What’s Your Career Goal for Next Year?

The end of the year is always a time to reflect on accomplishments, but it should also be a time to look ahead to what’s on the horizon. We asked LinkedIn members to share their career goals for 2023 on the most recent episode of the #GetHired podcast.

We received a range of responses. Some people want to find new, high-paying jobs. Others said they want to find more balance in their lives between work and home. Tell us your goals in the comments below.

You can read the conversation below. Or, you can listen to the episode above or by clicking here.

TRANSCRIPT: What’s Your Career Goal for Next Year?

Andrew: We're nearing the end of the year, but we're not just looking back. We're looking forward. Today, we're getting into some goals from the Get Hired community

From LinkedIn News, this is Get Hired, a podcast for the ups and downs of our professional lives. I'm Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn's Managing Editor for Jobs and Career Development. Each week on Get Hired, we talk about leveling up. Sometimes we talk about finding work. Other times we talk about excelling where you are right now, and through it all we focus on how to stay true to yourself in the process. 

A few weeks ago, I put out a call on my LinkedIn profile to get a sense of your career goals for 2023. So, today we're going to be sharing some of those goals, and maybe one of my own. First though, we've heard a lot from Get Hired guests over the past year on how to set meaningful, tangible goals, and why we should even set them in the first place. So, here's a clip from my interview with goal-setting expert Jessie Withers, who is the instructor behind the most popular LinkedIn Learning course of the year, Goal-Setting: Objectives and Key Results. I asked her why we should bother setting goals at all. Here's what she had to say.

Jessie: Goals and strategic goal-setting frameworks help us think big picture, right? They get us out of the weeds. They get us out of our day-to-day, and just focusing on our to-do lists, our sticky tabs on our desks, our messy jotted down notes every day of 300 things we want to accomplish, and we usually only get to two. It's really up-leveling that thinking, and getting us clear on our purpose, and where we're headed and why. I think when we do that, we're more fulfilled, and we're happier, and we're less anxious and we're less stressed.

Andrew: More fulfilled, happier and less anxious and stressed? Sign me up. If you don't have your goals set for 2023 yet, never fear. Neither does listener Erin, but she left us a voice memo telling us how she looks back in order to look forward.

Erin: I honestly don't have my goals set for 2023 yet, but the first thing that I always think about in the month of December is looking back on my previous or current year's goals, for example 2022 right now, and kind of doing some moneyball statistics on them. Things like how many goals did I achieve? How close am I to getting those goals achieved? Did I fail astronomically? I have to say this year a lot of my goals really shifted very dramatically over the course of the year, based upon my current role and my current job, because I pivoted careers this year. So, I don't have any good answers yet for 2023, but I did want to share with you and your audience that it's always important to begin with the end in mind for where you are currently. So, if you have any goals for 2022, be sure to stop by and look at those again to see if any of them haven't been achieved or have been achieved, celebrate the wins and then maybe carry forward into 2023 the goals that you didn't quite finish up in 2022. I hope that helps.

Andrew: Thanks Erin. 

Our next message comes from LinkedIn member and career coach Ann. She writes, “One of my goals is to serve hundreds of women who want to be the boss they wish they had.” What a fantastic goal, Anne, and what I love most about it is the fact that it's outward-facing. Goals can be as much about what you want to put into the world as much as they are about what you want to get out of it. 

Next up, here's a voicemail from listener Dawid.

Dawid: So, my MO for 2022 was to say yes to everything, to as many opportunities as possible, to network like a fiend, and my goal for 2023 is all about less. So, 2022 was yes. 2023 will be about my year of less, and what I mean by that is just I'll be focusing in on select few projects and certain partnerships that I've aligned with more authentically, and I'll be building depth there. So, that's really what I'm forging in the year ahead. I wish you and the entire LinkedIn team a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic 2023.

Andrew: I love that goal, Dawid. There's a season for everything. Sometimes you need to go full steam ahead. Other times you need to focus on where your time can make the greatest impact. 

Our next goal comes from listener Rob. He wants to land a full-time job that will pay his bills, and allow a move to Chicago. What a concrete, actionable and specific goal. I wish you all the best, Rob. 

Next up, here's a great career goal from someone named oh, Gianna Prudente. You may remember her as my editorial colleague, author of the Keeping the Balance Newsletter, and a frequent Get Hired Live guest host. Let's hear her goal.

Gianna: A goal of mine for the upcoming year is to discover a new passion project or hobby. Journalism has always been my biggest passion, and now it's what I get to do for work. Because of that, I feel very grateful, but it's difficult to find an off switch. So, in 2023, I want to find fulfillment outside of my nine to five job. I think picking up a hobby will really help me establish more work-life balance. I hope to practice more mindfulness in the coming year, and I think yoga could be a really good place to start.

Andrew: Thanks, Gianna, and I know what you all might be thinking. She said that this was about finding something outside of work to change, but I'm here to tell you, that counts as a career goal. You are a full person regardless of what you do for a living, and part of nurturing your career is making sure to nurture yourself. 

Our last goal comes from LinkedIn member Bernadette. Her goal? “to learn every day, to contribute every day, to create every day, and to connect every day.” Thanks, Bernadette. I think those are goals we could all aspire to. 

Finally, I want to leave you with my goal, and that is to make more time for family and friends. Like with Gianna's goal, you may be wondering how is that a career goal? But it is. When we spend too much time focused on our work or business, it means we miss out on other things. I'm looking for better balance, which will help me in my workplace too.

Thank you to all of you for making this first year of the Get Hired podcast a success, especially to my producer, Michele O'Brien. For the next few weeks, we're filling your feed with reruns of some of our favorite episodes, and we'll be back in the new year with some new surprises, tips, and feedback from our community. Remember, it's up to you to put our advice into practice. Still, you always have a community backing you up and cheering you on. Connect with me and the Get Hired community on LinkedIn to continue the conversation. You can also join my weekly Get Hired Live Show every Friday on the LinkedIn news page. If you liked this episode, leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts. It helps people like you find the show. Of course, we'll continue this conversation next week, right here, wherever you like to listen.

Get Hired is a production of LinkedIn News. The show is produced by Michele O'Brien. Joe DiGiorgi mixed our show. Dave Pond is Head of News Production. Courtney Coupe is Head of Original Programming at LinkedIn. Dan Roth is the Editor-in-Chief of LinkedIn, and I'm Andrew Seaman. Until next time, stay well, and best of luck.