How can you set and achieve your long-term career goals? Tips & examples

Setting long-term goals is how professionals create a direction that they want to move toward throughout their careers. Goal setting goes beyond just thinking about your future, it invites you to hold yourself accountable as you pursue it. Writing goals effectively is an important step in making them achievable. Use these tips and examples of long-term career goals to make sure you keep moving in the right direction. 

In this article we’ll discuss:

• What long-term goals are and why they are recommended.

• Examples of long-term goals that apply to your career. 

• How to follow through on long-term goals.

Why long-term goals matter

Long-term career goals provide more benefits than simply checking off achievements, they can also help overcome burnout. Not all positions in the workforce will continue to be exciting year after year. Setting goals for yourself is one way to stay motivated. Perhaps your work isn’t becoming more challenging, but you can still find ways to challenge yourself. Doing so will lead to feelings of fulfillment at work, which can feed an overall sense of life purpose. 

What's the difference between short-term and long-term goals?

The only true difference between short-term and long-term goals is the length of time spent achieving them. Short-term goals typically represent the next one to three years and often even more specific deadlines, like by the next week, month, or quarter. Long-term goals represent a feat that will likely take over five years to achieve. 

Beyond that, the difference between short-term and long-term goals depends on the circumstance. However, it’s often thought of as short-term goals relate to the position you currently have, whereas long-term goals relate to your career as a whole. 

When you think of long-term goals, try picturing yourself at the peak of your career. What’s your impact, what’s the environment of your work, and who are you interacting with? Answering these questions will give you a jumping-off point for developing your long-term career goals. 

Make sure you’re remaining professional by preparing goals ahead of time. Check them and ask yourself if you are adding personal touches. For the most part, you want to keep your professional goals strictly relevant to the company.

Nine examples of long-term career goals

Every person will have their own unique professional goals, and  a lot of those goals can be grouped together. Review this list of popular themes for long-term career goals and see if one stands out to you: 

1. For promotions - It’s natural to want to move up in the hierarchy throughout your career. Knowing what position you’re aiming for will help you figure out appropriate checkpoints that are specific to that route. Employers love to see it too, because it signifies that you want to grow with the company and learn as much as you can about the process. 

2. For leadership - Leadership is a blanket term that encompasses professional skills such as communication, empathy, and conflict management. Developing your leadership skills is essentially working towards mastering all of these elements. Many workplaces view these as valuable skills relating to leadership because they improve your ability to work with others. Leadership positions often involve managing personnel. Being able to do so in a thoughtful and self-regulated way will propel you toward more people-management opportunities.  

3. To reach a certain title - A lot of people have a title in mind that, once obtained, would indicate having reached the height of their career. The most glorified of these are positions like CEO, COO, CFO, president, or director. But in reality, any title you hope to reach counts towards a goal.  You can have a long-term goal of staying in your current position too. If you love what you do and don’t want to move away from it, set your goal of keeping up with the expectations you already operate with. 

4. To implement a new process or strategy - For innovative minds, a common goal is to increase efficiency. After you’ve been working with the process for a while, feel empowered to make suggestions to increase production or efficiency of operations. Create a rough idea of the achievements you hope to gain as a result of your new process, highlighting numbers as much as possible. Then ask your supervisor for a meeting. In it, share the ideas on how to improve pain points. Comment about how you’d like to sit in on think tanks in the future, and that you’re interested in learning how to work up to that. 

5. For product design - Perhaps, after a while of working on the development team of your company, you have started to make some sample designs on the side. Showing them to your supervisor is a great way to show commitment to the company. But be prepared that once you open up a design to your current employer, you are inviting them to become the owners of that idea. Develop a plan to maintain your management of the project by sending an email ahead of time.

6. For publishing research - A common goal of anyone who works in the sciences, writing, education, and the medical field, is to be able to publish their own research on a subject. Research can take years to compile. If your long-term career goal involves publishing research, be sure to begin the process 5-10 years before your end goal. 

7. For international travel - There are many positions and industries that support international travel. It’s even common for companies to seek out a candidate specifically because of their desire for international travel and relocation.  Education, healthcare, business, and nonprofits are all industries that regularly offer opportunities for international employment. One adventurous way to approach this is to leave your current job, go travel, and see what kind of opportunities present themselves to you. 

8. For going back to school - For those interested in continuing their education throughout their career, your long-term goal can be to obtain a degree, or it can be to complete professional certification courses. A lot of larger companies will consider providing tuition reimbursement. However, it’s not always offered upfront. When you mention your education goal during an interview, that’s a great time to also ask about the company’s tuition reimbursement policy. If you are told that one exists, you will likely need to learn more about it through the company’s HR department. 

9. For changing a career - Exploring the workforce is an exciting prospect for many professionals. Whether it’s driven by increasing your salary, changing industries, or pursuing personal growth, career changes can help anyone align their personal goals with their professional goals. Again, planning it ahead of time will make your transition smooth. 

If you’re preparing for an interview, it’s a good idea to write out goals beforehand using this method. Doing so will help you come off as concise and intentional. 

How to follow through on long-term goals

The best tip for following through on your long-term career goals is to set check-ins with yourself. Ask yourself ahead of time what you’ll do if you realize you aren’t on the right track. Make a list of questions that you answer during every check-in to help monitor your growth. And don’t forget to celebrate yourself every time you do realize you’ve achieved a goal.

Key takeaways

1. Career goals are unique to every professional. Make your goals specific to what you want out of a career.

2. Setting a long-term, SMART career goal is how you can feel fulfilled in work and life.

Set and achieve your long-term career goals by checking in with yourself regularly to assess your growth.