Been thinking about your career goals lately? That’s great! Obviously, it is important to know what you want to accomplish. However, that alone is not enough. Many other factors can impact your chances for success and must also be considered. Fortunately, the “SMART” approach can help you do this. SMART will help ensure you have looked at your goal from all the right angles and asked all the right questions. So, what exactly is SMART?

SMART is a goal-setting concept introduced back in the early 1980s. Although it has been around a while, it is far from obsolete. In fact, it is still quite popular today. Why? Because it is a simple, easy-to-understand, and common-sense approach. You may come across variations of the SMART model, however, at its core, the basic concepts are the same.

Developing and evaluating goals using the SMART approach helps to ensure they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based.

Let’s see how SMART might work in the real world. For example, suppose you decide to pursue a particularcareer field. After researching the educationalrequirements required for a job in that field, you learn a bachelor’s degree isdefinitely needed. However, what if you currently have little or nocollege? It would seem the goal is fairly obvious: obtain a bachelor’s degree. However,have you really examined the goal inenough detail? Now, take a look at the goalfrom the SMART perspective.

NOTE: In this example, completing one’s education was the identified goal, so SMART will be applied with that in mind. However, keep in mind the SMART approach will work with any goal, not just goals relating to education. Simply adapt the SMART model for your particular goal.

Specific

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If your career goal is to earn a management or an executive position, your goal could range from lasting 6 months, to 5 to 10 years depending on the field that you are in. This type of career goal can require a series of short term goals to help you reach the position. Subcision is performed using a special hypodermic needle inserted through a puncture in the skin surface. The sharp edge of the needle is used to break fibrotic strands that are tethering the scar to the underlying tissue. During her corporate career, Claire observed, even the most successful people struggled to process emotions, impeding their capacity to meet personal and professional goals. Claire created Self Directed Healing, a cutting edge process enabling people to resolve emotional issues quickly & easily. “What are your career goals?” is a common question you’ll hear in many interviews. And you need to prepare an answer because employers ALWAYS prefer to hire someone who can show they’re goal-oriented and have long-term objectives in their career.

The goal is to get a bachelor’s degree, so that seems pretty specific already, right? Or is it? Sometimes, it may not be enough to simply have a bachelor’s degree in any major. Certain career fields may require a degree in a very specific major. Even then, a degree in a specific major may not be enough! The degree may also have to be from a college program which is accredited by a particular entity. Did your goal include these very specific details? If not, the goal is not specific enough.

Depending on the circumstances, the goal may have to berevised. For example: earn a bachelor’s degree in the specific major from auniversity with the required program accreditation. This is a significantchange which could affect where you get the degree, how long it will take, andwhat it will cost. It’s a good thing you figured this all out up front.Otherwise, you could spend time and money on a degree which will not achieveyour end goal.

Measurable

Since degrees require a defined number of credit or semesterhours in order to graduate, educational goals are inherently measurable. Itis easy to count your completed credit hours and know how close you are to obtainingyour degree. Unfortunately, not allgoals are nearly this measurable.

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What about goals such as those relating to skill? Suppose you are seeking a promotion to an analyst position which requires skillin using Excel spreadsheets. Your goal might be “becoming proficient inMicrosoft Excel.” You should already suspect such a goal is problematic forseveral reasons. How would you measure something like that? How do youknow when the goal has been met?

Here’s an idea. What about taking an Excel class? After all, that’s measurable. Seems simple enough; either you took the class andpassed or not. But wait! Simply taking a class is not the same asbeing skilled and proficient. You probably know people who havetaken an Excel class and still cannot create decent spreadsheets or charts. If so, you see the challenge in making some goals measurable.

Goals like this might be best measured by identifying anaccomplishment which would confirm achievement of the desired skill level. Forexample, your modified goal might read something like, “I will create four differentExcel spreadsheets which allow user data entry. The data in each will beanalyzed using at least two Excel functions. Information resulting from eachanalysis will be presented in both bar and pie charts.” With the revisedgoal, the specific Excel skills desired have been identified. When youare personally able to successfully create four such spreadsheets, on your own,the goal has been met.

