{"id":29117,"date":"2023-02-04T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T15:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=29117"},"modified":"2023-02-06T11:07:59","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T16:07:59","slug":"setting-realistic-and-reasonable-career-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/setting-realistic-and-reasonable-career-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting Realistic and Reasonable Career Goals\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This post was written by mbaMission resident Career Coach\u00a0<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/who-we-are\/team\/elissa-harris\/\"><b><i>Elissa Harris<\/i><\/b><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To sign up for a free 30-minute career consultation with Elissa, please<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/consult\/career-coaching\/\"><b><i>click here<\/i><\/b><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifying the right career path for you requires time to reflect and research\u2014and then reflect again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking at your career goal, can you answer \u201cyes\u201d to each of the following questions? If so, mbaMission\u2019s experience indicates that your career goal is likely to be a realistic one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have you demonstrated passion and a foundation for your career goal (e.g., relevant functional\/industry experience, exposure, or knowledge)?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you have a clear understanding of the role (e.g., qualifications, tasks, responsibilities, outcomes) and the recruiting process for it?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you have evidence of relevant and transferable skills for the role as well as required educational pedigree (e.g., undergraduate major, GMAT, GPA) and\/or experience in similar work environments on your resume?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are there available jobs in your target area? Do many companies hire for your target role?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does your target MBA program have resources (through the career center or student clubs\/conferences) and academic courses available to support your area of interest?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are stuck with respect to identifying a career goal, we recommend reviewing your interests, evaluating your skills\/background, and assessing the marketplace realities. As you can imagine, admissions committees and recruiters want candidates who will be successful within their organizations\u2014those who demonstrate that they really want to be there and who articulate how they will contribute.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although uncovering your target career path can be time-consuming and iterative, having a structured approach will make the process easier and more productive. To get started, try the following steps:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Ask yourself the following questions (and write down the answers, so you can go back and identify themes):<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why did you go into industry X? Has it met your expectations? Why or why not?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is the work culture like in your current role? In past roles? Do\/did you like or dislike it?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What words describe you at your best? What compliments do you hear most often?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes you feel valued at work? Why?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do you really love to do at work? What really drains\/frustrates you at work?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What articles do you stop and read in the\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0(or other business publications)?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Deepen your knowledge about potential MBA career paths.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Review the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.mbamission.com\/collections\/career-guides\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mbaMission Career Guides<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Read target job descriptions on LinkedIn.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify post-MBA opportunities for people with backgrounds similar to yours.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talk with three to five people who work in roles of interest to you.\u00a0Be thoughtful about the types of questions you ask; make sure you are gathering information to determine your potential fit with the role.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Synthesize your reflections and research to confirm or redirect your career goal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bottom line: The insights you obtain from following these steps can help you develop an authentic and compelling story through which you can connect your experiences to your career goal.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post was written by mbaMission resident Career Coach\u00a0Elissa Harris. To sign up for a free 30-minute career consultation with Elissa, please\u00a0click here. Identifying the right career path for you requires time to reflect and research\u2014and then reflect again.\u00a0 Looking at your career goal, can you answer \u201cyes\u201d to each of the following questions? If &hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/setting-realistic-and-reasonable-career-goals\/\">Read&nbsp;More&nbsp;&nbsp;<i class=\"fal fa-sm fa-angle-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-advice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Setting Realistic and Reasonable Career Goals\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking at your career goals, can you answer \u201cyes\u201d to each of the following questions? If so, your career goals are likely to be realistic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/setting-realistic-and-reasonable-career-goals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Setting Realistic and Reasonable Career Goals\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking at your career goals, can you answer \u201cyes\u201d to each of the following questions? 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