Identify the issue
Understand Yourself: Career Goals and Motivation
- Learn how your beliefs and goals are related to how you act and what you achieve.
- Learn how to assess what is most important to you as you think about and plan your future.
“I have found it so important to remember why I came here to study in the first place. If I remember my love for the material and the freedom I will have one day to pursue my real interests, the daily hassles seem worthwhile.”
“You have to enjoy [your degree program] if you want to do it; that old adage: ‘Show me a person who loves what they do, and I will show you a person who has never worked a day in their life.’”
“I have noticed a disconnect between my departments’ goals and the reasons many of the students have come here to study. Programs at large institutions seem to lose sight of their training obligations while becoming overly focused on output.”
You entered graduate school with your sights set on a career in STEM. You worked hard to get to the doctoral program, and your first objective is to finish your PhD. Now, it’s important to keep up your motivation, despite the challenges, and reach the goals you have set.
One way to think about a career is as a purposeful pattern of work over time. You can be a scientist or engineer in many different ways and places.
The notion of the “boundaryless” career (Guan, Arthur, Khapova, Hall, & Lord, 2019; Sullivan & Arthur, 2006) emphasizes nonlinear career paths rather than jobs. It acknowledges changing employment patterns that value flexibility, mobility, and self-directedness.
You may be one of the many students (in fact, the majority) who start with a specific career goal and end up with another by the time you are done with your program. If you started out intending to become a professor, for example, and you are now thinking about industry, you are not alone.
Graduate students report that one of the frustrations of graduate school is not learning enough early on about what the possibilities are. Moreover, a good amount of career setting is influenced by serendipity!
PhD-level scientists and engineers assume research, teaching, technical, managerial, and other roles and engage their careers in many different work settings:
- Faculty research
- Faculty teaching
- Industry
- National labs
- Government
- Legal/regulatory
- High school/community college teaching
- Policy
- Consulting
- Lab management
- Start-up companies
- Nonprofit organizations
- Museums
- Media
The patterns for career goals and career settings can vary by gender. In some cases, women in STEM have sought roles and positions in which they expect greater collegiality, more social impact, and flexibility for integrating work and family life. You can find more on this in Balance.
Look ahead to where you are going to be—an inventor, start-up founder, faculty member or another role—and then start acting that way. As a child, did you often imagine your adult life?
- Do you think often about the impact your decisions will have on the life you lead years from now?
- Do you prefer to live in the moment, taking on challenges and opportunities as they arise?
Career-motivation theory suggests you are motivated by your different “possible selves.” One is the person you want to become and another is the person you fear you could become (Markus & Nurius, 1986).
Let’s take an example...
Ashley and Mona are both 2nd year students in chemical engineering. They work in the same lab and share the same advisor. Ashley and Mona also have the same dream (“future possible self”) of acquiring a tenure-track faculty position on the West Coast. The pair work around the clock, but still face the stereotype that, as women, they are not as committed to a career in science.
| Ashley | Mona |
|---|---|
|
Feared possible self Ashley does not want to be like her mom, a successful career woman who did not have much time for the family. Ashley blames her mother for her parents’ divorce. |
Feared possible self Mona had many experiences with racism growing up, including people assuming she was not smart or able based on her cultural background and where she grew up. She is worried these types of stereotypes will continue in graduate school. |
|
Outcome Ashley decides to leave school with a master's degree and take a laboratory position at a private company promising high flexibility in preparation for her future life as a mother. Although this was not her original career plan, she is happy to pursue chemical engineering while leaving open the possibility for the type of family life that she desires. |
Outcome The stereotypes Mona faces while in graduate school only increase her motivation. She eventually lands a faculty position at UC Santa Cruz |
When vivid and clear, our possible selves point to meaningful goals and motivate us to work toward them (Strauss, Griffin, & Parker, 2012). Your future work self is most relevant to your career in that it represents the self in relation to your aspirations and dreams for work.
At this time, your future work self may be elaborate and complex, meaning you know exactly what you want to be doing in the future and what it will be like.
If you are unsure about your future work self, now is a good time to embellish your knowledge and experience with different alternatives that might suit you. For example, seek out mentors in your discipline who have different types of positions, shadow a scientist or engineer, or find internships to try out different roles.
Having a salient idea and vision of your career goals will provide motivational power that will sustain you through and beyond your doctoral program.
Exercise:
Take a few moments to think about your dreams for a career in STEM and what you hope to become in your future occupation. List the careers and roles you think you may enjoy.
Then rank your top hoped-for careers, as these are most salient to you. This simple exercise will help provide additional context for your future work self.
Self-test
Which of the following can help motivate you to achieve your “future work self”?
- A. I can easily imagine my future work self being a chemistry professor.
- B. The mental picture of my future as a chemical engineer is very clear.
- C. I strongly identify with the career I have chosen.
- D. All of the above
Whether or not you are future-oriented, developing a vivid dream for your life after graduation will increase your short-term motivation in graduate school.
Do you remember how excited you were to start your doctoral program? You were proud of yourself. You could not wait to share the good news with your family and friends.
You may or may not not have known exactly where it would take you, but you knew getting your degree would open up a world of career possibilities. Remembering and maintaining that excitement is what can keep you motivated now.
It is not uncommon for graduate students to tire themselves out, get discouraged, consider switching to another path or discontinuing their program. But reminding yourself why you selected this program and this career path can help you stay on course.
Think about when you entered the program:
- What were your career goals?
- Why did you decide to enter this program?
- How did you think the program would help you advance toward your goals?
According to expectancy-value models (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002), being and remaining motivated depend on strongly valuing the process and goals of your work and expecting that you will be successful and your work will pay off.
The confidence you have in your ability to perform the necessary work (self-efficacy) and your expectations as to whether your efforts will pay off (outcome expectancies) are especially important in maintaining your interests, persisting, and reaching your career goals (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994).
See the Coping and Self-Efficacy module for more on these topics.
Consider how much you value each of these motivations for earning your PhD:
- To learn and grow over the course of my career
- To have interesting work
- To have a career that is intellectually challenging
- To discover or build something that will help others
- To have a positive impact on other people or social problems through my work.
- To do work that is meaningful and purposeful
- To prove to myself that I can do it even if it’s difficult
- To be a role model for others
- To meet my family’s expectations
- To have my family be proud of me
- To be seen by others as successful
- To have a prestigious career
- To achieve financial success in my career
As you might have noticed in the activity above, there are two kinds of values you place on finishing your degree program. Extrinsic motivation is the desire to achieve something for external rewards, such as money, prestige, or to please someone else.
Intrinsic motivation is the desire to pursue an activity for the act itself and its meaningfulness (Deci & Ryan, 1985). When compared to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation is generally associated with better performance and more persistence.
Pursuing a STEM career because you enjoy the activities or believe you are making a worthwhile contribution are examples of intrinsic motivation. If you want to become a professor, you probably place a higher value on discovery and education and less on maximizing your lifetime income.
Women are more likely to cite altruistic, as opposed to monetary, motivators as underlying their career choices. This may help explain why disproportionately more women than men are drawn to careers and roles with higher interpersonal and societal impact.
Another way to think about your career goals is what vocational psychologists refer to as “calling.” Do you find fulfillment and passion in your engineering or physics research? Do you feel “called” to do this work?
“Calling” refers to a belief that one's career is a central part of a broader sense of purpose and meaning in life and serves to help others or advance the greater good in some fashion (Duffy & Dik, 2013; p. 429). Calling often arises from internal (i.e., self) or external factors (i.e., family legacy, power, and/or need in society).
Motivation is often shaped by both environmental (e.g., stereotypes) and individual factors (e.g., identity). What and who motivates you on your career journey?
According to Albert Bandura, four types of sources shape your self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997):
- your personal experiences (such as past grades);
- vicarious experiences (such as observing role models);
- verbal persuasion (e.g., confidence in you and encouragement from others);
- your affective states when you engage (e.g., anxiety or pleasure).
Verbal persuasion involves the influence others have on what you pursue and how much confidence you have in your ability to be successful. Take a minute to think of your extended networks who have influenced you.
Do you have:
- Close colleagues?
- A mentor?
- A spiritual advisor?
- A good friend?
- People you do leisure activities with, like running or playing music?
- A spouse or significant other?
- Children?
- Extended family?
- Casual acquaintances?
- People you look up to, even if you don’t know them well or at all?
The people in your life can be important external motivators, reminders, and sounding boards. Once you share your goals with others, they can keep you accountable.
You may ask yourself, why did I transfer to this school? Your sister may remember that decision very clearly: So you could be closer to her. This is a good example of how easy it is to forget the support systems you have in place and underutilize them in times of need.
Alternatively, others can discourage you, depending on how you interpret situations. How you explain and to what you attribute interpersonal interactions and past successes and failures will influence your motivation level and your actions [For more, see How You Think].
Here is an example:
Past Event
Your advisor asks a different advisee to collaborate with him on a research project.
Your Interpretation
You take this to mean that your research skills are not up to par.
Outcome
Your motivation to do research declines, and you instead focus on developing your teaching skills.
How can you motivate yourself? Tips for self-motivating:
- Reconnect to intrinsic motivation. Recall what motivates you internally and set reasonable goals that help you reach your own end goals (not someone else’s).
- If desired, engage in communal opportunities within computing and engineering. You don’t have to do this alone (Boucher et al., 2017).
- Find counterspaces and support outside your department.
- Connect to your WHY.
- Set a handful of goals in three categories: 1) advancing your research; 2) attending to your mental, physical and spiritual health; 3) serving your loved ones and community.
- My 5-year-plan worksheet. Write down a big goal for each year and then the activities (research, pubs, grants, training) that will help you meet that goal
Self-test
Which of the following can serve as a motivator?
- A. Imagining where you want to work after you graduate.
- B. Telling your family about your goal to publish a recent study.
- C. Your interpretation of past events.
- D. All of the above.
The context in which you act and perform in the present can influence your future-oriented motivation. For example, the degree to which assignments relate to students’ future goals has been found to predict how engaged they are in the material, and how long they will persist academically.
Other environmental challenges affect career goals and may have a differential impact on women. Women report less support from their academic department and family in overcoming academic and career obstacles.
Evidence shows that higher perceived support by the advisor distinguishes students who complete their doctoral degree program from those who leave their program prematurely. Further, students are more likely to complete their PhD if they perceive support from other faculty and peers (e.g., Litalian et al., 2015).
Clear career goals matter for current productivity, sustained motivation, and long-term success. You will have an easier time staying motivated now if what you are doing in your program relates to what you value in your chosen career.
Even if you detour (take an alternative path to the end goal), it does not mean you will derail (discard your career goals). No career path is linear, so continue to strive to achieve your goals. And changing your goals is ok too. It will all be worth it (one day)!
Try to boost your productivity by reconnecting with your passions and dreams, visualizing your ideal career position, reviewing your statement of purpose, or having lunch with an inspiring professor. Remember why you love what you do!
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How Do You Know When You're Ready?
The importance of learning from failed experiments.
Planning Experiments Around Breast Feeding, Productivity, and Encouragement (Part 1)
Creating a schedule and meeting an advisor's expectat
The satisfaction that comes from working with colleagues and interacting with others.
The importance of remaining passionate and remembering that the PhD opens doors.
Gaining Strength from Adversity
Underscores the challenges that come from being the only woman in an academic department and gives suggestions on how to gain confidence and be assertive in these situations.
Using leisure activities to relieve stress and build friendships.
A Virtual Support System (Long Distance)
The importance of nurturing relationships outside of academia.
Creating an Environment for Exchanging Ideas
How the physical space in a laboratory allowed for collaboration among colleagues.
Outlines a philosophy on time management.
The importance of knowing what you want and expecting tradeoffs on the path to get it.
“Careers do not unfold; they are constructed as individuals make choices that express their self-concepts and substantiate their goals in the social reality of work.”
