Goal Setting Tool

Use this page to self-reflect on your "why" and set goals for this recruiting season.

Overview:

Before you apply, it is important to self-reflect and understand your own motivations.

Here’s some questions to consider:

Why are you applying to this software engineering/product management/ux design/marketing/etc role?

What motivates you in wanting to intern?

Do you actually want to work in that field?

How badly do you want to work at these “top” companies?

How much time and effort are you willing to put aside on top of your school-related responsibilities (classes, extracurriculars, part-time jobs, etc) to recruit?

... and so on.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, throughout this internship hunt, you will inevitably run into a bunch of roadblocks - you will rejected and ghosted. Landing a top internship will take a lot of time, energy, and effort, but it is extremely rewarding journey. It will be a valuable opportunity that sets you up for a lot of success and personal/career growth in the future.

Write your “Why” below!

Start typing here :)

Setting Some Goals:

Okay, now that you’ve had a better understanding of your own personal motivations for wanting to get an internship, let’s think set some goals for this recruiting season as you prepare for it.

Here’s some questions to consider:

How can you maximize your chances of landing an interview?

What do you want to achieve by the end of this internship hunt?

What do you want to learn more about?

What projects can you build out to gain a new skill relevant to the job you want to apply to?

What aspects of your resume do you want to improve on?

How would you plan out your interview prep?

...

and pretty much any other goals you have. LIST THEM BELOW using the SMART framework!

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Your Goals

Your Goals

Goals

Notes

Completed?

There are no rows in this table

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Note: Feel free to add more columns/rows in the table above, depending on your goals.

SMART framework overview

The SMART framework allows you to set realistic and measurable goals you can achieve in this upcoming recruiting season and beyond. SMART is an acronym with each letter giving you a mindset for setting goals:

Example

Press

Clear template

⁠

to empty the table and write your own goals! Try to make each goal: specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, and time-based! It’ll help you to track your progress better, and build up consistency.

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.