Defining Career Goals

I continue learning how to define my career goals, although I have very few possible careers, defined so far, the truth is that to pursue consistently a carrier I should have even fewer, but better. From the list of my current possibilities I have to study each of them understanding the pros and cons of each:

- Does my curriculum support properly my career goals?

- Do I have the right attitude for the job?

- What is the range of salaries for such a position?

- In which companies is this position available, are these companies interesting?

Defining very precisely your career goals represents a lot of work, but is mandatory. Also, do not forget to Benchmark ( i.e research and compare) Wetfeet Career Guide – Negotiating Salary Perks, gives you a strong insight about it.

Do not start looking for a job before having your goals well defined, it is a waste of time.

Talking about wasting time, to avoid it I strongly recommend you reading career racketeer post 5 job search wasters (http://www.careerrocketeer.com/2010/05/5-job-search-time-wasters.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+CareerRocketeer+(Career+Rocketeer+|+The+Career+Search+and+Personal+Branding+Blog+) ).

I continue learning how to define my career goals, although I have very few possible careers the truth is that to pursue consistently a carrier I should have even fewer, but better. From the list of my current possibilities I have to study each of them understanding the pros and cons of each:

- Does my curriculum support properly my career goals?

- Do I have the right attitude for the job?

- What is the range of salaries for such a position?

- In which companies is this position available, are these companies interesting?

Defining very precisely your career goals represents a lot of work, but is mandatory. Also, do not forget to Benchmark ( i.e research and compare) Wetfeet Career Guide – Negotiating Salary Perks, gives you a strong insight about it.

Do not start looking for a job before having your goals well defined, it is a waste of time.

Talking about wasting time, to avoid it I strongly recommend you reading career racketeer post 5 job search wasters (http://www.careerrocketeer.com/2010/05/5-job-search-time-wasters.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+CareerRocketeer+(Career+Rocketeer+|+The+Career+Search+and+Personal+Branding+Blog+) ).

On September 2009, I have started a new journey, I started the LisbonMBA . So far, it has been a great experience that I sincerely recommend to those interested in management issues.

To know where to go is a good rule both for your life and your career, but sometimes things get foggy. So, I did a short list of interesting things I have learned during the first year of the MBA program and that are helping me in the definition of my career goals:

- Know yourself very well and get focused. Get focused on what you do the best and on what you like doing the most.

- Be trustworthy - Be honest with yourself and with others, be reliable, be fair; it looks simple but it is not, it requires effort and a lot of self-awareness.

- Your professional life does not end when you leave the office. Get informed, read and participate in forums about subjects that you are interested in.

- Build your own professional network and keep it alive. Chance may get you to know many people but you should choose those you want to have around, surround yourself with people from heterogeneous professions and environments and that most of all you admire.

- Do not get selected by a company, choose the company where you want to work. Some companies offer great conditions but have no career management; others are great companies but do not have a job description that suites your aspirations; others have a culture so different from your personality that you would not simply fit.

Finally, whatever you choose to do, remember to be happy because you will be doing it for a long time.