Career Management

Definition Lifelong, self-monitored process of career planning that involves choosing and setting personal goals, and formulating strategies for achieving them.

Career Management

Take charge of your career! The decision around how we spend our working life is critically important. To manage your work/life effectively, you need to understand who you are, what options you have, and how you can get to where you want to go. You may not be able to control all the circumstances that impact upon your life, but you can influence the direction your life is going; and you can make decisions that are right for you. Managing your career is not a one-time event, it is a continuous cycle of personal development. As goals are reached, new goals are established and development continues in a new direction. There are several steps in this process, as illustrated below. Career Management Cycle

Managing your career is a process that is very self-driven: it is up to you to determine your career goals

and to plan for their achievement. To support employees in managing their careers through each of the steps in this process, the Public Service Commission offers a series of training courses through the Corporate Training Calendar. These courses provide tools and resources which support potential and aspiring leaders at all levels throughout the Government of Nova Scotia to effectively manage their careers and help realize their career goals. The course offerings are designed to support employees at all different stages in the career management process: employees can choose whichever courses they require on an as needed basis. The Career Management courses offered focus on each step of the career management cycle and promote career management and advancement through targeted development, as illustrated below. Career Management Courses

To learn how to effectively manage your career, register online at LearnNet. Additional information on available Career Management courses is provided below.

Career Management Courses Available Through Corporate Training Calendar

Career Management Step 1(a): Determine Where You Want To Go The first step in managing your career is knowing yourself, and an important part of this self-insight is knowing where you want to go in your career. Why do you pursue the work and the life you do? What activities are you drawn to? What keeps you engaged and energized? What gives you the greatest satisfactions and wanting to strive for excellence? These questions are at the heart of knowing yourself. In this module, you will begin to identify your life interests, personality traits, and values that in turn drive your passions. In this module you will identify the interests, values, and skills you already have and which allow you to contribute productively to your workplace. This will help you to see more clearly which competencies and life interests you want to continue to use in a work setting and those you may want to develop further. This self-reflection will guide you in determining career goals that are a good fit.

Career Management Step 1 (b): Understand Your Work type The first step in managing your career is knowing yourself, and a key piece of this self-insight is understanding your worktype. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI ) is an indispensable tool in understanding your strengths and how to leverage these when planning your career path. This half-day course explores the relationship between personality types and the workplace. It is designed to increase self-understanding and appreciation of personal differences in order to improve one-on-one interactions and career success.

Career Management Step 2: Identify Your Strengths and Development Areas Through 360 Degree Feedback The second step in managing your career is identifying your strengths and areas of development. The Hay Group 360 Tool will enable you to receive input from your manager, peers, people you manage, and other colleagues on the leadership competencies deemed critical to the provincial public service. A survey tool is administered online which allows participating individuals and their nominated colleagues to complete feedback in a secure, confidential and user-friendly environment. You will then meet individually with your Human Resources Development Consultant to review and discuss your feedback report.

Career Management Step 3: Make a Career Development Plan The third step in managing your career is creating your own career development plan. Completing the plan will help you make the link between your career goals and the development that will help you

move towards the achievement of your goals. Based on your past performance, strengths and career goals, you will prioritize your areas for development. You will then identify what types of opportunities will target your development areas and explore how to access these opportunities. You will also learn about the different available development resources.

Career Management Step 4: Resume Writing and Interview Skills For many individuals, their career goal involves moving into a new position. Success in getting a job externally or within government is largely determined by gaining entry to the interview and then interviewing well. Good resumes are vital to getting an interview and strong interview skills are a must in selling the match between your qualifications and the job requirements. This workshop will provide you with the necessary skills to compete effectively for job opportunities.

For Managers: Supporting Others in their Career Management: Basics of Coaching This course examines effective coaching in the workplace. Youll explore the different roles a coach may play: the coach as trainer, as mentor, and as counsellor. Youll examine the criteria and conditions that must exist in order to engage an individual and establish a climate of trust and commitment so that coaching may take place. Build on the skills that you have in the areas of leadership and communication by exploring how to adapt coaching to meet the needs of individuals and manage the process.

