What is your career mission statement? What tip would you offer to someone looking to craft a personal mission statement?
To help you craft your personal mission statement, we asked business leaders and HR experts this question for their own mission statements as examples to help you with yours. From establishing your values to never stop improving, there are several examples of mission statements that may help you craft your personal career mission statement.
Here are seven ideas to help you craft your personal mission statement:
- Establish Your Values
- Effectively Communicate It Through Video
- Lead With Internal Drivers
- Select Word Choice Carefully
- Culture Of Empowerment
- Never Stop Improving
- Keep It Tangible And Short
Establish Your Values
The short version of my career mission statement is; To be a knowledgeable, trusted, and reliable person who can be counted on to solve problems for my client and do whatever it takes to do right by them. In order to achieve this, I will continue to read articles, listen to podcasts, attend webinars, frequent conferences, and seek out leaders in my field to further understand the field that I am in and become a lifelong learner. A great tip to crafting a personal mission statement is to establish your values, determine what your interests are, and set SMART goals.
Effectively Communicate It Through Video
Make sure that the personal mission statement can be effectively communicated via video. With video interviewing here to stay, it’s important that your mission statement be short, concise, and convincing in a video format. Many employers are automating recruiting tasks to better screen candidates, including initial video interviews. By practicing your career mission statement via video, you can ensure that you’ll be able to handle any interviewing format that lies ahead.
Lead With Internal Drivers
I learned the hard way that the best career mission statements have to start with how I wanted to feel, contribute, grow, experience, and learn. My early statements often lead with external factors like titles, income, and financial rewards. This often led to feeling empty and unfulfilled in my work. Now, when I focus on what makes me internally satisfied, I find myself exactly in the right seat on the right bus.
Jenn Christie, Markitors
Select Word Choice Carefully
A career mission statement should feature your goals, personal values, and previous success. Most importantly though it should showcase your personality. This statement should serve as a differentiator that enables you to stand out from other professionals who work in the same area of expertise. Select language that evokes emotion or is synonymous with your own vernacular. Using linguistics that people assimilate to you will serve to enhance the connection made between you, your way of speaking and those you communicate with, and the career mission statement. Ideally, you’d like for this statement to easily identify you as the professional being described, without needing to be directly identified.
Tyler Butler, 11Eleven Consulting
Culture Of Empowerment
My personal career mission statement has been to, “Create an environment where everyone is empowered to do their best quality work.” My mission was born from my past experience with poor leadership. Find a passion from your past to craft your future. When I became a leader for the first time I was focused on creating a positive environment to work in. The increased sales and better customer experience were a byproduct of taking care of the team. So ask yourself, what is something you want to change, impact or make better?
Steven Brown, DP Electric Inc
Never Stop Improving
I believe there’s always an area for improvement, no matter what you do. Even if you think your outputs’ quality can’t get better, you can always do it faster, use fewer resources, or scale it. When setting career mission statements, it’s crucial not to anchor them around specific job market conditions. They should be universal, so you can still use them when the economic climate changes.
Michael Sena, Senacea
Keep It Tangible And Short
“To recruit, retain, train, and develop the most qualified individuals, for companies whose products/services align with my values.” This is my personal career mission statement. It is my “north star” that reminds me on a daily basis why I chose this career path and why it intrinsically refuels my motivation to continue. When crafting one for yourself, try to keep it as tangible and short as possible. Some of the most memorable mottos are the shortest ones for a reason. The legendary – “Just Do It”, “Think Differently” or “Open Happiness” just to reference a few. More than two sentences is a no-no in my book. At the same time, it shouldn’t be too vague and abstract. Make it personally relatable – to YOU. Ideally, it’s measurable too, so that your “career compass” has some solid footing to stand on.