Attainable

A goal like education might be easy enough to measure, butadmittedly difficult and challenging to attain. Many factors enter intowhether or not a goal is attainable. For our education example, here are justa few; other goals will likely have additional or completely different factors.

• Time. Can I carve out the class and study time necessary to complete the degree?
• Finances. Do I have or can I obtain the necessary funds to pay for my education? Are resources available through my employer, union, government, or the college financial aid office?
• Support System. Is my spouse, significant other, family, and/or employer supportive in this goal? Or, will they put up obstacles at every turn?
• Ability. Not everyone is necessarily prepared to tackle certain college degree programs. For example, it is unlikely an individual with zero natural art talent would do well in a graphic arts program. Also, not everyone has the ability to make it through difficult or heavily math-oriented degree programs, such as those requiring calculus or physics.

If you discover factors do exist which make goal attainment difficult, you should not simply give up. Instead, recognize you are being smart and realistic, and therefore won’t be blindsided by these issues later on. If you really want the goal, focus on finding creative ways to overcome the challenges so it is attainable.

Relevant

Strange as it may seem, people sometimes really do pursue activities which are only marginally related to their goal. But, who has time, money, and energy to waste? Make sure to direct your resources only toward those things directly related to the actual goal.

Let’s go back to our example of needing a bachelor’s degreein a particular major. Perhaps you are thinking about first obtaining anassociate degree from a local community college and then later transferring toa four-year university to complete the required bachelor’s degree. Is pursuing theassociate degree a relevant activity?

It depends. Suppose many of the credit hours from theassociate degree cannot be transferred to the four-year university or thecourses would not be applicable. If true, you would need extra time and money laterto take the additional courses necessary for the bachelor’s degree. Clearly, inthis case, pursuing an associate degree would not be relevant.

However, suppose the community college credits are transferable.In this situation, taking at least some carefully-selected courses at the localcollege might make sense. Perhaps the local college is more convenient (savestime) and has a lower cost (saves money). If attending the local college savesresources and contributes directly to the goal, it would be relevant.

It might also be possible the associate degree somehow fitsinto your career goal in the short run. Perhaps having the associate degreewould enable you to advance to a new position at work while you continue topursue the bachelor’s degree. If so, obtaining an associate degree could be relevant.

The key is to consider the relevance of your planned actions up front. In this way, you will avoid wasting resources on activities which do not directly contribute toward attainment of your goal.

Time-Based

A goal which is not time-based ortime-sensitive is often put off until “someday.” As you might suspect, “someday”usually never comes. A deadline helps to keep you on track and lets youknow where you stand regarding goal completion (aids in measurement). Continuingwith the education example, let’s say you have completed some college but donot yet have near enough credit hours to graduate. Consider the following twogoals:

“I will complete my college degree”

“I will complete my college degree within 5 years from today”

These are two entirely different goals! The first goal merely suggests “someday I will get a degree” and the other identifies a specific, self-imposed deadline. A deadline will help you determine how many courses must be taken each semester so as to achieve the goal within the target time frame. As stated in the SMART table above, longer-term goals should be broken down into smaller, more manageable pieces. Establish a series of smaller “milestone” targets (with dates) as you move along the path toward goal completion.

Be SMART

Regardless of the nature of your career goals, think them through in a SMART way. Currently developing your goals? As you do, make sure each is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Already have goals in place and working on them right now? Pause for just a moment to look at them again from the SMART perspective. You just may be surprised at what you find and how the goals can be improved to enhance your chances for success!

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Let’s go over some examples of career goals to help you set yours. Why is this important?

Setting goals, specifically SMART and SMART(ER) goals, is an effective method to improve your likelihood of reaching critical milestones. Many of us have goals related to financial savings, personal improvement, and most likely our careers. Below, we explore examples of career goals for individuals at different points in their journey.

We hope these examples encouraging you to set your own goalsfor your career – no matter where you are today in the process.

Types of Career Goals

Depending on your age, education, and where you are in yourjourney, career goals will come in many shapes and sizes. Below, let’s considerfive individuals at different stages in their lives.

