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VOLUME XIl, NUMBER 12

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WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

 

The ABCs of Student Goal Setting

Frequently, students have asked me to help them
construct a career plan or even serve as a career mentor.
| am aware that career planning requires students to set
clear, measurable, achievable goals; and for many
students, this would be a new experience. Hence, the
time required to provide this help could pose a major
logistical problem.

With the amount of material to cover in classes these
days, periods do not allow much creative time for
developing individual career plans. Class periods or
advisement time, of an hour or less, limit the amount of
time to complete a task as definitively creative and
typically unique as designing a sct of carcer goals for a
student or even a class full of freshman business
students—where career planning fits appropriately. (It
works in other courses, too!)

Furthermore, the creative task of career planning can

i" paralysis on the part of a student who fears

failure or lacks self confidence. The less one knows
about the future, the more one fears the goal setting
activity; the deeper the fear, the stronger the reluctance
to set goals. It’s what I call Quentin’s Condition. It can
be overcome by allowing everybody in the class to get
involved!

While the idea of getting everyone involved simulta-
neously appears unwicldy, I have found that applying
the technique of ABC goal setting makes the activity
possible, even with an overcrowded schedule. Though
the process sounds euphemistically as simple as ABC, it
requires some preparation on the part of the instructor
prior to class in case the Ciolfi Syndrome develops—
that’s where everybody in the class contracts Quentin’s
Condition, and the instructor must initiate the ABC
process by priming the pump with suggested career
alternatives.

The Process

Usually a short discussion about jobs in today’s
explosive service sector will serve as a catalyst to drive
the ABC process. First, you might list a few service in-
dustries and ask students to volunteer names/titles of
“known” jobs. For instance, hospitality services,
business and financial services, health services, social or
governmental services, amusement and recreation

services, communication, transportation, and public
utilities are areas where job growth exists. Have
students avoid the McJob services. Those jobs custom-
arily pay low at entry-level, and you want students to
think about a college education moving them beyond
low-paying, entry-level jobs. The students should not
have top much difficulty thinking of jobs, but come
prepared with the U.S. Department of Labor Dictionary
of Occupational Titles, just in case.

Next, ask the students to provide you with (1) a
short-range, two-year goal, and (2) a long-range, 10-
year goal linked, preferably, but not necessarily, to
developing a career. [The goal statements should be
made anonymously; more students are likely to re-
spond.]

If you have trouble getting students to think of career
goals that appeal to them, try using career anchors or self-
concepts that guide people’s careers and that provide
meaningful, personal standards for career success.
Edgar Schein (1978) specifies five career anchors: techni-
cal competence, managerial skills requiring analysis
and interpersonal relations, long-term job security,
autonomy or independence ona job, and creative
accomplishment and self-expression through entrepre-
neurial ownership. Using self-concepts gets students to
think in terms of their lives: family and personal goals,
business and job goals, or self-improvement goals.
Using goais included in the course syllabus is effective,
as well: Most students can link themselves to a career
anchor, background experience, and/or a course goal.

Next, list all of the short-range goals on one side of
the board and the long-range goals on the other. Have
students recommend three or more measurable objec-
tives for, or clearly identifiable paths to, each goal: c.g.,
get A’s in chemistry and algebra, work in a drugstore,
get a 3.5 overall GPA to get into pharmacy school.
Another set of measurable objectives for the goal of, for
example, Assistant Store Manager, might include work
experience, two years of college, respectable references,
interview skills, leadership training, and a good resumé.
Each of these objectives could have objectives of their
own. For example, the last objective might include: no
job-hopping, documented self-employment, or contrac-

 

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THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)
Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin

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