How to Set Career Goals When You’re Not Sure What Comes Next

That is the question I keep coming back to: what sets my heart on fire?

Enjoying my work is one of the most important things in my career. I want to be interested in the problems I’m helping to solve and enthusiastic about the contribution I can make. If I already know a direction won’t make me happy, I’m unlikely to pursue it simply because it is available.

For me, the subjects that keep coming into focus are optimisation, innovation and AI. I’m curious about where organisations are going and how we prepare for what comes next.

I see a lot of possibility there. That is my own direction of interest, rather than a prediction that everyone should choose the same field.

If you’re exploring your next step, think about the conversations you naturally lean into. Which problems make you want to ask another question? Which ideas do you keep returning to after the meeting has finished?

I’m becoming clearer about what I do well and what I enjoy within it.

I like forming teams and bringing people along. I often describe part of that as cheerleading: helping people feel safe, giving them a platform, recognising their talents and supporting their development.

I also enjoy getting projects moving and carrying them through. I’m comfortable stepping back to see the bigger picture, then thinking beyond tomorrow: what might be coming next month or next year, and how could the organisation prepare?

Those strengths give me something to work with even while the job title remains uncertain.

For your own exploration, choose a few strengths and write down a real example of each. What did you help make possible? What part did you play? Which part did you enjoy enough to want more of it?

That exercise is a suggestion you can use. It keeps the conversation connected to work you have actually done. If it helps to make a little room to write things down, journaling when your head feels full can be a quiet place to begin.

I’m finding out more about departments within my organisation that I don’t yet know well. I talk to people. I watch YouTube videos about careers for women over forty and listen for ideas that make me think.

There is a lot I’m still discovering. Someone else’s role can sound interesting from the outside, but a conversation may reveal the day-to-day work much more clearly.

Useful questions to take into an exploratory conversation include:

You don’t have to arrive asking for a vacancy. You can start by trying to understand the work.

Self-promotion doesn’t come naturally to me. Nevertheless, I’ve made myself be more active about it, including thinking about my visibility at head office.

People need to know what I’m interested in and what I can contribute. Keeping all of that in my own head won’t help them connect me with a conversation or opportunity.

If this feels awkward to you too, begin with something concrete: a piece of work you’ve done, a strength you enjoy using or a question you’re investigating. You can explain your direction without claiming to have everything worked out.

For example, someone might say: “I’m exploring work around innovation and organisational change. I’d value hearing how your team approaches it.” Adapt that to your own interests. It is an opening for a conversation, not a claim that a particular role is already yours.

I can’t make a suitable role appear. I can keep learning about the organisation, talk to people and articulate my strengths more clearly.

If you’re in a similar position, a useful goal might be to arrange an exploratory conversation, understand one unfamiliar area of work or identify a skill you want to develop. Choose an action small enough to carry out and meaningful enough to teach you something.

Afterwards, ask what changed. Are you more interested? Less interested? What would you like to understand next?

You can adjust the direction as you learn. An option that turns out not to suit you is still information you didn’t have before.