How to Develop Career Goals

It has been said “When we fail to plan we become part of somebody elses.” Have you taken the time to develop written career goals? If not here is why you should do so immediately.

In the 1950’s a Yale University study did some research on the results of goal setting. The results they discovered over a 20 year period were astounding. 20 years later when they investigated the success of the graduates they found that the 3% of graduates with clearly written goals in the 1950’s were worth more in terms of wealth than the other 97% put together.

If you do not know where to get started in creating your career goals Cornell University has created a resource that details six key aspects, including:

1. Know yourself
2. Clarify interests
3. Assess values
4. Determine skills
5. Explore options
6. Develop preliminary goals

Developing Career Goals. [Cornell University]
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Career Hacker * www.careerhacker.com * Post: Bill Inman

Career Whack: See the Big Picture

 Everyone has daily success, stress, ups and downs in their job. Seeing through those issues and looking at the big picture will help you recognize opportunities, avoid repeating mistakes, and create positive new avenues in your career.

When facing challenging career issues ask yourself the following to See the Big Picture:

• What are your highest thoughts about your career (what is your ultimate career vision), does the current issue fit into that vision?
• Is the current issue taking you closer to your career goals or moving you farther away? (Do you have concrete career goals?)
• How can you use the issue to create:
  • Positive Results?
  • Company Profits?
  • Goodwill towards co-workers?
  • To get a raise?
  • New opportunities or a new job?
  • (to eliminate) politics in your job?
  • Clarify your career goals?
  • Take action!

Resources:

CreativeThink. [Roger von Oech]
The Magic of Thinking Big. [David J. Schwartz]
________________________________________ 
Career Hacker * www.careerhacker.com * Post: Bill Inman

Career Whack – Creative ideas for your career

Every week Careerhacker will post a Career Whack, combining career strategies with ‘Whacks’ from Roger von Oech. Roger von Oech is the author of A Whack on the Side of the Head and A Kick in the Pants and his Creative Whack Pack card deck is a great tool to produce spontaneous creative thoughts. A ‘Whack’ is one card from the Creative Whack Pack (which can be viewed here) which contain  Careerhacker recommends all of these resources for creative thinking when applied to improving your career.

 A Whack on the Side of the Head. [Roger von Oech]
www.creativethink.com
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Career Hacker * www.careerhacker.com * Post: Bill Inman

Macro View: Where the money and jobs were (1990), are (2005), and will be (2050)

The following slides illustrate the history and predictions on the global economy through 2050 [Presented by Spiegel Online with data sourced from Madison, IMF, and Goldman Sachs]. Click on any slide to display in a larger size.

The World in 2005
China has risen to the ranks of a global economic power and sets out on a course to surpass other nations in terms of economic might. Russia lags, India starts to develop, even if only gradually.

The World in 2050
The investment bank Goldman Sachs peers into the time machine: China has soared above the United States. Europe, once the motor of industrialization, has fallen markedly behind — even India is ahead. Resource rich Russia has reestablished itself as a global player.

Can You Reach $5M in the Bank with a $45K a year salary?

Financial freedom gives you more choices, like the choice to retire. But it seems ever elusive for most. Can a person go beyond simple financial security and save $5,000,000 within a 40 year career at a salary of $45,000  year?

 Theoretically:

• 37 year career
• $45,000 a year salary
• 25% of salary contributed to a 401k plan
• 6% company match
• 4% salary growth a year
• 10% annual return

Equals $5,000,000.

These may seem achievable (although the 25% savings plan may be high for most) and even likely for families who have a dual income and follow this plan. However, life’s suprises can become roadblocks in this plan. In any event, you can ‘improve your chances,’ as is outlined in the Money Magazine below, by:

1. Building a cushion
2. Not assuming your next egg’s value is locked in
3. Re-assessing your progress periodically

37 years. $5 million. What could go wrong?. [Money Magazine - Walter Updegrave]

Taking a Permanent Rest on the Way Up the Corporate Ladder

Have many employees lost their motivation to continue upward on the corporate ladder? Rather than feel the pressure of having to be more and do more many people are defining their success by their own terms.

 According to the Families and Work Institute 34% of women and 21% of men have ‘reduced their career aspirations’. However these people are not just going home and sitting on the couch most “take energy that had been focused on…the corporation and focusing it elsewhere.”

 However, there is corporate backlash to this attitude, as evidenced in mass layoffs. Metrics and performance benchmarks hold employees to corporate expectations and goals.

 Read (or listen to) more on this dichotomy at:

Plateuing: Redefining Success at Work. [Knowledge @ Wharton]

Great Ideas to Boost Your Career in What’s Left of 2006

How can you gain additional momentum in your career before 2006 comes to an end? One way is to create a larger career network and leverage the relationships you already have. Along these lines, Dave Lorenzo of Career Intensity Blog writes:

 ”There are less than 10 weeks left until 2007… Now is a good time to look at your goals and assess your progress [in your career]…Here are five things you can do to finish 2006 in strong fashion:

1. Dedicate 30 minutes each day between now and the end of the year to focus on little steps towards a big goal
2. Make one phone call to a former business associate each day
3. Write a hand written note to someone who was featured in an article in the newspaper
4. Make friends with someone in an elevator, on line at the supermarket or in the post office
5. Collect business cards

Five Things to Do Before the End of the Year. [Career Intensity Blog - Dave Lorenzo]

When You Start a New Job Don’t Do This

• 25% of all new hires don’t last a year
• 46% of all new hires don’t last 18 months
• 53% of all new managers and executives don’t last a year

Why? According to the authors of Sink or Swim and the website Hit the Ground Running:

• A large percentage of new employee are not told what they were hired to do or what their goals are.
• Usually employees are not told where to find the information they need, so they waste time ‘reinventing the wheel’.
• These new employees usually talk more than they listen.
• These employees often don’t deliver on the commitments they make.
• Employees often don’t play to their strengths.

Fatal Mistakes When Starting a New Job. [Fortune - Anne Fisher]

Also see www.hitthegroundrunning.com

Be a Leader in Your Field

If you want to be a leader in your business or personal life then I highly recommend visiting the following page. This page, by LeadershipNow, provides us with 40 links to web sites and resources that can help us be and build a community of leaders. If we committed only 5% of what is in these pages to memory then we could achieve the any business goal that we create.

Connections – Building a Community of Leaders. [LeadershipNow]

Also see The Art and Science of Leadership. [Donald Clark]

Open to a Moving? Find the Ideal Place Then the Job.

More and more Americans are looking at where they want to live first and who they want to work second. 66% of all 25-34 year olds have this mindset. Why are people open open to this, becaue they are seeking:

• Affordable Housing
• Access to Excellent Schools
• Cleanliness
• Parks and Green Space

Would you be happier by choosing the place you want to live first and then a company second? Read the entire study:

 Find your dream town, then a job. [Fortune, Anne Fisher]

Also see America’s Best Places to Live. [CNNMoney.com]

Top 5: Fort Collins, CO – Naperville, IL – Sugar Land, TX – Columbia, MD – Cary, NC.