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24 Examples of Professional Goals You Can Set To Improve Your Career
August 19, 2021
Setting goals to help you progress in your career can be important to finding fulfillment in your job and increasing your skills and salary. There are many examples of professional goals that apply to any industry, ranging from smaller, day-to-day improvements in your current role, to long-term plans where you aim to make major career changes. Understanding these examples can be the key to setting smarter goals and reaching them within your timeframe. In this article, we explain the meaning of professional goals and discuss 24 examples of professional goals.
What are professional goals?
Professional goals are anything you hope to achieve during your professional career. These can be skills, milestones, career changes or salaries. They also can be goals you wish to accomplish personally or ones you want to help your company or industry achieve. For example, you can set a goal to learn a new programming language in the next six months, or you can aim to have your company break its monthly sales record.
Setting goals can help provide a more clear path for your career and allows you to track your progress. One of the more common methods for setting attainable goals is SMART, an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Setting goals using these criteria can help you make ones you can easily achieve by clarifying your ideas and helping you use your time and resources efficiently.
Read more: How to Write a Great Career Goals Essay
24 examples of professional goals
Here are 24 examples of professional goals:
1. Gain an internship
Gaining an internship with a large company in your industry can be a great opportunity. With an internship, you can learn important industry skills, practices and methods and increase your professional network. You can also gain valuable experience to add to your resume, which can make you a more appealing candidate when you begin your job search. Try looking for local internships through laborer's unions, job programs or local universities.
2. Increase your core skills
Consider what your core skills are in your job, as well as the soft and hard skills you can't perform your job without. You can increase and enhance those skills through classes, mentors or internships. You can also use personal time to pursue new core skills to increase your employability. For example, an attorney might read books on law to increase their understanding of why certain laws are in place and how they work.
3. Grow your professional network
Growing your professional network can help you form important connections in your industry. Consider focusing on attending industry or work-related events, such as seminars, training sessions and casual gatherings. Try to make connections online through professional networking sites or email lists.
Read more: How To Set Professional Goals for Career Advancement
4. Advance in your company
Advancing in your company can mean moving to a position you feel is better suited to your skills, but it's not necessarily a leadership position. You might want to move to a parallel position within the company in a different department or to a position that allows more creative freedom. You can think about when and why you want to advance and what skills or steps you need to reach that goal.
5. Obtain higher credentials
One of the most common professional goals is obtaining higher credentials in your industry, which can create new employment and salary opportunities. For example, if you already have a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, you can pursue a master's degree to become a professor at the local university. Higher credentials also can help establish industry credibility.
6. Earn a higher salary
Many professionals work toward obtaining a higher salary. Earning more money can help you become more financially secure and confident in your position. Consider what your ideal salary is, what your current salary is and how you can work towards achieving your ideal salary, whether at your current job or in a new position.
7. Pursue a different career
You might want to pursue an entirely different career as your main professional goal. You could find greater satisfaction and happiness in a new career, as well as a higher salary and more opportunities. Consider what your ideal career is and how you can reach it from your current job. Consider reaching out to professional connections you have in other industries to see whether they might be a good fit for you.
Related: 10 Careers In Commerce
8. Become an expert in your field
Becoming an expert in your field can provide many opportunities for employment and additional opportunities as a consultant or freelancer. Consider what credentials or experience current industry experts hold and how you can obtain those credentials. You can consider a mentorship from industry professionals to learn more about what industry leaders do daily.
9. Obtain a leadership position
Obtaining a leadership position can help you enhance your teamwork, collaboration and leadership skills and establish your credibility in the industry. Consider what type of leadership position you want and how you might reach that position. It's important to determine whether the company you work for offers such opportunities or if you might need to pursue a career change.
10. Win an award in your industry
Winning an industry award can bring you notoriety with industry experts, increase your employability and establish your credentials as an industry expert. For example, winning an award as an interior designer can make you more recognizable and lead to more job opportunities. Awards differ by industry, but obtaining an award can require patience, skill and innovation. Consider where your industry might need innovation and apply your skills to that need.
