Goal-setting is the second stage of the My5YP cycle and builds on your self-assessment. In this stage, you should reflect on your long-term aims for the future, and set some short-term goals that will help you achieve them. You will then be able to define some key objectives for the next 12 months. In the Self-assessment stage, you have examined where you are at in relation to the Graduate Attributes, this self-assessment should inform your thinking during the goal setting stage as well.
Stop and Reflect:
practice some goal setting! As you are only just being introduced to the concept of five year planning, let’s start with a shorter period of time, and think about what you want to have achieved by the end of your first year at university. You might want to make note on the attributes you identified as needing further development, and also you can use the questions below to guide your thinking:
What do you expect to have Learned in relation to your course? (e.g. is there a particular knowledge from the course you are interested in or an academic skill?)
Do you have personal development aims? What are they? (e.g. I would like to run a marathon; I would like to be more assertive)
Do you have a specific questions about possible careers that you want to have answers to or work experience you want to engage with by the end of your first year? (e.g. I’d like to know what professions I can do with my degree.)
Are there any social issues you are passionate about and would like to get involved with? If so, what are they? (e.g. I really care about education, and would like to mentor young people)
Once you have considered the questions above, define three goals for your personal and professional development for the next year:
1.
2.
3.
Note:
If you would like to explore career options that might match your ambitions, personality and skills, the links below provide a questionnaire and provide career suggestions based on the results:
National Careers Service
Prospects Career Planner
This link gives you an overview of skills shortages we currently have in the UK, which you can consider when choosing a career.
Stop and Reflect:
Now that you have set some short term goals for the year ahead, let’s break those down further into clear SMART objectives. You should have at least a couple of objectives for each short-term goal.
Use the SMART tool to make sure your goals are as helpful as they can be to aid your planning:
Specific: What exactly will you accomplish?
Measurable: How will you know when you’ve reached this goal?
Achievable: Is achieving this goal realistic with effort and commitment? Have you got the resources to achieve this goal? If not, how will you get them?
Relevant: Why is this goal significant to your development
Time-framed: When will you achieve this goal?
Important!:
<strong>Use the SMART tool to make sure your goals are as helpful as they can be to aid your planning: <br><br>Specific: What exactly will you accomplish? <br><br>Measurable: <em>How will you know when you’ve reached this goal?</em> <br><br>Achievable: <em>Is achieving this goal realistic with effort and commitment? Have you got the resources to achieve this goal? If not, how will you get them?</em> <br><br>Relevant: <em>Why is this goal significant to your development</em> <br><br>Time-framed: <em>When will you achieve this goal?</em> <br></strong>
Use the SMART tool to make sure your goals are as helpful as they can be to aid your planning:
Specific: What exactly will you accomplish?
Measurable: How will you know when you’ve reached this goal?
Achievable: Is achieving this goal realistic with effort and commitment? Have you got the resources to achieve this goal? If not, how will you get them?
Relevant: Why is this goal significant to your development
Time-framed: When will you achieve this goal?
| Short-Term Goals | SMART Objectives |
| develop my critical thinking skills | Book onto an Academic Skills workshop on critical thinking, to develop my ‘divergent thinking’ skills, by end of December 2021 |
| get teaching experience | Book an appointment with an MMU Careers Advisor, to discuss how I can get teaching experience during my undergraduate studies, by the end of January 2021 |