They can be anything from your career choice to where you want to be in your career in a certain number of years. A career goal is identifying in which fields and occupations you want to spend your working life. Setting a goal will help you define what you want to achieve in a more specific way.

Here are a few examples of career goals:

• I want to be a medical assistant and work in hospitals

• I want to be a welder and work in construction

• I want to be a graphic designer and have my own company

Based on the research and thinking you have done previously, write your career goal. It could be short term, anywhere from tomorrow to six months from now, longer term 2 - 5 years, or a lifetime goal. Then, the action plan will define some stepping stones to get where you want to go.

Regardless of the kind of goal, developing an action plan will often make the difference between moving forward and stalling. There are a lot of examples showing that those who develop and record a concrete plan for reaching a goal are much more likely to attain it.