Did you ever take the time to stop and think, “What is my ultimate career goal?” It’s an open-ended question with tons of possible answers, but it will certainly force you to think about your career and where you are headed.
I am writing this post in response to a question that an engineer asked at one of my career advancement seminars. The question was something to the effect of, “How does my role fit into the big picture of the world?” What a great question! Unfortunately, the only person that can truly answer this question is the person that asked it, however I thought I would share how I would answer this question.
In attempting to answer this question, I would start by brainstorming on the first question I mentioned above, “What is my ultimate career goal?” Do you want to make a lot of money, be president of a company, work as little as possible and enjoy life outside of work as much as you can, own your own business, travel around the world during your career?
Next I would follow up that question with 3 letters, WHY? Why do you want to make a lot of money? Is it to support your family, is it so that you no longer have to work? Why do you want to travel, or better yet why wouldn’t you want to travel in your career?
Once you figure out your goal and why you want to achieve it, then it may be much easier to determine your role or purpose in the world.
My ultimate career goal is to help engineers and other professionals in unleashing possibilities to create a career that is exciting, enjoyable, successful and well-balanced. I plan to do so in a way that I can still fully enjoy my life with my family as well as an exciting, enjoyable, successful and well-balanced career!
I hope this post helps you to think about your big picture and start taking action today to paint that picture in whichever way brings you the most success and happiness!
We would love to hear any questions you might have or stories you might share on achieving your ultimate career goal.
Please leave your comments, feedback or questions in the section below.
To your success,
Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success