Career Development Program Has your organization seriously considered implementing a career development program? If not, perhaps this is a good time to do so. The following description of several, widely used career development interventions and case studies can be used to stimulate discussion on various career development practices

Alternative Career Paths One approach to alternative career pathing involves incorporating the skills employees already have with what their hearts want to do. It can involve changing career and lifestyles for more meaningful and fulfilling work arrangements. Creating alternative career paths often involves incorporating other career development interventions, such as flexi-time or job enrichment. Alternative career paths should not be confused with dual career paths, which is described later. Career Pathing Career pathing, also called career tracking, is a process of outlining an individual career plan, usually within an organization. Career pathing is most often used as a part of management training and development, although individuals may develop their own career track, either alone, or in conjunction with a career coach. Employees follow pre-determined steps along the career path to develop expertise in managing different types of organizational situations and to reach their career goal. Periodic checks evaluate progress, as well as determining what further training or experience is needed to move to the next step. Career pathing often uses several other career development interventions as part of the process. These include cross-training, job rotation, job enrichment or enlargement, and temporary assignments. Dual Career Tracks Dual career tracks should not be confused with alternative career paths. Creating dual career paths involves preparing employees to succeed and be rewarded without necessarily being on a management or vertical organization career path. In other words, ``up'' is not considered the only way employees can grow and advance within the company. The establishment of dual or multiple career tracks has proven to be an effective way to retain and motivate valued employees. Management can be an attractive career alternative for many employees, but it is not for everyone. This may be particularly true for many technical or creative workers. The number of people managed often distinguishes managerial levels, but under the dual career track plan, individuals apply their expertise (like managers) to tasks of greater complexity and impact within their specialty field.

For example, they may make recommendations in a wide range of business areas, participate in high level decisions, and act as mentors to other employees. The interest in dual or multiple career tracks is likely to grow as more organizations do away with formal management titles and establish team structures. Career Coaching/Counseling Career coaching frequently involves helping individuals prepare for a career change or helping employees advance in their existing jobs. From the employee's view, career coaching consists of evaluating interests, values, work styles, and skills. From the organization's view, it consists of matching employee talents with organizational needs, recruiting and retaining talent in the company, identifying training and development needs, and assisting employees in specifying and locating new employment opportunities within the organization. Cross-Training Cross-trained workers are taught skills outside their current job assignment so they can be called upon to perform a variety of tasks as the need arises. Many workers and supervisors find themselves crosstraining each other, just to make the day-to-day work life manageable. As a career development intervention, however, companies put into place a formal program of cross-training. Cross-training helps organizations to balance workloads so everyone is busy, and allows the company to respond quickly to employee absences. It also allows employees and departments within an organization to gain a better understanding of the ``big picture'', and to improve communications and relations. Employees who are cross-trained are more valuable to the company, and more marketable in the work world overall. Flextime Flextime is one of the most popular and most widely known career development interventions. Flextime gives employees the opportunity to balance their work and personal lives by restructuring the typical workday to accommodate individual employee schedules. Employers who offer flextime often report decreased use of paid leave, decreased tardiness and increased productivity. Other benefits for the employer include a low-cost method of providing personal time off and extending service hours without overtime pay. This career development intervention is popular with employees who have extended families or young children, who may be facing ``burn-out'', and those seeking further education or pursuing second careers. Flextime allows employees to set their own schedules, within limitations set by management. For example, workers may adjust their starting and ending times, but are required to be at the office during management specified core or peak hours. Working four ten-hour days is an example of a compressed workweek form of flextime. Flextime may also be combined with other interventions, such as job sharing, job rotation, and phased retirement. Job Rotation

Job rotation is the systematic movement of employees from job to job within an organization, as a way to achieve many different human resources objectives : for simply staffing jobs, for orienting new employees, for preventing job boredom, and, finally, for training employees and enhancing their career development. Job rotation is often used by employers who place employees on a certain career path or track, usually for a management position, where they are expected to perform a variety of duties, and have a variety of skills and competencies. Job rotation is often confused with crosstraining. While both interventions perform essentially the same service of providing employees with a varied set of skills, job rotation goes beyond this. Besides being used as a means of management training, job rotation can also be used as a form of job enrichment, by adding increased responsibilities, increasing challenge, and reducing boredom or burnout. Job Enlargement Job enlargement is defined as increasing the number of tasks a worker performs, with all of the tasks at the same level of responsibility, and is also sometimes referred to as ``horizontal job loading'' . Be careful not to confuse job enlargement with job enrichment, which will be discussed later. Job enlargement and job enrichment can both be used with plateaued workers or workers who are experiencing burnout, and with especially high achievers. These two interventions may be used in conjunction with each other, or with other career development interventions such as job rotation and temporary assignments. Both interventions provide the employee with increased skills, making him or her more valuable to the company, or more marketable in the job search. Job Enrichment Job enrichment involves increasing a worker's responsibility and control over his or her work, and is also called ``vertical job loading''. Job enrichment allows you to expand your responsibilities or change your role to develop new competencies without leaving your current position or the organization altogether. Job enrichment is also used as an effective motivational technique. According to this perspective, if a job provides a sense of responsibility, a sense of significance and information concerning performance, the employees will be internally motivated to high levels of performance. The key to creating this situation is to enrich jobs so they provide five core characteristics: task variety, task significance, task identity, autonomy and feedback. Job Sharing With job sharing, a full-time job is split between two employees. The two employees share the duties and responsibilities, as well as the salary and benefits of the job. These two employees must also work closely together, and with management, to co-ordinate hours, duties, and communication among themselves and other departments in the organization. Most often, job sharing is used by parents or

