Mohammad Hanief
A career path is an advancement roadmap with short- and long-term benchmarks. It maps the route an employee takes from a lower-level position through successive roles to arrive at his ultimate goal. Each employee’s career pathway will be somewhat unique, but it will be achievable in your organization.
Aligning the employee’s career goals with the strategic goals of the organization not only helps the organization achieve its goals but also helps the organization to differentiate itself from labor market competitors, retain key workers, keep younger workers, and decrease turnover after an economic downturn.
Career development programs are plans designed to match employees’ abilities, needs and career goals to current and future opportunities within an organization. It is a way to set your employees up for success and long-term progression in your company.
Usually, career development spans the entire work life of an individual and is an on-the-job opportunity. Whereas academic career development is when employees enroll in professional courses put on by an academic institution. Similarly, bootcamps are short-term development plans designed to train employees in specific hard skills. It could be to upskill employees or help them transition to another career path.
Having a career development plan has been evidenced to impact employees positively. It aids in motivating employees, boosts morale, and increases productivity, career satisfaction, and responsiveness to meeting departmental and organizational goals.
In effect, it helps employees create an actionable plan that will lead them to their dream jobs. Therefore, if you have not found your perfect job, a robust career development plan could be the best place to start.
Career development prepares employees to be prospective leaders. Depending on the program, you can help them develop their decision-making and cross-functional skills through high-potential leadership programs.
By supporting and embracing workplace learning, you’re equipping budding executives with the skills to become influencers and contribute to corporate success at an advanced level.
As the modern workplace transitions from traditionally linear career advancement to more complex lateral career movement, so too must career development evolve. Modern employees proactively seek their own career development and advancement opportunities as opposed to patiently and hopefully waiting for opportunities to present themselves in a traditional organizational hierarchy.
To enable and encourage employees to develop tangible career path options it is essential that career paths are developed in alignment with competencies.
The primary advantage in aligning career paths with competencies is the direct relationship between career paths and an employee’s performance.It is evident that those career paths aligned with at least one competency type deliver a positive impact in a variety of business metrics.
The most striking example pertains to employee engagement, as twice as many employees are engaged at organizations that align competencies with career paths.
It is also worth noting that by assisting employees develop their careers manifests itself in increased customer satisfaction. The ripple effects of a strong career development program are felt by much more than employees alone.
The need to do so has never been more urgent or essential. Firstly, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the faultlines of our workforce and the industry in the form of a widening skills gap. Secondly, the fast-paced technological environment has necessitated upskilling as older work processes become more automated. The way to combat both these concerns is through fuelling the desire to learn something new. This blog explores why lifelong learning is fast becoming a crucial skill of the future corporate world.
Choosing a career path enables you to make informed professional decisions based on your current experience and skills. Think about your career goals, skills and interests to make life choices like the schools to apply for and the right entry job to start with. You can also evaluate whether to obtain specialised certification or a graduate degree. In this article, we provide useful tips to help you to pinpoint your interests and skills and match them to a relevant job field to start off a great career.
When you develop your career path, consider your personality, professional goals and future plans. Use these factors to select the right initial job and make smart decisions at each step as your career advances.
After narrowing your choices, you can create suitable career milestones. Find out the position of other professionals in your industry five and ten years in their career. Note their job titles and decide the advancements and roles you would like to reach those future points. After that, you need to perform research on how to achieve those objectives. For instance, you may be required to enroll in training programs, hold prerequisite roles, or accept specific responsibilities.
By deciding long-term career goals, you can make periodic plans based on annual progress. Reflect regularly on your goals and career progress to ensure you stay on the right path.
Find out about your personality type by understanding your traits. This will help you to recognise your interests and build your strengths and objectives based on them, including your career goals. Various tests provide the standard career options for a personality type. If just one or two jobs or careers show up across the multiple tests you take, you can research them.
Midcareer professionals are individuals who have spent a significant amount of time in their chosen career and have gained considerable experience and expertise. They are typically in their thirties, forties, or fifties-perhaps older-and may have already achieved some level of success and stability in their career. At this stage, midcareer professionals may be looking for new challenges and opportunities to further advance their careers.
They may also be seeking work-life balance, considering entrepreneurship, or exploring different career paths. Alternatively, midcareer workers facing unemployment due to job changes may be looking for new employment. While these people often have a wealth of knowledge and skills to offer and can be valuable assets to their employers or clients, they often face unique challenges in job seeking or career shifts.
For midcareer professionals, there can be several barriers to achieving economic mobility, the ability to improve one’s economic status over time. One of the main barriers is a lack of access to education and training opportunities that would allow them to develop new skills and move up the career ladder. This can be especially challenging for individuals who have already established themselves in a particular field and may not have the time or resources to pursue additional education or training.
Additionally, midcareer professionals may face age discrimination, which can limit their opportunities for advancement or lead to job loss. The cost of living can also be a barrier, particularly in expensive urban areas where housing and other expenses may be prohibitively high. Finally, family obligations such as caring for children or aging parents can limit flexibility and availability.
Identify which of your previous roles gave you the most job satisfaction. This can help to guide your career options. Pinpoint trends and patterns in your past positions, like acquiring and using a particular technical skill. Review your career thus far to identify roles that gave you the most fulfillments.
Many positions need specific educational requirements for new hires and applicants, such as a high school diploma, bachelor’s degree or master’s degree. In addition, some roles need candidates to possess a degree in a related field. Find out about the educational requirements for roles you wish to apply for and check if they match your current education level or require additional certifications or degrees that you may need to work toward.
Career goals can be fluid and rarely follow a straight line. Typically, employees discover new interests and aptitudes that influence their career possibilities.
(The author is a freelance columnist and can be mailed at m.hanief@gmail.com)
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