Savickas
2005, p. 43
“Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”
Golda Meir
Explains that satisfaction comes from working with students and the opportunity to make new disco
Explains that satisfaction comes from working with students and the opportunity to make new disco
The importance of learning from mistakes and persisting despite setbacks.
The importance of learning from your effort, regardless of the outcome.
Advice on how to seek out support in graduate school and how to bounce back from setbacks.
Shares the excitement that comes from collaborating with others to make new discoveries.
Elaborates on the standard practice of science despite cultural differences.
Strategies for negotiating as a faculty member.
When it's time to graduate and when it's important to start learning on the job.
Highlights the transition into graduate level science where the answers aren't known.
The importance of goal setting and using others' experiences to make strong choices about your own p
Advice for balancing research and fun in graduate school.
Advice for students: stay focused, ask questions, and remain open-minded when working with others.
How to adapt experimental methods to match a lifestyle.
How to negotiate a schedule for raising a family and overcoming setbacks in a new career.
The importance of giving yourself credit and remembering why you are doing what you're doing.
The importance of peer relationships and the learning process that takes place despite concrete outc
Working with graduate students is a rewarding aspect of being a faculty member.
Advice for graduate students on how to maintain their confidence, courage, and dignity.
Emphasizes peer relationships and departmental climate.
How to handle being accused of having an affair with the advisor.
Explains an interdisciplinary branch of physics and the passion for research, service, and teaching.
Teaching as the impetus for work.
Discusses necessary precautions to take as a female student working late nights on campus.
Discusses necessary precautions to take as a female student working late nights on campus.
Being accused of cheating and regrets about not being more assertive.
Being accused of cheating and regrets about not being more assertive.
The importance of self-authorship and using graduate school as a process for self-definition.
Reminder that support can be found in unexpected places.
Urges female graduate students to persist in the field of mathematics because the field needs divers
How being unaware of being the only woman was advantageous to program success.
Alternatives to departmental isolation and the importance of networking.
Environmental issues faced in academia.
The importance of first impressions in choosing a graduate program.
Satisfaction comes from interacting with intelligent people across cultures.
Adjusting physical appearance to fit in with peers.
The importance of remembering that graduate school is only one part of a larger career.
Describes an incident of receiving a lower grade than a man for similar work.
The opportunity for freedom, growth, and collaboration as a faculty member.
How to survive the aftermath of a sexual harassment incident.
Highlights the gendered assumptions encountered as a faculty member.
The Importance of Having Positive Working Relationships: A Case Study
An alternative way to approach being the only woman in a given situation.
Contributions to the field are reflected through choices.
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others to gain support.
The importance of finding the right advisor to support your research goals.
How to handle being accused of having an affair with the advisor.
Explains when to confront a problem and when it may be better to maneuver around it.
How to be upfront, direct, and assertive when confronting instances of sexual harassment.
Highlights the universal customs of science.
Class performance builds confidence to remain in program.
Captures the annoyance of male colleagues making sexist assumptions and the challenges with conferen
The importance of recognizing the progress that has been made by women in science fields.
Advice for accomplishing your academic goals without making unnecessary compromises.
Emphasizes the challenge with saying no, but the importance of learning to do so.
How to make friends with colleagues to encourage a supportive environment.
Underscores the challenges that come from being the only woman in an academic department and gives s
Highlights an experience in which peers were not only colleagues, but also friends.
How the physical space in a laboratory allowed for collaboration among colleagues.
The importance of a good leader in setting standards for diversity, climate, and tenure policies.
How to observe others' reactions to subtle comments in order to gauge an appropriate response.
Urges students not to get wrapped into issues that do not directly involve them.
Departmental reactions to the choice to have children.
How to refute sexist comments and challenge gendered assumptions.
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others and realizing that you are not al
Confronting a male colleague with contradictory findings at a conference.
How colleagues can assist in making the transition into graduate life easier by sharing information
Captures the small but noticeable annoyances that come with being the only woman.
The importance of picking your battles to avoid unfair labeling.
