What are professional objectives? Definition and examples
Professional objectives are goals that an individual sets for themselves in order to progress in their career.
These objectives may focus on different aspects of professional development plan, such as gaining new skills or qualifications, taking on a leadership role, or increasing one’s earning potential.
It is important to set these objectives for yourself so that you have certain milestones to aim for and measure your personal growth goals progress against.
Read on to learn not only what they are, but how they come to be defined and general examples that will help you identify your own.
Written by
- Redaction Team
- February 6, 2023
- Professional Career, Professional Development
Table of Contents
Definition of professional objectives
When we talk about professional objectives we are referring to where we want to get to within the professional environment.
They are set with the intention of setting our course for the future, both professionally and personally.
Not many people know this, but once we set a goal we help ourselves to find the profession that best suits our interests, as well as to plan a training, interpersonal skills and career path that will help us to achieve them.
However, how to find our professional objective is not necessarily simple.
In order to do so, it is necessary to carry out a personal analysis and an analysis of the environment that surrounds us.
Today we find a wide variety of professions, and we must be sure that many more will appear in our future, so it is important that we are able to investigate and analyze all the opportunities now and in the future.
It is only through the analysis of these opportunities that we as individuals will be able to find the profession that best responds to our interests and aptitudes, thus achieving success in our professional and personal life.
Professional Objective Examples
We will comment briefly on those key aspects that help build career goals below, which fall into the following general categories:
Self-knowledge
The definition of a professional objective always starts from self-knowledge, and to achieve it it is important that we know what are our own:
Competencies. These are the knowledge and skills that we possess and that we may have acquired through studies, work experience, as well as non-formal activities.
Professional values. These are the significant aspects of a job for oneself, such as job stability, the performance of creative functions, or flexible working hours, to mention a few examples.
Professional interests. It encompasses everything we like to do, regardless of whether it is a creative, intellectual, physical, or any other kind of activity.
Personal characteristics. There are a number of personality traits that can favor the exercise of professions. You should ask yourself how you are and make a list of all those that define you.
Job knowledge
Now that we have defined your profile, the second phase of how to create your professional goals goes hand in hand with researching the jobs that most attract us, as well as those that best suit our characteristics.
For each of the options that are of interest to you, you can start by finding out:
What the job consists of. That is, what activities, functions and responsibilities you will have.
What academic degree is necessary to perform the job, and what work experience is required to be in the position.
What professional competencies and transferable skills are required.
What the job offers you, evaluating the general working conditions, the salary level, the professional development opportunities it provides, whether it offers continuing education, among other aspects.
Professional opportunities, investigating how many vacancies for that position exist in the market and what is the level of competition that can be expected (i.e., how many candidates can there be for the same job).
Where you can get a job within the profession.
How you might succeed in a job interview for the position you are interested in.
Examples of career objectives
The examples of professional objectives that we will give you are not oriented towards any specific position, with the intention that you have the freedom to define yours in a general way and not thinking about the interests of a company.
An important point that we have not mentioned so far is that you also have the possibility of defining your objectives in three different time frames: short term, medium term and long term.
If you know how to identify between each of them you will surely be able to not only define your goals correctly, but also have the satisfaction of fulfilling them and, in turn, understand how they all connect according to your interests.
Examples of short-term career goals
Examples of short-term career goals need not be complex, and are basically those that are expected to be accomplished from the time they are defined to one year.
Perhaps one of the following list can help you identify yours:
- Learn a new skill.
- Learn a new technique.
- Learn a new language.
- Learn to speak in public.
- Improve my networking skills.
- Increase my productivity.
- Become a more efficient person.
- Get a job in my dream company.
- Gain practical experience in my field.
Examples of medium-term career goals
We do not always have to achieve them in a year or two, but they are goals that we can set in a little more time and that we can start working on as soon as we set them.
Examples of medium-term professional goals would be as follows:
- Increase my work-life balance.
- To become a mentor.
- Become a teacher in my field.
Examples of long-term career goals
Now we are talking about ambitious plans, and over the years you are expected to be able to achieve success in all the objectives you have previously set, making way for the most important goals.
As examples of long-term professional goals you can propose:
- Obtain a new degree.
- Start my own business.
- Stop working office hours.
- Get a promotion.
- Get a raise.
- Change careers.
- Become an opinion leader.
- Build a following on social media.
- Develop a strong network of contacts.
- Win an award in my field.
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