Long-term career goals for professional women in agriculture

Abstract

Formulation of early in a career guides behavior, decisions, and priorities. Although selection of limits options, it also lends direction to a career. Women must move toward along the same pathways that men have used, but they will probably move down these pathways more slowly than men because they tend to have multiple, rather than single goals. As women pursue career goals, they will hold a series of increasingly responsible positions and must establish professional credentials. Documented evidence of productivity, publication in the reviewed literature, high standards of personal and professional deportment, and personal traits and abilities are all involved in establishment of professional identities. Although women have potential conflicts between career and family responsibilities, careful organization and delegation of some duties and responsibilities will help bring balance between their professional and personal lives. Women bring special strengths such as adaptability, flexibility, and good communication ability to the agronomic workplace and they can use these strong points in building professional credentials. Additional index words: Career guidance, Stress. W are long-term career goals? In my late 20s, never formulated any definite career goals, but did have a fairly clear idea of what wanted to be and what wanted to be involved in when was 45. Perhaps we can think of long-term career goals as being a grown-up version of the child's statement, I want to be a fireman, or a nurse, or a policeman when grow up. When some of us leave graduate school, we realize that we are grown up, and we don't have a clear idea of our career goals. At this point in our careers, we should ask ourselves the question, What do want to be, who do want to be like, what do want to be doing to earn my living when I'm 45? Then we can establish some goals. As we get older, we expect these vague notions or concepts to become concrete and specific. We expect to be making choices and commitments that will lead us toward a set of goals. As we make these choices, we hope that the will come more clearly into focus as we grow older. Luckily the process of setting up may be a bit easier for women because they are trained at puberty to think of the consequences of their behavior. They tend to think in 20-year time segments more easily than men do.