Developing Your Career Objective: First Name: Nguyen Last Name: Manh Cuong

Developing your Career Objective
First name : Nguyen Last name : Manh Cuong
Programme : MIM Program
Bilan / projet - Document rédigé par Trajectoire, en partenariat avec l’Apec / Direction de l’Entreprise 1
et des Partenariats / Euromed Management
Why develop a career objective?
Considering what your career objective is, and developing

a strategy to achieve it, is an essential tool for when you
enter the job market.
It means you can :

• Know where you are heading
o be efficient in your job seeking and to know how to target – which
industry, what size company, what type of job, etc ?
• convince a recruiter
o know how to talk about your motivation, your competences –
through your CV and cover letter and in an interview
• ensure that your profile corresponds to the needs

of the job market
o your objective needs to be realistic.
Once you have defined your objective, either:
 It corresponds to your background – which means that you

have the necessary knowledge, competences and qualities, and your
objective is realistic – therefore you can put it into action
 You require further training to acquire the knowledge that

you don’t yet have.
 Your objective needs some experience which you can only

acquire through an intermediate step.
 Your objective can only be realized in due course in the

future and requires coordination between your studies and training, and
your experience.
To define your objective, you need to first of all

consider what you have done so far, in other words, to
do a self- assessment….
Doing a self-assessment
Why do a self-assessment?
To know yourself better …

… by answering the following questions :
• What do I know ? (knowledge – theoretical or
practical)
• What can I do ? (know how)
• Who am I? (personality, character, personal
traits)
• What do I want ? (motivation, values …)
To develop your career objective

Define :
o what you want to do in terms of using your competences, in
which type of job position and work environment
o what you need to change (perhaps in terms of your
behavior?) or deepen (in terms of your knowledge)
and therefore :
o either reaffirm the objective you had in the past, and
demonstrate how you can achieve it.
o or modify the career objective you had, and identify what
competences you already have, which you may have
underestimated or forgotten, and which competences you
need still to develop …
• highlight your competences and strong points

and work on improving your weak points
in your CV, your cover letter, when being interviewed.
Some tips for doing your self-assessment
• Don’t just make an ‘inventory’ of your professional past, make
it more like an investigation. Why did you make the choices you
made? What was your objective at the time? How did it benefit you?
What did you learn from it? What aspects did you not appreciate?
• Think about your future: doing your self assessment is not

simply a question of listing what you know and your past professional
experience. You need to explore what potential these things give you,
and how they can be oriented towards the future.
• List your competences – you need to become aware of what

you can do, what you have done in the past. You may find
competences that you have forgotten about or which seem so evident
that you don’t even think about them.
• Give meaning to your ‘journey’: doing a self assessment is

also a way to think about what direction you are going in, starting from
where you have come from. The objective is to find coherence
between your education and training, and your experience in such a
way that potential recruiters can see a ‘through line’ when reading
your CV.
• Think hard about what your resources are: as said before,

you need to go beyond the ‘inventory’ stage. Think about what
competences and resources you can rely on, what is more or less
important or attractive. For each of the items you list, ask yourself
certain questions: did I like doing that or not? Did I succeed or not? Is
this knowledge and are these competences recent or not? Can I do
what I did in a past professional context in another one?
How to do your self assessment?

The following pages are intended to be a support for you when
doing your self-assessment.
If you have difficulty filling in certain sections, it’s better to do nothing

for the moment, rather than just write any old thing which won’t
necessarily be correct in the headings.
You can add your replies later. It is completely normal that your career
objective develops as you begin to learn more about the realities of
the job market.
Phase 1 : Doing your self-assessment

My knowledge
1°: Identify and list all the subjects that you consider you know a lot about, for
example what were the subjects you studied in your courses. Consider everything
you know, or think you know, and never mind for the moment what your level is.
The theoretical knowledge that you have is principally of two kinds:
• Knowledge that you have acquired through a discipline, science or

techniques that you use or which are operational (for example : a foreign
language, statistics, law, etc)
• Knowledge acquired through your contacts and professional, cultural and

social environments which allow you to understand how they function, how
they are influenced, their needs, etc. This knowledge may come from:
o particular contexts (the world of research, or finance for

example)
o industrial sectors (such as the textile industry, health, food,

automobile, etc)
o the press (current affairs, economic press, specialist press,

internet, etc)
o Professional networks
2°: Identify what level of knowledge you have, perhaps using the following
evaluations:
A = "I know the subject well enough to be able to teach it" ;

