Identify your desired job titles, and financial goals 3 months, 18 months, and 5

Question

Identify your desired job titles, and financial goals 3 months, 18 months, and 5 years from now and you have compared your desired salary to the average salary for these titles, you can figure out whether your financial and career goals are a "match."

Begin by writing a paragraph on each of your three goals. Give details of each goal including (1) Why you have decided to set this goal, (2) How you plan to accomplish it, and (3) How you will know that you have accomplished this goal, (4) the date upon which this goal will be complete, and (5) the weekly or monthly steps you will take toward the goal. Each of your paragraphs should be 5 - 7 sentences in length.

Next, write a brief reflection (8 - 10 sentences) on whether your career goals are in alignment with your financial goals. Be honest with yourself! If there is a big difference between your financial goal and the average salary for your job title, then your goals are NOT in alignment.

If they are in alignment, then great! Tell us what your plan is for continuing to work toward those career goals you have set.

If they are not in alignment, then tell us how you plan to adjust:

Will you lower your financial expectations? If so, then explain why it's worth it to you. (For example, you could write, "I love animals so much that I am willing to adjust to a lower salary if it means I can be a veterinary technician.")

Will you adjust your career goals? If so, how? (For example, you could write, "I will research other jobs that involve animals, but have a higher salary than a veterinary technician.")

Explanation / Answer

On a thorough analysis of my skills, it is found that I am analytical in nature and would love to build a career in analytics. Therefore, my desired job titles would be Research Analyst, Senior Research Analyst and a Business Analyst or a Consultant kind of roles.

Financial and Career goals – Three months

Once when I complete my studies, I would work hard to secure a job as a Research Analyst (Trainee) in a growing company. It could be a start-up or an established company. Since this is my first job, my priority would be to gain experience on various skills and tasks required for the job rather than monitory benefits. Upon completing training for a period of three months, I would become a Research Analyst.

However, I have set financial goal which is the average pay in the industry. Hence in this stage my financial and career goals are a match. The salary that I expect in this stage is in the range of USD 50,000 – USD 62,000. The average industry salary for this profile is USD 54,000. Therefore, my financial and career goals are a match in the initial stage of my career. I would devote around 35-40 hours per week for achieving my goals. The daily break-up of learning skills would be 7-8 hours.

The starting date of this goal is April 1st 2018 and the end date would be July 1st, 2018.

Why this goal?

I have set this goal because I want to become a Career which is rewarding and growing. If such a goal is set for three months, this would back-up my growth in my career in the succeeding years.

I plan to accomplish this goal my updating my skills and knowledge in Research and Analytics. The essential qualifications of the job would be a bachelor degree in research and statistics or business management. In addition to this, the job requires knowledge of statistical techniques like SAS. Therefore, I would be learning the statistical package SAS. I would also enquire about the job descriptions of a Research Analyst profile for various companies and identify various basic skills they demand and update those skills. This would make me competitive enough to achieve my goal.

In order to update the skills, I would join a coaching center to get training trained in these skills along with self-training. Once I am successful to secure a Research Analyst job in a company, and is quite familiar in all these aspects, I would conclude that I have accomplished this goal.

Financial and career goals- Eighteen months

In the next eighteen months, my career goals would be to perform according to the expectations of the company. Now I am familiar will tools and my skills are improving day-by-day and I am gaining more experience. The company would have a performance appraisal process in every six months and I would have completed three performance appraisal process at the eighteen months.

Hence my career goals, would be to give a satisfactory performance meeting the requirements of key performance indicators of the job. The key performance indicators of a Junior Research Analyst would be quick learning, problem solving. Also, (s)he should be an individual and team performer. Hence, by the end of eighteen months I would gain a considerable expertise on various skills required for the Research Analyst profile. This would be my career goal for the next eighteen months. For updating the skills, I would contribute around 25-30 hours per week and the daily break-up would be 3-4 hours.

I expect to get an excellent rating during my appraisals and expect a seven to fifteen percent salary hike. It would depend on various criteria and also on the company types like small, medium and big, start-ups, established etc.

Since I would have gained a minimal experience of eighteen months, I would compromise a bit on the salary increment. However, there is a possibility that my career and financial goals may not match in this stage, as some of the companies do not provide the deserved salary hike to performing employees. In such cases, I would try to improve my skills or may look for better opportunities in other companies which provide a better career progression and platform to develop my career. However, I would migrate to another company only after the completion of at least two years in the company. The average salary of a Senior Research Analyst in US is USD 75,000 to USD 78,000. However, I expect to get at least USD 68,000 to USD 72,000 by the end of eighteen years.

I would know that I have achieved my goal, when I get an increment on my pay or when I would be presented with other rewards for my performance. I would be on the career path to a Senior Research Analyst.

The starting date of this goal would be 1st July 2018 and end date would be 1st January 2019.

Financial and Career goals- Five Years

In five years, I would be an expert in the area of Research and Analytics. Upon gaining substantial amount of industry experience, I would have established in my area. I would be adept in a number of skills including the most trending Artificial Intelligence. I would be a Senior Research Analyst, Business Analyst or a Consultant in an established or a Fortune 500 company.

My financial goal in this stage would be to earn an annual salary of USD 1 Lakh-1.5 Lakh/annum. I have decided to set this goals as it would boost my career and give me a satisfying and rewarding position in my career path, meeting my skills and ambitions. I plan to accomplish this goal by being a continuous learner updating my knowledge and skills in Research and Analytics. I would devote at least 10-15 hours every week to update new skills and knowledge. I would be broken to 1- 2 hours per day. I would have accomplished this goal when I see myself a Senior Research Analyst/Business Analyst or Consultant.

The due date of this goal would be 1st April 2023.

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