adults caring for their parents, and affords employees a better balance between their work and personal lives. Employees pursuing further education or a second career may also use job sharing. Job sharing offers advantages over part-time work in that employees are able to maintain their professional status as well as some of their job benefits. One example of the advantage over flexitime situations is that with flexitime, parents may still require extended day care hours. Benefits to the employer include having ``two heads instead of one'', retaining valued and experienced employees, and down time due to vacation or sickness is reduced, because the job share partners cover for each other. Phased Retirement Organizations typically devote far more energy to recruiting and retraining than to phasing out workers. Phased retirement is one intervention that workers and employers can use at the latter end of the career cycle. During phased retirement, workers gradually taper their work schedules until they reach full retirement. Other career development interventions such as flextime and job sharing are typically incorporated into phased retirement arrangements. Retirees may work part time and serve as mentors or trainers to their successors. Benefits to employees include a greater sense of control over the transition from work to retirement, lowering the risk of economic insecurity, and more social support. The employer benefits by retaining valued talent and minimizing labor shortages. Source of Reference: James Kirk, Bridget Downey, Steve Duckett, and Connie Woody, Name Your Career Development Intervention, Journal of Workplace Learning Volume 12, Number 5.

Career Management Best Practices Here are some of best practices on managing employee career plan and development.

Providing Employee Assessment and Career Planning Workshops. Companies such as Apple Computer and Sun Microsystems hold on-site workshops where employees learn to take charge of their careers, beginning with assessing their abilities, interests, and values. They then engage in a planning process where they explore the organization's needs to determine possible future options and how to prepare for them. Then they are ready for productive career discussions with their managers. Conducting Career Coaching Workshops for Managers. While employees are learning to take charge of their careers, managers are learning how to support their efforts by becoming familiar with the career assessment and planning process, practicing career coaching techniques, preparing for various types of employee-initiated career discussions, and giving honest feedback. Establishing Employee Career Centers. Companies such as Advanced Micro Devices, IBM, and Motorola, to name a few, have set up internal career centers where employees can come for self-assessment. Services may include computerized programs that incorporate 360-degree feedback, competency assessment, confidential counseling, career management and resilience training, lunch-and-learn seminars, and information, sometimes through an intranet system, about internal opportunities. Giving Open Business Briefings. To meet employees halfway in planning their careers inside the organization, companies such as Sun Microsystems, 3Com, Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, and Microsoft openly discuss strategic decisions and plans that may impact jobs or skills that will be required in the future. At 3Com, most departments hold weekly discussion sessions on the status of the business and what it may mean to employees. IBM has a national website for employees that provides information about the strategic direction of the company. Managers are also expected to provide strategic information to their people. Sun's management has promised workers that it will make employees aware of a strategic decision that will affect staffing, such as plans to outsource a function. "As soon as we've decided something, you'll know," Sun says. Then it follows through on its promise. Sharing such information would be frowned upon by many companies. But the companies that practice such openness believe they are simply treating their employees as respect-worthy adults rather than perpetuating the outdated parent-child relationship. Andy Grove, chairman of Intel, is a strong believer in giving employees the information they need to stay resilient, or, as he calls it, "owning your own employability. "Every quarter," he says to his employees, "I give you a two-hour dump of what's happening to us. You have to figure out what that means to you Creating an Internal Network of Information Providers. Raychem, for example, has set up a network of more than 400 people throughout the organization who are willing to take the time to talk with