B = "I could take an active part in a conversation on the subject" ;
C = "I only have basic knowledge".
Subject A B C
English x
Business law x
Continue to list your subject areas and evaluate your level
My competences
Identify and list your competences – all the skills which you rely on, whether in
personal contexts or not (studies, leisure pursuits, community activities, etc).
Pour décrire ces savoir faire, privilégiez les verbes d'action (vous pouvez pour cela
vous aider de l’Annexe 2 : Les verbes d’action). Use action verbs when listing your
competences ; these show what ACTIONS you KNOW how to DO.
Date and length of Context and nature of Competence acquired

experience activity
2004 -1 month – supermarket : cashier Handled money

summer job transactions accurately
Dealt with customers in a
busy environment
2005 – 6 months – Accounting assistant in an Undertook daily
work experience Accounting Cabinet bookkeeping activities
Filed client reports
Assisted chartered
accountants to produce
end of year reports
My Personal Qualities
Fill in the grid below identifying your competence levels basing your opinion on
how you gauge yourself and how you think people who know you, and have
worked with you, would gauge you. If you like, ask people you know to fill in a
blank copy of the grid, and then compare their evaluation with your own.
TO KNOW Value -- - + ++ Target

Analytical skills ++ ++
Problem solving skills + ++

 Identification of variables and constraints
 Identification of information sources
 Information management
 Create solutions and prioritize them
TO KNOW HOW TO BE Value -- - + ++ Target
Client orientation ++ ++
 Master and develop quality
 Satisfy customers (internal and external)
Euromed orientation ++ ++
 Stop ethnocentric thinking
 Make use of European and Mediterranean diversity
 Use diversity as a constructive principle
 Learn about diversity (cultural, religious)
 Euro-Mediterranean networking
Respect for the human being + ++
 Have an open mind
 Be aware of and accept differences
 Be tolerant and show humility
 Be sensitive for context
Entrepreneurship + ++
 Be an entrepreneur
 Be an actor in development
Social responsibility - ++
 Take societal responsibility for your actions
 Societal/environmental engagement
Ethical dimension + ++
TO KNOW HOW TO BECOME Value -- - + ++ Target

Leadership/motivation + ++
 Propose and assume responsibility
 Create synergy
 Listen
 Construct
 Convince
 Motivate
 Support and back-up your co-workers
Self-motivation ++ ++
 Be able to motivate yourself in all circumstances
 Be involved, ever more
Creativity and innovation + ++
 Be open for and apply change
 Dare to innovate
 Embrace complexity and variety (don't limit)
 Be a continuous "learner"
 Allow and support others to learn continuously
Personal mission ++ ++
TO KNOW HOW TO DO Value -- - + ++ Target

Project management skills ++ ++
 Scenario building
 Identification of multidimensional solution spaces
 Risk management
 Structuring and controlling
Vision development skills ++ ++
 Understanding the economic context
 Anticipate competitive evolution
 Imagine and create innovative actions
 Produce coherence
Managing performance ++ ++
 Managing indicators
 Translate ideas in actions that create value
 Information - and IS management
Decision making skills + ++
 Operationalize
 Install a management information system
 Anticipate, correct and analyse
 Propose actions
Group working ++ ++
 Master team oriented parameters and attitudes
 Understand and identify each others role
 Enrich roles
 Anticipate hurdles
 Share knowledge and experience
 Flexibility
 Adaptibility
Communication ++ ++
 Manage communication supports
 Organize communication flows
 Anticipate communication needs
Coaching + ++
 Evaluate
 Inform
 Organize and support workspace learning
Management learning ++ ++
 Progress your own "knowing"
 Learn from your errors
 Incorporate continuous learning
Stress management + ++
 Time management
 Conflict management
 Prioritize
Phase 2 : Building my own Career Objective
In the following pages, you will find useful questions to ask yourself in order to
build your own career objective:
Step 1:
Taking into account your present and/or past professional experiences, identify
what you like or do not like.

Step 2 :
What would your dream job be?

Step 3 :
What is your personal favourite style of life? What are your priorities?
More precisely, what are your values and what is important for you in
your job ?

Step 4 :
Which questions should you ask yourself?

