New Year Goal Setting
A new year is a great time for new goals. Sitting down to review what has happened in the past year, and what you would like to have happen is worthwhile. We go to the PCP each year to review our health history, and have an honest conversation about our health. This conversation should involve some candid vulnerability. In what ways have we been prioritizing our health? How could we maybe have done better?
Hopefully, if you do this yearly review, you are taking time to celebrate small wins. For instance, let’s say in 2023 you ate a can of pringles every day, then in 2024 you cut back to half a can. You have two choices - you can shame yourself for eating so many pringles OR you can pat yourself on the back for reducing pringle consumption.
And your career review should be similar. Perhaps you are starting 2025 not where you’d like to be from a career perspective. But hopefully you’ve made a bit of progress since the start of 2024. And I invite you to celebrate the steps you’ve taken, rather than fixate on the negative.
The first step to dealing with any problem is confronting it, and being honest about it. Sitting down to take stock of where you are and where you’d like to be is the most important step in moving to a new place that will bring you more fulfillment.
When setting new year’s goals for your career, it is important to remember what you can control. Of course, many people would like to set a goal of ‘get a higher paying job’ or ‘get a job with a manager who doesn’t make me want to pull my hair out.’ But you have no control over those things. However, setting a goal of submitting a set number of job applications each week, or connecting with a set number of people each week on Linkedin is highly attainable.
Here are some goals that are ‘low hanging fruit’ - easy things that you can do to set yourself up for success:
-Reach out to one new contact per week on LinkedIn
-Have 1 informational interview per month
-Apply for 5 jobs per week
-Research one new role or company per week.
Then, think about some long-term goals. Where do you want to be in 5 years, and what will that require? Is there further education or certification you can strive for? Are there volunteer opportunities that will put you in a room with the right people to meet these goals?
Will 2025 will be the year you go back to school? According to the BLS, higher levels of education truly translate to higher income. As you can see in the chart below, unemployment rates go down, and weekly income goes up in accordance with education.
The challenge of WHAT to pursue remains as big a mystery as HOW to pursue it. There is a crisis amongst young people with degrees in computer science. What promised to be the next booming field with unlimited opportunity has turned out, in fact, not to need the human capital that we may have thought would be required. The unemployment rate among new CS grads is 7.8%. This is one example of the fear many people face when thinking of going back to school – what if the degree isn’t worth it?
The best thing you can do is find an employer with a tuition assistance program, if going back to school is your dream. Eliminate the risk by shifting the cost away from your personal finances. As you can see in the chart above, it will be worth it.