employees who want to learn about the nature of their work and job qualifications. Called "I.I.I.N.siders" (for Insiders Information Interview Network), the computerized database houses the names and backgrounds of volunteers. Chase Manhattan Bank maintains a list of employees who are willing to be shadowed by those interested in moving into their line of work. An employee who wants to be a derivatives trader, for example, can spend the day with an actual trader, learning about the challenges of the job, and come away with a realistic understanding of the work. Maintaining Internal Job and Talent Banks. Microsoft has created an on-line service where employees can learn about open positions and the skills required for them. Microsoft also places large amounts of career information on what it calls its "electronic campus," including a "resource and referral" section with lists of books, professional associations, conferences, courses, articles, and other information recommended by coworkers. In its Career Partnership Center, Advanced Micro Devices maintains a data bank of employee skills that can be accessed by managers looking for internal talent. The company also integrates the career development plans of all employees into its long-range workforce planning process. Many other companies are moving to implement virtual career centers that feature on-line computer platforms that show various career paths and allow employees to benchmark their skill levels against those required for desired jobs so that they can make plans to close the gaps. Establishing Individual Learning Accounts. As more and more employees seek opportunities for customized and self-directed development, some progressive companies have created individual learning accounts, providing designated amounts of time and money that employees may "spend" on classes, internships, or other learning opportunities of their choice. While giving employees more freedom to select personalized learning experience, this concept also helps companies save money previously spent on large-scale, "one-size-fits-all" training programs. Starting a Mentoring Program. Formal mentoring programs have grown in popularity in recent years. The list of companies who have launched mentoring programs includes Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, Charles Schwab, Ford Motor Company, Ernst & Young, Quaker Oats Company, IBM, Georgia-Pacific, Ceridian, J. C. Penney, PriceWaterhouse-Coopers, 3M, and General Mills. In one study, mentoring programs were found to be effective in increasing employee retention by 77 percent within companies that implemented them.11 There are three main goals for most mentoring programsto increase opportunities for women and minorities, to develop leaders, and, increasingly, to enhance performance and increase the retention of employees at all levels. Companies with successful mentoring programs report that having the CEO and senior managers actively involved in mentoring and supporting the programs is important. When the practice of mentoring cascades through the organization from the top, it becomes a prestigious thing for managers

to take part. Some companies expect all managers to become mentors, to the point that they include mentoring as an item to be reviewed on performance appraisal. Current mentoring programs have become highly structured. Hewlett-Packard maintains an on-line mentor database that mentees can use to search for mentors with specific areas of expertise. They can even interview potential mentors and submit their choices in order of preference. Hewlett- Packard's program uses written mentoring agreements that establish the ground rules for the partnership, and the company conducts half-day training sessions for mentors and mentees. Other companies have appointed internal human resources staff as "retention managers" or "career management representatives" to act as consultants to all employees, especially the difficult-to-replace talent, such as software engineers.

Elements of Career Planning Programs Though programs differ, four distinct elements of career planning programs emerge. They include (1) individual assessments of abilities, interests, career needs, and goals; (2) organizational assessments of employee abilities and potential; (3) communication of information concerning career options and opportunities with the organization; and (4) career counseling to set realistic goals and plan for their attainment. Each of these elements is discussed in greater detail below. 1- Individual Assessments Individual assessment of abilities, interests, career needs, and goals is basically a process of selfexploration and analysis. Individuals are frequently guided by self-assessment exercises. The self-assessment process is basically viewed as an individual responsibility; however, organizations can aid in this process by providing the employee with materials and opportunities for self-exploration and analysis. A variety of self-assessment materials are available commercially, but a number of organizations, including IBM, Xerox, General Motors, and General Electric, have developed tailor-made workbooks for employee career planning purposes. Individual career planning exercises can be done independently by employees or in workshops sponsored by the organization. Workshops have the advantage of combining a number of career planning elements including self-assessment, communication of organizational career and development opportunities, and one-on-one counseling to ensure that career goals are realistic. 2- Organizational Assessments A key issue in career counseling sessions is whether an employee's goals are realistic in terms of organizational possibilities and organizational assessments of employee abilities and potential. Accurate assessments of employee abilities and potential are important to both the organization and the individual.

