英文版本，请见下方。

无论何时我给别人提职业规划建议，我首先要做的都是去了解他们基本的职业目标，问他们“你希望xx年之后自己能有什么样的成就”，因为这个答案会帮助他们决定职业方向和需要考虑的职业决定。

 职业目标没有对错之分

事实上，决定职业目标应该是你职业规划和发展中最简单的一个环节，因为这没有对错之分，全看个人选择。比如，有人告诉我，他们想要承担更多的责任或更具挑战性的角色，或从事于某一特定行业或职业。有人追求工作和生活之间更好的平衡，或一个更让人满意的工作。也有人追求工作头衔。许多人会直说他们的职业目标是挣很多钱。这个目标也并没有错，因为坦白说我不知道人们会如何使用他们的钱，我所知道的就是他们也许会拿钱投入慈善共走，或是照顾他们日渐年迈的双亲，或把他们的孩子送进更好的学校。所以，我从不评判或指责他人的职业目标。

从抱负远大程度，施展余地和时间花费角度来说，职业目标之间可以有很大的不同。它们可以是近期的，即你想在1—2年内实现，比如升职到可以领导他人的职位；也可以是中期的能在3-5年内实现的目标，比如进入一个完全不同的职业领域，或者做亚太地区负责人；抑或是长期的需要5-10年的时间来实现的目标，比如成为某跨国公司的部门主观，或是成为负责各方面运营的经理。

如果你想要沿着自己目前的职业轨道行进的话，那么最简单的职业目标可以是在这一事业更高层次的角色扮演。所以如果你现在是一个销售经理的助理，那么你的下一个目标可以使成为销售经理。如果你是供应链经理，那你的下个目标可以是供应链高级经理或者供应链总监

 一个普适的准则—变得足够优秀

当你在做计划时，你可以先在心里定个目标，即使只是一个大概的目标，这点会很有帮助。同样地，这也适用于职业规划。但是如果你脑中没有一个清晰的职业目标，或者你描绘不出自己的职业蓝图时，那你可以尝试为自己进行角色定位，定位一个你从开始就喜欢的角色。

比如你喜欢和人打交道，那么在什么职位上你能用上这项爱好呢？你是喜欢管理别人么还是做一个辅助者？你是喜欢和客户打交道还是喜欢内部运营工作？你是喜欢分析类的工作还是更倾向于执行类的工作？你是喜欢出新创意开拓新机遇，还是喜欢致力于促进目前进程和提升当下状况的?根据这些回答，你可以大概定下自己最想从事的职业。由此，你可以更进一步去挖掘哪些工作和职业与这些任务有关。

一个主管曾说，即使脑海中还没有具体的目标，他还是能为自己的职业做出正确选择。“很多人能规划出他们职业生涯中下一步，但是那对我不适用”他说，“不过我还是对我的职业兴趣有足够的了解的。因而我可以找出那些能帮助我提升能力和进步的境遇，由此，获得更多利于我在此道路上发展的机会。

 即使只有一个模糊的目标也好过没有目标

总的来说，你对自己未来的角色定位或职业目标越明确，你在努力逐梦过程中也能越专注。因此，无论确定什么目标，无论这个目标有多模糊，也好过没有任何目标。如果没有目标，你现在的努力很难对你自身的发展和你的成功之路起到任何作用。

我告诉应试者要牢记在心中的是职业目标对他们越有吸引力（比如，为一家大公司或为优秀的人工作，或是升值，或是得到一个有趣或高报酬的工作等），那么他们在实现目标过程中所要面对的竞争也越大。换句话说，这些目标同样也吸引着别人。因此，一旦你确定职业目标，你需要全心全意地投入和付出大量的努力，去估量并找出为实现这个目标你需要提升的自我能力。

How To Determine Your Career Objective

Whenever I go through the process of giving career advice to others, the first thing I try to get a sense of is their basic career objective by asking them, “Where do you hope to see yourself xx years from now?”  The answer helps you to determine the kind of career moves make and career decisions you should consider.

No Right or Wrong Career Objectives

Actually, determining a career objective should be the easiest part of your career planning and development process since there’s really no right or wrong ones, since they’re entirely personal.  For instance, some tell me they want more responsibility or a more challenging role, or to work in a certain industry or function.  Some want better work/life balance, or a more satisfying job.  Some pursue job titles. Many just say outright that they want to make a lot of money. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing money as an objective, because frankly, I have no idea what people choose to do with their money.  For all I know, they may want it to give to charity, take care of their parents as they get older, or send their kid to a better school.  As a result, I never judge or criticize the career objectives of others.

Your career objectives can also vary greatly in their degree of ambition, scope, and time to achieve.  They can be more immediate ones you hope to achieve in 1-2 years, like a promotion to the next level or a role where you can lead others.  They can be mid-term ones that may take 3-5 years, like making a move into a completely different job function or industry, or pursuing a role that involves handling Asia Pacific responsibilities.  Or they can be long-term ones that may not happen for another 5-10 years, like becoming a department head in a global company or someday running all aspects of a business in a general management role.

If you see yourself continuing along the line of your current function then the easiest objective for you to identify is the next-level role for your career track.  So if you’re currently an assistant marketing manager then the next move for you is to become a marketing manager.  Or if you’re a supply chain manager then your next step would be a senior supply chain manager or supply chain director.

A General Direction Is Good Enough

When trying to make any kind of plan, it helps to begin with an objective in mind, even if it’s just a general one.  That’s the same when it comes to your career planning.  But if you don’t have a clear career objective in mind or aren’t able to picture a future role for yourself, then just try to identify a type of role that’s attractive to you first.

For example, if you like working with people, then in what capacity do you enjoy doing this?  Do you like to manage others or are you happier in more of a supporting role?  Do you like interfacing with clients, or do you prefer internal operations work?  Do you enjoy analytical or more execution-oriented jobs in nature?  Or do you prefer being involved in developing new ideas and opportunities, or in improving existing processes and situations?  Based on the answers you come up with you can get a basic sense of the kind of things you like doing most.  From this, you can then start to identify the type of job functions and roles that revolve around these kinds of tasks.

Even without having specific objectives in mind, one executive says he’s always been able to make good choices for his career.  “Many people are able to figure out the next step in their career, but that’s never worked for me,” he says.  “However, I do always have a good idea of what my career interests are.  From those, I’m able to identify situations that help me build the capabilities and achievements that will create greater opportunities for me later on in that general direction.”

Even A Vague Objective Is Better Than No Objective

Overall, the stronger your sense of a future role or career objective, the more focused you can be in your efforts to pursue and achieve it.  As a result, identifying any objective, no matter how vague, is better than not having one at all.  Without one, your current efforts will have much less of an impact towards your development and achieving your success.

The only thing I tell candidates to keep in mind regarding a career objective is that the more attractive one is (e.g. work for a great company, work w/excellent people, get promoted, get into a fun/interesting/well-paying job, etc.), then the more competitive the situation will be to attain that objective.  In other words, it’s also attractive to many others too.  Therefore, once you’re able to identify a career objective, you then need to focus your full attention and effort towards assessing and figuring out how to increase your ability to capture it.

（责任编辑：职场达人）