Short-Term Career Goals: How to Set Career Goals

Short-term career goals are the smaller, more immediate steps people can take to later achieve long-term objectives. You accomplish these personal goals quickly—over days, weeks, or months—whereas long-term career goals are a bit more distant, a year or more down the road. Short-term career goals provide workers and applicants with a timeline to learn new skills and set milestones for the competencies needed to advance their career paths.

Good short-term goals should take some effort but be achievable; examples of short-term goals may be applying for a set number of jobs, seeking mentorship, connecting with new people in leadership roles, and interviewing others who started their own businesses to learn what steps to take.

These professional goals are essential in advancing career development for several reasons:

• Acquire new skills. Career changes or advancements may require new skill sets. Short-term goals allow people to look at what skills they need to move forward, which may involve increased training, education, or personal development opportunities to grow.
• Have accountability. Setting your own career goals with specific metrics or KPIs (key performance indicators) allows you to map out where you are on your path toward career success. Using these measurements helps you track progress and take steps toward a dream job.
• Prepare for job interviews. Prepping for interview questions is another way candidates can realize short-term goals. Building a professional network, practicing interviews, and better understanding the field you want to succeed in are all ways to build communication skills, which are transferable and necessary to professional life.

Do your best to set short-term goals to achieve long-term ones. Follow these steps:

1. 1. Build a career map. Think about your long-term career goals and break them down into achievable steps. Elaine Welteroth—award-winning journalist, New York Times–bestselling author, and television host—recommends building a blueprint for career planning. “A blueprint is essentially your 30,000-foot view of the lifespan of your career,” Elaine says. “It should give you a sense of what the arc is that you want your career to take. It should encompass your short-term goals, as well as your long-game plan…And that blueprint is what you need to be able to start the process of figuring out how to craft your career from a big-picture standpoint. Who are the people in your life that you want to model your career after?”
2. 2. Plan your short-term goals. When creating ideal milestones for yourself, try using a SMART goals template (the acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals). Identify the necessary skills and competencies for your ultimate goal, and select on which you want to focus. These shorter goals might be to complete an online course or to connect with a mentor.
3. 3. Make a plan. Consider your starting point and end goal, and build a gradual and achievable plan to get from one point to the next. Use whatever kind of time frame works best for you personally. It is helpful to set deadlines along the way to measure progress.

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