6. Other Factors
There are other elements you can place in your career
objective. These are important to identify and include
limits, conditions, or personal criteria which would
aect your work situation.
By establishing these factors, you can further
focus on communicating your goals to employers.
However, you may wish to limit the extent you detail
these types of factors in your career objective. Being
too narrowly focused may cause you to overlook
potentially satisfying employment options.
Examples:
“To work outdoors in a supervisory capacity for the
United States Forest Service.”
“To obtain a secondary teaching position in the
southeast United States.”
“To work in law enforcement and pursue additional
specialized training in forensics.”
Other factors might include:
6a. Populations
Populations are the people with whom you work.
They could be your colleagues, but generally,
population as a career objective refers to the clients or
customers of your products or services.
Examples:
“To work with elderly individuals in the eld of
recreational therapy.”
“To design programs for children with disabilities.”
6b. Goals
Short-term goals are goals you wish to achieve
immediately. Identifying short-term goals helps you
focus on where to begin your professional career.
Also, they help you identify next steps in your job
search.
Examples:
“To obtain an entry level position of Weather Observer.”
Long-term goals are goals you wish to achieve in 5 to
10 years. Having long-term goals can be benecial to
you in two main ways:
1. Many organizations have stang plans regarding
where they want their employees to be in the
organization in the future. By having a plan, you
and the employer can evaluate if there is a match
with respect to where you may start, advance,
and nish in a given time period.
2. In our society, jobs are constantly changing.
As you work, it is likely that opportunities and
problems will occur. Long-term goals give you
a yardstick to evaluate the situation and make
decisions.
Example:
“To begin employment in a beverage management
position which provides opportunities for advancement
to a policy-making position in the organization.”
How Do I Choose Among the Elements?
As you review the information included in the
Creating a Career Objective Guide, think about the
elements you wish to include in your own career
objective. Keep in mind elements that may be useful
in other job search activities, such as interviewing or
negotiating oers.
For your wrien career objective, choose at least one
element but no more than three or your objective
may be too lengthy. You may want to have dierent
career objectives for dierent career options you are
considering. The key is to use elements that match
your goals.
How Good is My Career Objective?
Career objectives can be:
• Personal
• Commitment-oriented
• Action-oriented
• Directional
• Specic
Brainstorm possible elements of your career
objective. If you have diculty writing your
objective, drop in to the Career Center and ask a
career advisor for help developing your objective.
850.644.6431 • career.fsu.edu
Alternative format available.
Revised 9/13.