11. Learn a new industry tool
Advancing technology often provides new and innovative tools for industries. Learning one of these new tools can give you a competitive advantage over other job candidates and may allow you to earn a higher salary. Consider the latest industry technology and pursue opportunities to learn more about it or how to use these tools.
Read more: 14 Short-Term Goals to Improve Your Career Today
12. Use your skills to start a business
Some professionals include starting a business in their primary career goals. If you think you have strong leadership skills, you can apply them and other industry skills to starting your own business. Owning your own business can give you more creative freedom over your career path, help you earn a higher salary and provide a more flexible work schedule.
13. Improve your collaboration skills
Many jobs depend on the collaboration of employees to create innovative products and services for the company. Collaboration skills can help you learn to work better in a team setting and learn to communicate with team members to complete projects, reach deadlines and create new products or services. Consider any learning opportunities like seminars that might increase your collaboration skills.
14. Improve your time management skills
Time management is a crucial skill for professionals because it helps them organize their time for maximum productivity. Consider learning more about time management through mentors, time management seminars or courses or personal research. You can organize your time and set specific goals for how you want to manage each hour of the day. For example, you can set aside one hour each night to focus on developing your professional skills outside of work.
15. Set a new industry standard
Many professionals seek to innovate their industry with new industry standards. For example, a factory worker might seek to innovate the manufacturing sector by creating a new quality assurance testing method that's safe and more affordable. Innovation can help you establish your credentials and make you a more suitable candidate for future employment. Try researching new methods of performing your job that can increase productivity, employee safety or the quality of products and services.
16. Establish a personal brand
Establishing a personal brand can differ from starting a business. Some professionals establish their brand as a writer, consultant or industry expert and use those skills to seek other employment opportunities and additional income. Consider what your personal brand could look like, how you can use it to advance your career and what skills you need to solidify your credibility in the industry.
Read more: What Is a Careers Consultant?
17. Become a mentor
Some professionals use their skills and experience to become mentors and help coach the next generation of industry experts. Becoming a mentor can allow you to work closely with a novice in the industry and help them excel in their position. Doing this also can increase your personal satisfaction with your career and broaden your professional network.
18. Work at your dream job
Many professionals define their dream job as the ultimate work experience. Consider what your dream job looks like, whether it's working for yourself or working for an innovative company in a specific industry. Consider what requirements that position might have and how you can reach them to begin taking the steps to obtain your dream job.
19. Reduce downtime and distractions
Reducing downtime and distractions at work can help you save time, which might allow you to pursue other opportunities and become a more productive employee. You can identify personal distractions, like social media, and brainstorm how to reduce them. You might decide to remove the distraction altogether or limit the time you spend with certain distractions.
20. Create a new work habit
Creating new work habits can help you be more productive and create better habits for professional development. For example, you might create a habit of writing one extra article per day to increase your daily word count and productivity so you can pursue a higher position in your writing company. New habits can support professional development and increase your employability.
Related: 50 Careers in STEM
21. Read more books about your career path
Books can be helpful resources for developing professional skills and learning about new industry practices or tools. You can set a goal to read more books related to your career path or industry to expand your knowledge and skill set. Consider obtaining a library card or a subscription to an audiobook service to increase the number of books you complete each year.
22. Find a professional mentor or sponsor
A professional mentor or sponsor can provide support, guidance and potentially financial or professional resources for your career development. Focusing on your skills and setting yourself apart from other industry professionals through innovation can help you attract the right mentor or sponsor. Consider joining a mentorship program or writing letters to industry sponsors to ask for support. This also can help grow your network, which can help you advance in your career.
23. Become a better public speaker or presenter
Some professionals frequently speak at public events or give public presentations. Becoming a better speaker can improve your confidence in front of an audience and make your presentations more impactful. Consider public speaking courses, seminars or a mentorship under a skilled public speaker to learn more about the art of public speaking.
24. Increase your emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand emotions and your reactions to them, which can help you form better relationships with colleagues. Greater emotional intelligence can make you a more inspirational leader and create a professional network of people who trust and understand you. Consider courses or seminars on emotional intelligence and perform your own research with books or online articles.