Setting goals for career: from career planning to career management

The beginning of a new professional position and setting goals for the first year on the job could represent the most important steps in professional development. The graduate is facing with a new reality, a different work environment with fundamental differences between university and economic realities of contemporary work life. In the context of lifelong learning society, despite the general competences and professional expertise, building a career implies on-going training and commitment. This paper builds upon those issues concerning the strategies for adjusting to a new professional job and the first year, thoughts about quitting or staying at the first job, the emotions and feelings normally accompanying the process of professional employment in the first year after graduation.