Step 5 :
What would be your favourite job description?

Step 6 :
Do a market study to decide whether your objective
is realistic and to identify the companies that could
be interested in your profile.

Step 7 :
Summarise what your objective is, and what
strong points you have to achieve it.
Step 1 : Evaluating your present or past situation

«I am no longer comfortable and happy in what I do/did». This might be how you
feel.
If so, you might want to analyse what you are not comfortable with, so that you can
identify what you would prefer instead, or at least, what you do not want to do any
more.
Fill in the table below detailing, for each item, what you liked, what you did not like,
and why.
You can complete one table per professional experience.

FOR EXAMPLE :
What I would like

Items What I like What I do not like
for tomorrow
Product / service
Insecticides for industrial
Large public product
agriculture : product unknown
Actions Selling : Permanent More teamwork in the

(get some help from relationship with customers company
your final outcome)
Have to convince :
Convincing
rewarding
Results
(are they concrete, can
they be measured, are
you involved in their Too many variables Get a bigger fixed salary
evaluation, or is the
team involved ? …)
Relationships with
others (internally and
externally)
Working alone Working in a team
Structure /organisation
Small size
(Company size,
company : more
association, office, …) Small size companies
human, adaptable
and pro-active
Workplace, working
conditions…
Business trips :
(location,
autonomy, be Business trips
Inside/outside,
outside the company
Business trips…)
Try your own now !
Items What I like What I do not like What I would like for
tomorrow
Product / service
Actions
(get some help from
your final outcome)
Results
(are they concrete, can
they be measured, are
you involved in their
evaluation, or is the
team involved ? …)
Relationships with
others (internally and
externally)
Structure /organisation
(Company size,
association, office, …)
Workplace, working
conditions…
(location,
Inside/outside,
Business trips…)
Step 2 : My dream job
The job of my dream …
As a child every one of us dreamt of crazy and fantastic jobs, more or less
accessible. We thought about who we wanted to be instead of focusing on what
was really possible.
Let’s go back to these dreams, without thinking of whether this is possible or not.
1°) As a child, I pictured myself as a…..?
2°) Later, as a teenager ?
3°) And now, which ones are still my dreams?
- the craziest :
- the most accessible :
Step 3 : My personal favourite life style and my priorities.
My personal favourite life style

Questioning yourself on personal commitments can be useful. Use the Three P
Rule to identify what motivates you:
1°) Plenty of Money (or “Plenty of Pennies” or “Pockets Full”)

Which jobs do you think would earn more money? Which ones are attractive for
this reason only?
2°) Power
In some jobs, you can get a dominant position, influence and authority over other
people. Which ones are attractive for this reason only?
3°) Pleasure
Some jobs attract us because we relate them to certain activities. You feel
attracted to some problems, issues, or activities, or even to some particular social
conditions.
Which ones are attractive for this reason only?
My priorities
For each one of the four questions below, write whatever comes to your mind,
without stopping to write, even the silliest things. You have to write, write, write …
for three minutes. Without stopping.
After three minutes, review it all taking some distance, and underline the three
words or the three phrases that really make sense.
Question 1 :
Which are my values in life ? What is so important for me that this is what counts
the most in how I judge myself and others, on everything I do, on my life style ?
Question 2 :
What is the lifestyle of the people who have impressed and influenced me most
until now ? What ideas can I take from them ?
Sir Alex Ferguson is
Question 3 :
Imagine a full day, a day you feel was useful, efficient, very satisfying and intense.
What would it be like ?
Question 4 :
What are characteristics of a dream job ?
After reviewing, select the key words (4 x 3):
Question 1 : Question 2 : Question 3 : Question 4 :
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
Step 4 : Which questions should I ask myself ?
In order to define your career objective, you need to determine the following:
 Selected regions / countries

 Sectors I would like to work in on in the short and mid term
 Company size
 Companies I am interested in
Try to identify references and websites that would help you to do your research for
these factors.
Questions References Websites
Selected regions /
countries
Sectors of activities
Selected companies
From planning to putting into practice:

BETWEEN THE IDEAL AND THE REALISTIC
6th step: Is my career objective in line with market trends?
This step is important, especially in order to answer the following questions:

Is the career objective realistic? How can I get to know companies that might be
interested in my competencies? Do they have recruitment opportunities? Which of
my competences and knowledge would be relevant to which market sectors?
It is necessary to validate your objective (which is effectively what you are “selling”
on the job market) by doing a « market study ».
This means:
 identifying your potential employers.
 understanding their needs, finding out about their recruitment process and
criteria
How to do it? Ask yourself about your desired job position with the following points:
 Who is recruiting ?
 What needs do they have, in which jobs?
 Based on which criteria, which profile, which competences?
This « market study » can be developed by:
 Interviews conducted with professionals through:

1. your personal network,
2. your professors,
3. Euromed Management Alumni : a number of former Euromed students are
happy to advise current students, and help develop their career objectives.
You need to be a member of the Alumni Association, in order to consult the
Alumni Yearbook. If you are interested, visit the Alumni Association Office,
A210, for more information.
Approach:
1 – Gather important information:
Consult offers (jobsites, company sites, media…) for job positions that most
interest you.
Note down on a blank sheet the information in three different groups: company,
profile, job position.
2 – Identify the common points:
Note that, whatever the company might be, you will find a job offer either by
matching the company’s needs (job position) or matching the recruitment criteria
(profile). This is the basis of the « what you are selling ».
3 – Segment the companies:

There are different groups of companies with specific expectations - sector of
activity, size of the company, etc. You can also divide companies according to
production or distribution modes, client base, turnover…).
Make a group typology.
Mention their characteristics (activities, size or other criteria)
Note that for each group, they have their own needs (functions to be developed,
missions), and the specific recruitment criteria (experience, academic
requirements, age, knowledge, aptitude…)
These segmentations will also help you work on your argument for each group.
4 – Evaluating the market volume:
Do you have an idea of the number of companies that represents each one of the
groups identified?
For the functions which are close or similar to the ones that interest you, do you
have an idea of the number of job offers published in the media?
In order to have an idea of the market volume, we have to multiply the number of
announcements by 2.5.
5 – Identify the targets:
You could make a grid with « I can/ I want » to help you

Make a first choice of the targets among the ones that you identified
The ones that you eliminate
The ones that you ask yourself about
JOB POSITION :
COMMON POINTS FOR ALL THE COMPANIES
Main Activities of Profile
the Job Position
SEGMENTATION
Company Specific Needs Specific Recruitment Criteria

Typology
Volume Target : I take:
I may probably take:
I do not take:
7th step: My career objective
Who am I?
What do I know how to do?
What do I want to do?
What do I have to acquire in order to do what I want to do?
My ideal career solution (project A):
My backup plan 1 (project B):
My backup plan 2 (project C):
The false tracks clearly identified:
APPENDIX
Appendix 1: Areas of knowledge
Appendix 2: Action Verbs
Appendix 3: From planning to putting into practice: between the ideal and the
realistic
Appendix 1: Areas of Knowledge
Economy - Management - Languages - Art - Publishing Human Sciences -

Finance - Accounting - Communication
Commercial
Languages Philosophy, sociology
Economy Languages applied to business and Work Psychology
Corporate management commerce Clinical Psychology
General Management Languages applied to translation History
Finance Documentation Geography
Accounting for Suppliers Secretarial - office Urbanism
Accounting for Clients Arts Education Sciences
Auditing – Management Control Printing Communication, journalism
HR Cinematography and
Commercial-marketing audiovisual
International Commerce Publicity
Public Services
Bank-Insurance
Tourism –Hospitality –Transport
Law – Political Sciences Medical - paramedical - Electronics - Automatic -

Sociocultural Informatic -
Law Telecommunications
Private Law Medicine
Business Law Odontology Exploration Systems
Public Law Pharmacy Networks
International Law Veterinary Materials
Working Law Paramedical Data bases
Legal Studies Sanitary Internet
Political sciences and Social Software
administration Education and culture Information Management
Political, economic and financial Physical Education and sports Industrial IT
Sciences Production
Political and International Sciences IT technician
Artificial Intelligence
Telecommunications
Maths - Physics-Chemistry Science and technologies Life and Earth Sciences
Maths - statistics Metallurgy Natural Sciences

Maths applied to Human and Mechanic Animal Biology
Social Sciences Electricity Agriculture
Physics - Chemistry Aeronautic Food
Materials Architecture Geology - Mines
Civil Engineering -BTP Physiology
Specialisations : textile - wood - paper Environment - Ecology
Audiovisual Technologies Genetics
Appendix 2 : Action verbs
DECIDE FORM ADVISE BELIEVE COMMUNICATE
Stop Animate Help Adapt Dialogue

