur. A career goal is an aim that is set to be reached at any point in one's career. Career objectives are defined to accomplish a certain professional purpose, which can include job promotions or self-motivation and prestige (Jason, Christopher and Lana). Career ambitions are important, particularly when entering a competitive area of practice where one must stand out in order to be remembered, such as in law, where winning cases flawlessly would give one respect and draw clients (Jason, Christopher and Lana). Short term career goals are targets created and can be achieved within a day, weeks or a few years; a case is where a teacher wants to finish a class topic within a week, after a week the goal will have been achieved and forgotten (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Long-Term Career Goals
Long term career goals are aims that are set to be achieved over a long period such as having a goal to be promoted at work will require one to gain work experience for a long period, for example, five years. Long term career goals are developed o daily basis but take a long period to be achieved (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Creating Smart Goals
Specificity
When creating a career goal, one should be specific on defining the target aims of a career and on the necessary steps taken. In school, for example, one who has set an aim of improving in class should also evaluate ways of improving, i.e. increasing studying time and reducing sleep (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Measurable
A set goal should be measurable to keep track of whether the initially specified ways of achieving a target are working or not. In the case above, a student who is used to a D grade and ends up getting a C will realise the steps used in achieving a goal are legitimate (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Achievable
Set career goals should be achievable under the circumstances where an individual operates. A student without money cannot plan on buying more books as without the money needed; the set goal will not be achieved (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Relevant
A goal should be relevant in that it adds value to a professional career. A lawyer cannot plan on being good in calculus which rarely applies in developing law careers (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Time-Bound
A set time to achieve a career goal is necessary for effective planning, a goal that will be achieved after the end of career will be null (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Learning Goals for the Semester
My learning goals for this semester is to improve in my math class to gain good results at the end of the semester. My goal is a short term goal to arrive at the end of the semester and is also a long term goal as after improving I will continue setting improvement goals on the subject to achieve the best possible grade that I can. I plan to employ learning strategies which include liaising with my teacher, using my free time to study and creating summary notes for easy revision to have a good math and overall grade after school finally. My career goal mentioned above is due to the reason that I always pass other subjects well with good grades except for math, with an improvement in math, am capable of moving to the top of my class. My career goal has also been contributed by my father's promise to increase money sent to my savings account if an improvement is noted. Another further for the set goal is that if I employ the stated learning strategies, the goal is achievable by the end of the semester. People have different ideas about career goals, i.e. some people believe that short term goals are more effective than long term goals but a smart strategy for setting career goals should be evaluated regarding goals and resources, i.e. time needed to achieve the set goals (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Reasons for Setting Career Goals
Career goals are set to achieve positive results which may include a post or a dream career. Career goals also help reduce professional blindness. Another need for setting career goals is to have a direction in career development, i.e. to rise through positions (Jason, Christopher and Lana). Career goals are also set to impact motivation and productivity, in achieving a short term goal, one is motivated to set another goal hence push one to be more productive. Career goals also give one an accountability for professional improvements witnessed over time (Jason, Christopher and Lana).
Personality and Career Inventories
Holland Vocational Type Test
Holland vocational type test implies that with an interaction between the environment and a person, a congruence is bred. Holland asserts that an individual working in an environment congruent with their personality ends up being psychologically healthy, more productive and more satisfied with work. Holland argues that personal-environment congruence initiates self-acceptance, growth and life purpose (Holland). Limitations Holland's congruence theory has a limitation in that indices used in the environment-person relation may not match to a highest 1, 2 or 3 of the six stages as implied by Holland but only the order of scores is considered without the magnitude. Another limitation is that a few indices adopt Holland's idea that the extent of dissimilarity and similarity among types portrayed in the hexagon structure.
Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a form of a formulated questionnaire which is argued to show psychological favourites on how individuals understand the world. The test is based on intuition, feeling, thinking and sensation, the test asserts that one of the four functions are always present on a person at a time (Furnham and Crump) Limitations In a life circumstance, mood may change over life experiences, but the assumptions on the MBTI background do not change. The kind of variable is problematic over time as any changes in our well-being do not occur in the indicator hence assumptions made as per the indicator might also be wrong (Furnham and Crump).
Career Development Theory
Donald Super Lifespan Approach
Donald's theory highlights how personal experiences mix with preferences in professionalism to create one's self-concept. A great contribution of Donald's theory of career development is the prominence of building a self-concept and the recognition on how self-concepts may change with new circumstances over time. Super viewed careers as lifelong occupations (Donald). Super's five life and career development stages include growth witnessed from birth to age 14, exploration witnessed from age 15 to 24, establishment witnessed from age 25-44, maintenance witnessed from age 45to 64 and decline which is witnessed from age 65. The stages look at life's macro perspectives and correlate with relevant events and transition times (Donald). Donald's theory answers careers questions by making individuals build their recognitions and realise career identities in life. Donald's gives one a guide to a take or leave choice in picking careers pertaining on how they will aid development (Donald). Donald manages to give an individual the option of take or leave by breaking down life stages hence one weighs, i.e. if a career does not take you to an establishment state at age 25, you should settle for another in search of recognition. The common idea that doing what you love means you will never have to work a day in your life means that with passion a job is taken as a hobby hence partake activities will be interesting to an individual making one take activities to be less of a job.
Conclusion
In conclusion founded from the above discussion, it is evident that career goals play a key role in development. Works Cited Furnham, Adrian, and John Crump. "The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Promotion at Work." Psychology 6.12 (2015): 1510. Holland, John L. "The psychology of vocational choice: A theory of personality types and model environments." (1966). Jason, Christopher, and Lana R. Elpert. "Goal Setting: Effective Strategies to Plan for a Successful Career." Hospital Medicine. Springer International Publishing, 2017. 45-53. Super, Donald E. "A life-span, life-space approach to career development." (1990).