Reminder that it is not necessary to feel comfortable socially to do good science.
Gender stereotypes faced in getting into graduate school and conducting research.
How to seek support from administrators outside the department when dealing with departmental sexism
The first realization that being a woman in science was outside the norm.
Challenges of being international and female, particularly with regards to an academic career and th
Suggestions for how to deal with sexist comments.
Playing a variety of roles as the only woman in the department.
The process of establishing yourself in the same department as your spouse.
Emphasizes positive peer relationships within her cohort.
The challenges of working in male-dominated academic environments and the negative stereotypes assoc
The feasibility of pursuing a family and science.
The importance of hearing other people's stories.
The importance of understanding priorities and allocating resources accordingly.
Advises how to keep family informed about research goals and progression from student to faculty mem
Explains some of the setbacks in dating relationships.
Advises students to continue to pursue their education because the payoff is self-respect.
The importance of believing in yourself, admitting your mistakes, and continuing to do what you love
How to accept non-traditional relationships and lifestyles in academia.
Notes the challenges of a dual career marriage and the obstacles in fighting for tenure and balancin
The process of overcoming setbacks related to career options and personal relationships.
How to balance motherhood responsibilities in graduate school.
The importance of supportive peer relationships.
Being married in graduate school and having children as a faculty member.
Advisor's experiences encourage well-informed career decisions.
The importance of a supportive network of colleagues.
Doing something useful to make a difference and how to appreciate a happy, supportive work environme
Taking time off before pursuing her PhD.
How a supportive department and a modified teaching schedule allowed for maternity leave.
How to sustain taking time off and pursuing the PhD later in life.
Advises how to keep family informed about research goals and progression from student to faculty mem
The importance of a supportive extended family in helping to balance school and children.
The importance of having a number of things in your life that bring you joy and satisfaction.
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately giving yourself recognition for your suc
The importance of learning over time and remaining positive in the face of criticism.
Motivation for doing work: interacting with students and doing research that can make a difference i
Emphasizes the challenge with saying no, but the importance of learning to do so.
The importance of remaining passionate and remembering that the PhD opens doors.
The importance of defining clear goals, remaining self-confident, and learning to say no.
The importance of allowing yourself the opportunity to change your mind and reconsider your goals.
The importance of knowing what you want and expecting tradeoffs on the path to get it.
Making discoveries and collaborating with others brings satisfaction.
Creating a schedule and meeting an advisor's expectations.
Advises graduate students to take a semester off if they choose to have a child because it is too ch
Explains the role children play in career choices.
Using leisure activities to relieve stress and build friendships.
The satisfaction that comes from working with colleagues and interacting with others.
The decision to get married in graduate school.
The importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle to alleviate stress.
Addresses personal relationship sacrifices.
The importance of nurturing relationships outside of academia.
Explains the choice to have children in graduate school.
Challenges with being married to a fellow academician and finding faculty positions.
How a flexible schedule as a professor made it possible to have a family and a career.
The importance of evaluating your priorities to create balance and happiness.
Appreciation for advisor's assistance in transitioning to the US.
Emphasizes the joy in working with others and giving back to society.
Chronicles the evolution of a career over time.
Suggestions for how to increase women's participation in science with an emphasis on policy change.
The importance of being open and honest with your advisor.
How a positive advisor challenged his students to think for themselves.
Highlights the obstacles faced when trying to have research reviewed by the advisor and emphasizes t
The importance of having a variety of mentors throughout your graduate experience.
Challenges faced with establishing yourself as an independent researcher separate from an influentia
The importance of asking questions and searching for creative solutions to new problems.
The importance of finding a good advisor and making sure to get everything in writing.
Challenges in confronting the advisor with news of pregnancy.
Experiences with an international advisor.
How to maintain good relationships with colleagues while being motivated to finish the program qu
The importance of giving back to students and making an impact in their future education and care
An Arizona State University project, supported by the National Science Foundation under grants 0634519, 0910384 and 1761278
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. © 2021 CareerWISE. All rights reserved. Privacy | Legal
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