How to Write a Career Resolution for 2022

2022 is finally here! You may have set some personal goals for the new year, but what about your professional, career-related resolutions? Some of you may aim for a promotion in your current office, some may look forward to switching industries, while some others want to quit their full-time job and join the freelance gig altogether. All in all, everyone wants a better life in 2022. If you’re looking to join the bandwagon and craft your own resolution, here is a simple way to make one. 

Reflect on 2021

As the pandemic prolonged, 2021 was not an easy year for most people. So if you ever feel so, know that you are not alone. Rather than regretting things you did (or did not do) in 2021, it will be wiser to reflect upon it. The first step in defining professional objectives for the end of the year is to carefully consider 2021. You want to take a close look at how the year has gone, everything you've accomplished in the previous 12 months, and how everything has worked out in your career. 

The contemplation process may come during your end-of-year performance review, but even then, you should record the conclusions separately before setting new goals. This will help you understand what milestones to expect next and what is reasonable when it comes to creating professional objectives for the end of the year.

Think S.M.A.R.T 

In deciding what your major goal in 2022 is, try to use the S.M.A.R.T approach. S.M.A.R.T is an abbreviation for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, you have a degree in Journalism, but you are more interested in pursuing an IT job. Let’s try to break your situation down with the S.M.A.R.T approach.

• Specific

There are tons of IT jobs ranging from Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Back-end Developer, Front-end Developer, IT Support, Technical Writer, and so on. Be specific about what IT role you are pursuing, because different jobs have different skill set requirements. Is it something related to programming? Is it something less technical like UX writing and designing? If you need help on how these roles actually look, you can dive more into IT job reviews here.

• Measurable

Every objective should be measurable. A quantifiable objective allows you to track its development in order to stay motivated while making sure that your progress’ result can be evaluated frequently. This can come in schedules and targets, such as how your timeline will be, how many courses you are planning to take, how much each course will cost you, and so on. 

• Achievable

As a Journalism graduate, IT is most likely to be way out of your formal knowledge. Thus, you will have to learn from scratch in order to land an IT job. Frankly speaking, you may need quite a long time to master programming skills needed to be a Front-end or Back-end developer. Luckily, there are more measurable IT fields you can learn about, such as Technical Writing and UX designing or writing, that involve less programming knowledge. Make sure what you aim for is balanced between passion and capability.

• Relevant

Not all objectives are worth the expense. When defining end-of-year professional objectives, make sure they are meaningful to you and correlate with where you want to go in the future. If you are aiming for an IT job, make sure you are on the lookout for ones that are high in demand, so your employment opportunity is bigger. Be sure to check out on relevant IT jobs with many openings here.

• Time-bound

Your goal should be measurable enough, like whether it is in a few weeks or a few months. If you need to take some time to learn about an IT field you are interested in, set yourself a deadline; how long will it take to complete a full-course? When is your deadline to master a skill and craft a portfolio? 

Set Monthly Target

It is great to have one grand goal in your career for 2022, but it will be greater to also have small milestones for each month. Growth is not an instant process, so setting a monthly target will be a good way to start since you will get to achieve your grand goal step by step. It is as vital to keep track of your progress toward your objectives as it is to achieve them. When you track your progress, it becomes simpler to move on to new goals when you have already completed previous ones.

Taking things one month at a time helps you have clearer focus, making goals far more feasible than they would otherwise be. For example, you may spend a month developing better work habits and enhancing your productivity. Then, you may devote a month to learning something new. This is especially handy during slow seasons at work when you have more spare time. 

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