Discerning Your Career – Kamila (18 years old)

Kamila just graduated from highschool and is preparing to enter college in the fall. While she doesn’t knowexactly what she wants to study quite yet, she will focus on completing hercore classes and a few electives. Duringthis time, Kamila wants to explore various topic areas to find out what herinterests are.

A career-related goal for Kamila at this point in her life might be focused on discerning what vocation she would like to pursue and learning how to best prepare for that career during her college years. An example of a SMART goal Kamila might set for herself is:

I will identify 3 possible career paths I am interested in (Specific, Measurable, Attainable) by the end of my first semester (Time-bound) to help me narrow down career options for the future (Relevant).

Pursuing your Passions-Harper (26 years old)

Harper has been working at a largecompany as a financial analyst for the last two years. However, in interactingwith their HR department on a number of projects, Harper has realized she isinterested in learning more about Human Resources and might want to switchcareer fields.

An example of career goals for someone wants to pivot to a different career or develop skills in a new field might be to connect and learn from an expert. A shift like this requires considerable time and preparation; therefore, Harper might set a series of smaller, manageable goals first. She might start with:

Shadow an HR representative at our company for a half-day (Specific, Measurable) by the end the year (Attainable, Time-bound), to further gauge my interest in this field (Relevant).

Starting a Business – Derrick (32 years old)

After graduating high school, Derrick became an electrician’s apprentice. Derrick has been working as an electrician and has gained considerable experience over the last 14 years. It is his life-long dream to start his own small business and manage a team of electricians. Derrick now feels like he is ready to launch into this new adventure and is confident he has skills he needs. An example of a career goal might involve tackling the necessary legal steps to get started:

By the end of this week (Time-based), register my desired business name with my local government and apply for an employee identification number through the IRS (Specific, Measurable, Attainable) as these are necessary first steps to start my own business (Relevant).

Professional Development William (42 years old)

William has worked his way up overthe last 8 years within his company. He started as a customer servicerepresentative and later became a member of the sales team. After excelling in this role, he has recentlybeen promoted to Regional Sales Manager. However, William feels he doesn’t enough management experience and isapprehensive about some of his new responsibilities.

An example career goal for Williammight be to develop relevant skills to succeed in his new position. (He’ll needto set a SMART goal to be a bit more specific than that):

I will enroll in a 20-hour online management course (Specific) and complete at least 70% (Measurable) by the end of October (Time-bound, Attainable) to develop the skills I need to successfully manage my new team (Relevant).

Provide Mentorship – Fernando (60 years old)

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At this stage in his career,Fernando is preparing to retire within the next few years position as Directorof Finance. Part of Fernando’s job involves working with younger team membersto ensure their continual development and plan for their growth within thecompany. He is just starting to realizethat he will really miss this part of his work. Given that Fernando attributesmuch of his success to his access to quality mentors throughout his life, hewants to give back to his community mentoring young adults and helping themplan for their futures. An example of a career goal Fernando might set forhimself is:

I will help young members of my community plan for their futures (Relevant) by holding two free meetings each month at the public library (Specific, Measurable, Attainable) for the rest of the year (Time-bound) where individuals can ask me career-related questions and seek professional advice.

Set Your Own Career Goals

I’m sure you’ve heard that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Thesame holds true for your career as well. Maybe you are preparing to graduatewith a bachelor’s degree within the next year and hope to one day be the CEO ofyour own company. Success doesn’t happenovernight, and this larger goal will require incremental progress. For instance:

• Obtain a job in my desired field
• Get a promotion at my current job and take onmore responsibility
• Network with other entrepreneurs
• Research and fully understand the competition inthe marketplace I want to enter
• Identify business partners
• Secure my first client
• And a whole lot more…

We can provide examples of career goals for each of thesteps listed above – Can you? How about examples of career goals for yourself?

Remember, focusing on setting smaller (attainable) goalsthat are specific and measurable to help you stay focused and make persistentstrides (time-bound) towards your biggest dreams (relevant).