Having a clear picture of who you are and what you want to do is at the heart of any job search. Yogi Berra said it best when he said, “You gotta be careful if you don’t know where you’re going because you might not get there”.
Developing a career vision can be a terrific way to focus your job search efforts. A career vision is a statement about what you’ll be doing at some specific time in the future; say, five years. What kind of job will you have? How will you spend your day? Will you be going to an office? Working from home?
Spent some time thinking about how you’d like to live and work. Now it’s time to write down your thoughts.
Tip: Write your career vision in as much detail as possible. The more detailed the more real your vision will become.
Here is an example of Paul’s career vision:
“In five years I’ll be a consultant with clients in the transportation, warehousing and manufacturing industries. My projects will include distribution, logistics and supply chain management. I’ll work from my home office and will have 1,500 billable hours a year. My clients will be nation-wide and I’ll travel over 50% of the time. When I’m ready to retire I’ll sell my business to a national consulting firm.”
Remember, you need to really focus during a job search. Having a detailed, realistic career vision is a way to concentrate your energy and achieve your objective.
