During my first two years of college, I focused on school and extracurricular activities. I had side jobs here and there, I didn’t think I could handle juggling an internship. Now, I’m a junior and I work for LaSalle Network, my first real internship out in the world!
My first day on the job, I was asked to make goals for myself in the time I was going to be at LaSalle. I immediately went blank because I didn’t know what to work towards or what I could reasonably accomplish in the time I had there.
Safe to say my list of goals were very loose, and frankly, sucked. They were very fluffy, like “befriend fellow interns.” Don’t get me wrong, these are real goals. However, they happen over time if I invest my time and energy into the company.
I needed to re-work my goals to be more tangible, with learning objectives. If you find yourself in this spot, uncertain how to create concrete, measurable goals, here are a few pointers to set you on the path to success:
Create SMART Goals:
- 1. Specific
- 2. Measurable
- 3. Attainable
- 4. Relevant
- 5. Time Bound
With these SMART goals in mind, I sat and thought about what I wanted to accomplish to grow professionally…
Specific
I found that the hardest part in making the goal is the specificity of it. If it is too broad then it most likely won’t fall under the categories of measurable, attainable etc. I researched the different types of marketing tasks and decided to focus on content marketing, specifically, writing a blog.
Measurable
I measured my progress by working on the blog for an hour every other day while in the office. Each time I made revisions, I checked in with my manager to make sure I was on the correct track.
Attainable
Make sure your goals can be accomplished in the time you’ve specified. I knew it was attainable to write one blog in two weeks while at LaSalle Network.
Relevant
A great part about LaSalle is their focus on assisting graduates and college students grow professionally. The content of this blog goes hand in hand with one type of audience LaSalle is targeting: interns.
Time bound
I gave myself 2 weeks to write the blog. Giving myself a deadline and sharing it with my manager ensures I’m accountable to achieving it.
Most importantly, with any goals, one must assume that the individual intends to be committed to the goal. Without commitment the rest doesn’t quite matter.
Making a goal can be very intimidating for a first internship or job. So when you aren’t sure what it should consist of, use SMART Goals to make it a lot easier. I am happy to say that I accomplished my goal of writing a blog as we speak (or in your case; read) about my time at LaSalle and what I learned!
