Career

Traditionally, career development referred to programs offered by organizations to help employees advance within the organization. Today, each individual must take responsibility for his or her career. Organizations now focus on matching the career needs of employees with the requirements of the organization. While many organizations still invest in their employees, they dont offer career security and they cant meet the needs of everyone in a diverse workforce.

Definition
Pattern of work-related experiences that span the course of a persons life. Reflects any work, paid or unpaid. Broad definition helpful in todays work environment where employees and organizations have diverse needs. Organizational career planning Developing career ladders, tracking careers, providing opportunities for development. Individual career development Helping employees identify their goals and steps to achieve them. Career development looks at the long-term career effectiveness and success of organizational personnel. Employee training and development focuses on performance in the immediate or intermediate time frames.

Individual versus Organizational Perspective

Career Development versus Employee Development

Value for the Organization

1. Ensures needed talent will be available. 2. Improves the organization's ability to attract and retain talented employees. 3. Ensures that minorities and women get opportunities for growth and development. 4. Reduces employee frustration. 5. Enhances cultural diversity.

6. Promotes organizational goodwill.

Value for the Individual

Individuals external career success is measured by criteria such as: progression up the hierarchy, type of occupation, long-term commitment, and income.

Internal career success is measured by the meaningfulness of ones work and achievement of personal life goals. Effective coaches give guidance through direction, advice, criticism, and suggestion in an attempt to aid the employees growth. Mentors are typically senior-level employees who: support younger employees by vouching for them answering for them in the highest circles introducing them to others advising and guiding them through the corporate system

Mentoring and Coaching

Disadvantages include: tendencies to perpetuate current styles and practices reliance on the coachs ability to be a good teacher

Considerations for organizations: coaching between employees who do not have a reporting relationship ways to effectively implement cross-gender mentoring

Traditional Career Stages

Exploration

Includes school and early work experiences, such as internships. Involves: trying out different fields discovering likes and dislikes forming attitudes toward work and social relationship patterns Development of self image Self-assessment of own talents and limitations Development of ambitions, goals, motives, Advice and examples of relatives, teachers, friends, and coaches Actual choice of educational pathvocational school, college major, professional school

Establishment

Includes: search for work getting first job getting evidence of success or failure

Induction and orientation Assignment to further training or first job Acquiring visible job and organizational member-ship trappings (ID card, parking sticker, uniform, organizational manual) Learning period, indoctrination period of full performancedoing the job Insecurity around new tasks of interviewing, applying, being tested, facing being turned down Forming a career strategy, how to make itworking hard, finding mentors, conforming to an organization, making a contribution Feeling of being accepted fully by the organization, having made itsatisfaction of seeing my project

Takes time and energy to find a niche and to make your mark. Challenged to remain productive at work. Employee may: continue to grow plateau (stay competent but not ambitious) deteriorate Leveling off, transfer, and/or promotion Entering a period of maximum productivity Becoming more of a teacher/mentor than a learner Explicit signs from boss and co-workers that ones progress has plateaued Period of settling in or new ambitions based on self-assessment More feeling of security, relaxation, but danger of leveling off and stagnation Successful elder states persons can enjoy being respected for their judgment. Good resource for teaching others. Those who have declined may experience job insecurity.

Mid-Career

Late career

Plateauing is expected; life off the job increases in importance. Job assignments drawing primarily on maturity of judgment Psychological preparation for retirement Deceleration in momentum Finding new sources of self-improvement off the job, new sources of job satisfaction through teaching others

Decline (Late Stage)

Formal preparation for retirement, Retirement rituals Learning to accept a reduced role and less responsibility Learning to live a less structured life New accommodations to family and community May be most difficult for those who were most successful at earlier stages. Todays longer life spans and legal protections for older workers open the possibility for continued work contributions, either paid or volunteer.

Career Choices and Preferences

Good career choice outcomes provide positive self-concept and opportunity to do work we think is important. Three major components People have varying occupational preferences If you think your work is important, you will be a more productive employee You will have more in common with people who have similar interest patterns

Holland Vocational Preferences

Model identifies six vocational themes Realistic Investigative Artistic Social

Enterprising Conventional Preferences can be matched to work environments; for example, socialenterprising-conventional preference structure matches career ladder in large bureaucracy.

The Schein Anchors

Personal value clusters determine what is important to individuals. technical-functional competence managerial competence security-stability creativity autonomy-independence

Success of person-job match determines individuals fit with the job. Four personality dimensions: Extraversion-Introversion Sensing-Intuitive Thinking-Feeling Judging-Perceiving

Jung and the Myers-Briggs Typologies

Assessed by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and identify 16 different personality types. Job characteristics can be matched to individual preferences. Enhancing Your Career

The individual holds primary responsibility for his/her career. Suggestions on how to do that are: