An effective Career Management framework aids individuals determine the type of work they are inherently fitted for and this offers information with regards to the job alternatives they may aspire to pursue. In other words, employees need to provide answers to two very fundamental questions like “What kind of job am I fitted for?” and “What career alternatives do I prefer to pursue?”
The question “What kind of job am I fitted for?” can be answered by an effective self-assessment process and individuals can find out their:
Occupational interests- these pertain to the types of jobs that they are most naturally engrossed in.
Personality-based Preferences- these refer to types of jobs individuals are drawn with respect to the basis of their innate temperaments.
Selected skills- these are the skills which individuals prefer and enjoy most to develop.
Workplace Values- these are the activities and situations that offer the largest amount of job satisfaction.
Work-Life Balance– this pertains to how individuals’ career suits into the greater picture of their first concerns.
The second question “What career alternatives do I prefer to pursue?” can be answered by exploring their job alternatives. Some of the approaches an organization can provide to help employees in setting their career objectives include providing access to job descriptions inside the organization, job shadowing and spending quality time with individuals who holds positions they are happy with.
Bear in mind that once an employee has identified his objectives, he will meet his current manager to talk about the plan and his/her next moves. The amount and type of support the organization will provide will differ based on the organization’s policies of career management.
The Tools in Career Management
Career Planning Workshops. When employees completed their self-assessment, they share their results with their supervisors and other individuals in career-planning workshops. This enables them to obtain feedbacks from others and examine the reality of their aspirations and plans. They may modify their plans if they find them impractical and shift in new direction.
Organizational Assessment Programs. These include methods and tools that are used to assess employees’ potentiality for development in the organization. The most well-known programs under this include psychological testing, promotability forecasts, assessment centers, succession planning and 360 degree appraisal.
Developmental Programs. These are utilized by an organization in order to improve their workers for future positions. These can be internal or external and can actually be executed under the guidance or administration of Human Resource specialists, trainers and staff from outside.
Additionally, these systems composed of job rotation programs, formal mentoring programs, assessment centers, internal training programs, tuition refund plans and also external training seminars.
Individual counseling. This is regarded as one of the most typical activities that are engaged in by nearly all people developing firms. Universally, individual counseling is given by Human Resource specialists, life skills development trainers or career development specialists.
A few organizations recruit them from outside; on the other hand, some have their well-developed departments where they select and hire trainers for full-time. This aids employees in understanding their personal objectives, making a big change on them if necessary and working harder to develop their skills and competencies.
It is worth to consider that a Career Management Strategy must be composed of five fundamental points such as:
A clear understanding of your personal strengths, competencies and motivators. It is very beneficial to know thyself and completely understand your personality type as well as your motivations, the types of work opportunities and challenges that strengthen you. Likewise, learn what makes you so engrossed about your work and those that do not excite you.
It is imperative for you to be visible. In other words, in today’s very modern world, it is not sufficient to do good work. How frequent do we see other people in a firm get ahead, not because of what they know and do, but, for how visible they are more essentially how they’re capable of promoting and developing relationships beyond the firm? Search for opportunities to improve your personal network and be sure to explore other facets of the business or organization.
Connect your contribution and development to the strategy of the business. Integrate your needs with that of the enterprise and utilize different methods to learn, teach others, determine drivers of the enterprise and search for opportunities to get involved or to influence, look for a competent mentor in the organization and many more.
Ensure the participation of your manager. You truly need the guidance and support of a competitive mentor or manager in the firm that can aid you with a realistic career management plan and also to offer you with the environment as well as the tools needed in order for you to succeed.
Get excellent article about HR Management and Performance Management here.
Finally, hold yourself responsible for your very own progress. Assess your progress towards your objectives and be ready to change your strategy in the event that this does not direct you in the right path.