Organizations have several sources of information for making assessments of employee abilities and potential. First is selection information, including ability tests, assessment center test, interest inventories, and biographical information such as education and work experience. Second is current job history information, including performance appraisal information, records of promotions and promotion recommendations, salary increases, and participation in various training and development programs. Organizations have traditionally relied on performance appraisal data as the primary basis for assessing employee potential. 3- Career Information within an Organization Before realistic goals can be set, an employee need information about career options and opportunities. This includes information about possible career directions; possible paths of career advancement; and specific job vacancies. In organizations with informal career planning programs, employees learn about career options and opportunities from their supervisors within the context of developmental performance appraisal interviews. Organizations with more established career planning programs make greater use of workbooks, workshops, and even recruiting materials to communicate career options and opportunities. Career paths have been defined as logical progressions between jobs or from one job to a target position. They can be either traditional or behavioral. Traditional career paths are based on past patterns of actual movement by employees. They tend to be limited to advancement within a single function or organizational unit, such as purchasing, sales, or customer relations. Years of service to the organization largely determine the rate at which advancement can occur. For example, a salesman might expect to advance to the position of account supervisor after five years, to sales supervisor after 10, to district manager after 15, and to regional manager after 25 years of service. More flexible patterns of employee career movement are described by behavioral career paths, which are based on analysis of similarities in job activities and requirements. Where similarities exist, jobs can be grouped into job families, or clusters. Thus, all jobs involving similar work activities and levels of required skills and abilities form one job cluster, regardless of job title. Focusing on job similarities across functions and organizational units brings to light new career options for employees and greater flexibility for the organization in utilizing its available human resources. One organization, for example, was able to shift a number of its sales personnel to purchasing positions when sales declined in one major product line and opportunities became available in the purchasing department. This shift was undertaken when a job analysis showed behavioral similarities between the two previously distinct functions. 4- Career Counseling It is in counseling sessions, typically with supervisors and managers in developmental performance appraisal interviews, that most employees explore career goals and opportunities in the organization. Supervisors and managers need accurate assessments of employee abilities and potential, as well as information about career options and opportunities in the organization. HR professionals may be involved in some informal career counseling activities, but basically their role is to support career

counseling activities of supervisors and managers. This means providing supervisors and managers with needed information as well as with the necessary training to function effectively as counselors. In career counseling sessions, employees seek answers to the following kinds of questions: 1. What are my skills and what are the possibilities for developing them or learning new ones? 2. What do I really want for myself insofar as work is concerned? 3. What's possible for me, given my current abilities and skills? 4. What's really required for certain jobs? 5. What training will be required if I choose to pursue a certain career objective?" When counselors are equipped to help employees find the answers to such questions, realistic career goals can be set. Next, development strategies must be devised.

Career Management Process Overview

To manage means "to control, handle, or cope." Career management is the ability to control your life, handle the demands of work and life, and cope with a dynamic and changing economy that directly affects your work life and career development. Ask yourself: Who are you? What interests you? What do you like to do? What are you good at doing? What do you value, what's important to you? What are your special assets, skills, and abilities? Who needs the talents, skills, and abilities you can provide? What work environment and/or arrangements make sense for you? What skills do you need to acquire to develop and manage your career?

The career planning process of self-awareness, career exploration, and job search strategies must encompass and embrace these concepts. Self-Assessment / Knowing Yourself Look within yourself to discover your interests, skills, personality traits, and values. Also ask friends, family members, teachers, or mentors if they see the same qualities in you as you see in yourself. Simply ask: What do I like to do? What activities do I find fun, motivating, interesting, and enjoyable? What skills and abilities do I have or want to develop? What personal style or characteristics do I have that are important to me in the work place? What purpose or goal do I want to accomplish in my career?

Career Exploration Investigate all the career choices, options, and opportunities available to you. Attend career fairs, visit a career center in your school or community, talk to people in various careers, shadow or spend time with people in careers that interest you. Ask: How did you get started in this career? What is a typical day like? What type of training or education is required? What are the starting and average salaries?

Next, set some goals. Research careers that interest you to determine how to prepare for them and how much training and education are required to be successful. After gathering the information, set goals to attain the required training. Job Search

Once you've decided on a career path and made strides in obtaining the required training and education, you will be prepared to begin searching for a job that suits you. Job searching skills include: How to write a resum and cover letter How to network to find job openings How to fill out an application How to interview successfully for a job

Career planning is an ongoing process. Regardless of your age, it is important to assess where you are if you're going to meet your goals and turn your dreams into reality. For example, an unskilled worker with little education or experience in the workforce has different needs from a recent college graduate looking to launch a first-time professional or technical career. An older adult with educational credentials and years of experience, but who is in transition because of layoff or an employer's reorganization, faces a different set of issues. Everyone can benefit from the process of self-assessment, exploring career opportunities, and learning effective, assertive job search strategies that produce results. This is where your career path begins: learning about yourself, exploring careers, and beginning your job search. Remember, career management is a life-long process. Few people stay in one job or on one career path throughout their lives, so you may find yourself completing the process more than once along the way.

http://www.explorehr.org/articles/HR_Powerpoint_Slides/Career_Planning_and_Development.html (This is from the website above. Click the above link for Powerpoint presentation) Career Management Presentation Slides Outline : Career Development : Organizational Initiatives A job posting system Mentoring activities Career resource centers Managers as career counselors Career development workshops Human resource planning and forecasting Performance appraisals Career pathing programs. Career Development : Individual Initiatives Career Planning Career Awareness Career Resource Center Utilization Interests, Values, and Competency Analysis

[Another Power point presentation on: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21281725/Career-Management]