Career Goals Essay: A Powerful Example to Set Your Future Plans

The question of future career is often a struggle to answer for students because of the uncertainties and variety of options. This article will clarify the career goals essay for you and make writing it easier by providing practical guidelines. You will also find a one-page career goals essay example that will help you set your future plans and define what to aspire to.

   What is a career goals essay and when you might need it?

There are several occasions when you might need to write a career goals essay. For instance, you might need to write:

• a career goals essay for scholarship
• career goals essay MBA
• professional career goals essay in high school or college

If you find writing a career goals essay challenging because you are not sure what exact plans you will pursue, it is not a problem – an essay is not set in stone and your plans can change over time. Focus on your current perception of your plans rather than try to come up with a detailed plan for the long term.

   Essay on career goals and aspirations

This type of career goals essay can be required to write in high school as well as college and its major goal is to determine whether you have understanding of the world outside the education system. In your essay, make sure to demonstrate that you understand how labor market works and what professions are currently in demand.

While preparing this type of an essay, you can research the most common professions and jobs, best jobs, in-demand jobs, and most popular jobs. Depending on the field where you would like to build your career, you can research the jobs as well as job descriptions and choose whichever suits your aspirations best.

Essay on career goals and aspirations should also demonstrate your understanding of your own abilities and interests. By all means, you can choose career path in any field where you can and want to work, however it is important that you understand which career path will help you achieve self-realization. If your passion is becoming a teacher because you genuinely enjoy sharing your knowledge with other people, feel free to share it in your essay.

   Career goals essay MBA

This type of essay requires clarity and honesty. It is important to demonstrate clear understanding of the role of MBA program in your future career and why exactly you are planning on pursuing it. There are three major elements in this type of a career goals essay, including

1. Role of MBA program
2. Future plans
3. Personal motivation and aspirations

In a career goals essay MBA, your goal is to explain connection among all three elements and provide an open and honest stance on your plans for the nearest future. You can also elaborate on short-term and long-term plans, however if they are unclear, honestly reveal only plans you are sure about.

   Professional career goals essay

This type of essay requires definite understanding of your profession and what you can achieve from pursuing it. Focus on the advantages you can receive from following a certain career path, such as the following:

• Personal gains – self-realization
• Continuous learning
• Stable financial position
• Social status
• Ability to travel, meet new people, etc.

Another crucial aspect of a professional career goals essay is to research possible career paths for certain jobs. While everyone’s career path is unique, there are many possibilities to progress in any field, so show that you are aware of them.

   Career goals essay writing guideline

If you don’t have clear understanding of your future career at least in the short term perspective, writing a career goals essay is very likely to give you anxiety.

Here is a clear guideline you can follow to write an excellent career goals essay.

Choose a career field you are interested in. If you find it difficult and have little knowledge of professions and professional requirements, try the following:

• Ask your parents and relatives about their careers, what they had to do for different jobs, and how they built their careers
• Ask your friends and neighbors about their careers and career goals
• Research career paths of successful people to find out where and how they started

Provide an overview of the industry. What are its growth perspectives for the nearest future?

Think about your own abilities and skills and determine how they will help you build a career in that specific field. Good at communication with people? That’s communication skills. Can spot a grammar mistake in a text within two seconds – that’s editing skills. Love to edit pictures in Adobe Photoshop? That’s retouching skills. Friends ask your advice on how to style an outfit and where to shop? That’s personal shopping skills. You are likely to end up with a longer list than you’ve expected.

Align your personal goals with the career path you want to follow.

Career goals essay is usually organized in three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.

• Introduction: provides a clear statement about the career you want to pursue and why you want to pursue it. You can include a statement on why you consider this field as a viable career option for you and the reasons why you made such decision.
• Body paragraph includes details about the career, job responsibilities, and specific plans and aspirations you want to pursue. You should demonstrate a concise understanding of the opportunities the chosen career will offer you in terms of career path and development. Make sure to include your own aspirations connected to this career and goals you would like to achieve.
• Conclusion summarizes the essay and includes its key points.

   Where to get inspiration for writing a career goals essay?

If you struggle where to start and define where you would like to apply your talents, then try the following tips of finding inspiration:

1. Research careers of successful people – you will be surprised to know where the mastermind of Starbucks Howard Schultz started his outstanding career path and how consistent Jeff Bezos was with his. Everyone starts somewhere, and examples of people who achieved success in their fields can be as inspiring as they can be informative for you
2. Investigate the fastest growing careers and careers in demand for the future – our society is transforming rapidly and so do careers. Who would have thought a decade ago that a “social media influencer” would be recognized as a viable career choice today?
3. Find out about careers of people you personally look up to – your parents, grandparents, or your personal role model. If you admire someone’s achievements, learn how they got where they are.

   Professional career goals essay example 

Confucius once said that “It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you don’t stop”. For me, this is the best possible guideline for my future career in film industry as a director. When people find out that film director is a career I want to pursue, they presume that I aspire for this job because it is considered privileged in film industry, however it is not entirely so. I want to pursue this career path because I have my own vision of what film industry should produce and strongly believe that my contribution will be valuable.

My interest in film directing occurred when I was in high school. I remember watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, in particular the scene where L. B. Jeffries tries to stop the intruder by blinding him with flash, and thinking how this scene is so tense using only mundane objects. I started my research and found out that props, costumes, music, lighting, and camera angles altogether invoke emotions in the audience and keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. As I continued my self-education, I was deeply impressed by films inspired by true stories, such as Catch me if You Can and Hacksaw Ridge. Therefore, I aspire to direct films based on true events and become a critically acclaimed film director.

As for my short-term goals, as soon as I complete my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in film and video production, I plan to secure a job in a production office. My goal is to learn the process from the inside and find out about the practical side of the process. I also consider the position of a runner on a film set as an acceptable entry position. While I learn more about the process of filmmaking, I will do research on true stories that would make an impressive plot for a film. At the moment, I have skills in screenwriting, which will help me write draft scripts. Within 3-5 years of my career, my goal is to perfect my skill of screenwriting and work on sets of films of different genres. My goal is to work with successful directors and learn their filmmaking styles and determine the factors that bring their films commercial success. As soon as I feel confident about my directing skills, my goal is to form a team of creative people who strive to pursue careers in filmmaking and create short films and documentaries. I consider working on short films a valuable experience and addon to my portfolio.

I believe that my short-term goals will help me achieve my long-term goal of becoming a critically acclaimed director and produce commercially successful films. While I recognize that this field is highly competitive, I am deeply convinced that hard work, dedication, and clear goals are the key for achieving my professional goals.