Job Search Goals

Job search goals are an important part of finding a great job. If you are going to conduct an effective job search, you have to know where you are headed and how you are going to get there. You cannot set out a job search quest looking for just anything. If you do, you will find yourself wandering through your job search wasting a lot of time and effort.

As if wasting time isn't bad enough, you will also find that employers will be quick to discover that you don't know what you want. It is unlikely that they will want to invest a lot of time and/or money into training you for a position if you aren't even sure you will like it.

Setting goals for your job search is the only way to stay focused on a specific path to success. Is it easy to determine your job goals? No, it's not always easy to decide what career field is the best one to target. It is important to give this thought, though. It is an inescapable part of searching for a job.

Job Search Goal Setting Helps You

When you target your job search campaign to: a) the employers who need your skills and can offer you the opportunities you are seeking, and, b) the jobs that fit with your skills and experience, you are more likely to achieve your job goals.

Your first set of job goals:

• Employment position - What kind of position are you seeking?
• Employer - What industry, company size, location, etc fits your objectives?

As you consider your future employment, there are secondary concerns that you need to focus on as well.

Your second set of job goals:

• • Salary
• • Schedule
• • Overtime
• • Benefits
• • Working environment
• • Vacation days
• • Commute

This means you may have to make some choices. Goals should be realistic and attainable. Keep this in mind when considering your expectations. The more criteria you establish for your next job, the fewer the opportunities that will meet those criteria. A good strategy is to write down all the conditions that you would like in a job, then categorize them as "required," "desired" and "optional."

If, during your job search, you find that you are not getting interviews, or that you are not finding jobs that meet your job search goals, you should reevaluate your criteria for employment.

When you know what you want, you have a much better chance of getting it.

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