Choose Teach/Learn Clarify Improve Discuss
Conclude Drive Understand Conceive Change
Determine Develop Diagnose Construct Listen
Eliminate Educate Listen Discover Express
Fix Train Guide Elaborate Inform
Judge Instruct Incite Imagine Interview
Arrange Transform Orient Innovate Negotiate
Solve Propose Invent Share
Recommend Renew Write
Anticipate Transform Inform
Find Transmit
PRODUCT ORGANISE CONDUCT NEGOTIATE CONTROL
Apply Adjust Animate Sell Appreciate

Elaborate Anticipate Command Buy Question
Execute Arrange Conduct Arbitrate Evaluate
Do Coordinate Trust Increase Exam
Realise Distribute Define Commercialise Experiment
Follow Establish Delegate Conclude Measure
Use Execute Govern Consult Prove
Plan Guide Convince Supervise
Prepare Impulse Persuade Monitor
Programme Inspire Place Test
Structure Institute Propose Validate
Manager Select Verify
Pilot
Preside
MANAGE ADMINISTRATE RESEARCH DEVELOP OTHERS
Acquire Class Analyse Develop

Budget Count Calculate Improve
Collect Register Consult Increase
Account Establish Enquire Commercialise
Consolidate Ensure Study Study
Economise Manage Examine Implant
Enrich Arrange Experiment Launch
Balance Identify Observe Progress
Explore Govern Prospect Promote
Win Classify Research
Invest Follow Survey
Optimise File
Bilan / projet - Document rédigé par Trajectoire, en partenariat avec l’Apec / Direction de l’Entreprise et des Partenariats / Euromed Management 28

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Developing your Career Objective

First name : Nguyen Last name : Manh Cuong

Programme : MIM Program

Considering what your career objective is, and developing

It means you can :

• ensure that your profile corresponds to the needs

Once you have defined your objective, either:

 It corresponds to your background – which means that you

 You require further training to acquire the knowledge that

 Your objective needs some experience which you can only

 Your objective can only be realized in due course in the

To define your objective, you need to first of all

To know yourself better …

To develop your career objective

• highlight your competences and strong points

• Think about your future: doing your self assessment is not

• List your competences – you need to become aware of what

• Give meaning to your ‘journey’: doing a self assessment is

• Think hard about what your resources are: as said before,

How to do your self assessment?

If you have difficulty filling in certain sections, it’s better to do nothing

Phase 1 : Doing your self-assessment

The theoretical knowledge that you have is principally of two kinds:

• Knowledge that you have acquired through a discipline, science or

• Knowledge acquired through your contacts and professional, cultural and

o particular contexts (the world of research, or finance for

o industrial sectors (such as the textile industry, health, food,

o the press (current affairs, economic press, specialist press,

A = "I know the subject well enough to be able to teach it" ;

Continue to list your subject areas and evaluate your level

Date and length of Context and nature of Competence acquired

2004 -1 month – supermarket : cashier Handled money

TO KNOW Value -- - + ++ Target

Problem solving skills + ++

TO KNOW HOW TO BECOME Value -- - + ++ Target

TO KNOW HOW TO DO Value -- - + ++ Target

Step 1 : Evaluating your present or past situation

You can complete one table per professional experience.

What I would like

Actions Selling : Permanent More teamwork in the

2°) Later, as a teenager ?

3°) And now, which ones are still my dreams?

- the most accessible :

My personal favourite life style

1°) Plenty of Money (or “Plenty of Pennies” or “Pockets Full”)

After reviewing, select the key words (4 x 3):

Question 1 : Question 2 : Question 3 : Question 4 :

 Selected regions / countries

Questions References Websites

From planning to putting into practice:

6th step: Is my career objective in line with market trends?

This step is important, especially in order to answer the following questions:

This « market study » can be developed by:

 Interviews conducted with professionals through:

2 – Identify the common points:

3 – Segment the companies:

4 – Evaluating the market volume:

5 – Identify the targets:

You could make a grid with « I can/ I want » to help you

COMMON POINTS FOR ALL THE COMPANIES

Company Specific Needs Specific Recruitment Criteria

Volume Target : I take: