A career development plan is a written list of the short and long-term goals that an employee has regarding their current and future jobs. It includes a planned sequence of formal and informal experiences that will give assistance to the employee in achieving his goals, which must be linked to his personal strengths and potential.
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Although technically optional, career development plans must be recommended to all employees, so that their short-term growth and development objectives are in line and supported by their managers and supervisors, and to check that their long-term career expectations are realistic.
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Purpose of a Career Development Plan
The main purpose of a career development plan is to assist employees in achieving their goals. By doing this, the management will have a bigger chance of retaining their people since their employees can see that they are exerting visible effort to help them achieve their goals while within the organization. Instead of leaving to pursue them somewhere else, they’d prefer to stay at a place that is trying to nurture and guide them.
A career development plan can also help an employee set realistic expectations regarding their personal career growth. It can suggest time frames for certain achievable milestones to happen, such as promotions, and can help the employee identify the areas that they would need to develop before they can become eligible for their next career benchmark. You may also see individual development plan examples.
However, a career development plan does not represent career commitment between the employee and his supervisor, although the latter is a big part of the former’s career development.
A career development plan focuses on the employee’s needs for growth and development, alongside the assistance that the organization can offer to their member so that he can have the opportunity to grow in his career.
What to Avoid in Making a Career Development Plan
If you are an employer who seeks to create a development plan with his employees, there are certain issues and statements that you may want to avoid such as the following:
1. Avoid giving guarantees, promises, or forming contracts with the employee that the company will provide training or any other special benefit. The best you can do is to give your word that you will do your best to help them, but that nothing is guaranteed. You may also see business development strategy plan examples.
2. Avoid over-committing yourself or the company because your employee may interpret your words literally, and this can create complications.
3. The career development plan belongs to the employee. However, the manager has a responsibility in carrying it out. You need to facilitate the endeavor and explore options with your employee. You may also be obliged to provide the employee with opportunities available, and to encourage him to have professional goals for the growth of his own career. This is the limitation of what you can (and should) do for them. They must perform the rest themselves.
4. Do not over-commit your time and resources to this employer, regardless of how devoted you are to helping them. After all, they are not your only employee, and they are not your only responsibility.
Chances are, you have a limited amount of time available to help them in addition to doing your job. It’s not a part of your duty to make sure that your employee is actually improving with the help of his development plan. Your only job is to keep a watchful eye on him and offer assistance when you can and when he needs it. You may also like personal plan examples.
5. Do not do the work for the employee. Ever. Simply steer him to the right direction, and maybe offer resources to make his journey a little easier, but never take the burden off his shoulders. (Everybody knows you have enough of that on yourself.) You may also check out implementation plan examples.
Avoid making choices for the employee because you may have to answer to the consequences if the choices prove themselves to be badly made. Let them do it themselves so that they can be held responsible for it too.
How to Discuss Career Development with Employees
Since, as the employer, you will be playing a vital role in your employee’s career development plan, you can also choose to create one with him with these steps:
1. You can tell your employee that you want to meet him to discuss career development plans with him. Instruct him to think in advance about his options for growth and development, and how he can achieve them while being in your company. Make them visualize and describe which progressive road they want their career to take. You might be interested in strategic plan examples.
2. Suggest that your employee think on an answer to these questions before you both meet: What professional job or career growth goals does he hope to achieve within the next three years? What would he hope to achieve within the year? What opportunities does he consider options for him to accomplish these goals?
3. Let your employee assess himself so that he can determine the things he can do to and the efforts he can exert to make sure that he can actually progress on his career path.
4. Assess your company and determine what resources and support you can provide so that your employee can accomplish his or her professional growth goals.
5. Once you have both met in person, ask your employee about his answers to your initial question. But make sure that the conversation is versatile so that he can insert other avenues that he may want to discuss. You should also both discuss the options available to your employee such as job shadowing, mentoring, and coaching on particular skill. You may also see real estate development marketing plan examples.
6. Fill the appropriate forms that detail the employee’s career development plan and turn in into your company’s Human Resources Department for review and additional input.
What Do You Want Out of Your Professional Life?
Real career progress doesn’t just happen overnight. Nor will it happen if you simply go through your daily work routine with no other motivation but your paycheck. As a career person, you need to be proactive if you really want to achieve the results you want to see. You must have the drive to move up the career ladder, and when you do, a career development plan will play a huge role in it. You may also see action plan examples.
1. Define success
Being successful in your chosen field means different things to different people. To you, it could mean being promoted to a managerial position. Or it could mean that you simply want fulfillment out of your everyday work situation. Whatever it may be, make sure that you’ve been introduced to it and that all your efforts from here on are dedicated to help you realize that vision. Think big and write down your aspirations. You may also like project plan examples.
2. Identify goals and barriers
You should have a list of your short and long-term goals. A short-term goal could mean the approval to a project you’ve been working on, while a long-term goal could be a salary raise following a promotion.
Once you’ve determined these milestones and successfully created a timeline for them, proceed to trying to picture potential barriers that may stand in your way. Pay specific attention to any skill that you might need to enhance by paying a professional to help you (such as taking classes). Sometimes, additional training is necessary to advance one’s career. You may also check out work plan examples.
3. Start tackling potential obstacles
There’s no such thing as smooth sailing, at least not when it comes to your career. Which means that, at some point, you’ll find yourself being thwarted by some sort of obstacle. Since avoiding them is not an option, the best thing you can do is to at least prepare yourself for their onslaught, so that the damages these hindrances will cause will be limited to a level that you can easily handle. You might be interested in learning plan examples.
Try writing down the career obstacles you can think of, and then proceed to creating a series of steps that you believe can help you get through them. Once you’ve recognized and established these steps, make sure you carry them out when the need arises. You may also see performance improvement plan examples.
4. Reevaluate often
Things rarely go the way we plan them to, and the same thing goes for our career development plans. No matter how extensive your preparations are, there is always something that will keep us off track. Our careers are vulnerable to unexpected circumstances the way our lives are. There are many factors that can change the course of your career development plan. You may also like business plan examples.
The key factor here is to be flexible. Knowing this truth about how defenseless we are to things that are out of our control, make your career development plan exactly what it is: a general plan. Don’t set anything in stone and don’t develop false high hopes. Let your future unfold in itself, while still trying to keep a firm hand on it.
Reevaluate regularly, perhaps every six months, or every time something altering happens such as a sudden move, or even the loss of your job. During every reevaluation, assess if the better goals you’ve initially set are still the ones you wish to work toward, and if the barriers you’ve laid out are still applicable. By making adjustments when they are necessary, you can be sure that you are moving to the right direction.
Taking Charge of Your Career Path
Career planning is essential for success. Setting milestones for your desired career path is just as important. Day after boring day of the same set of tasks conducted in the same office space may make you lose sight of any purpose you have initially set for yourself. You may also see business action plan examples.
With a career development plan, you can have a sense of direction that never wavers. It will help you assess if your career is progressing, and if you have achieved the benchmarks you’ve laid out for yourself.
In order to progress in your career, and to not simply stay where you have always been for the past two years or so, you will need to plan forward. This may include trying to develop your skill set, or looking for better, brighter opportunities. Actively pursuing employee development opportunities that may arise will give you the chance to gain relevant work experience you might need. You may also like personal strategic plan examples.
In order to really succeed (not just in career, but in our existence in general), you need to take charge of things, to take ownership for shaping your future, and to make sure that you are moving nowhere else but forward. In order to achieve all of this, you might need to do some extensive planning. You may also check out real estate strategic plan examples.
1. Planning forward.
Put on paper where you see yourself going in your career, and try to plot each valuable step that will take you there.
2. Self-assessment.
Never fail to assess yourself, your skills, your potentials, your strengths, and your weaknesses.
3. Self-development.
Once you have assessed yourself and have been introduced to who you are as a career person, pay attention to any existing setbacks, and make sure you have prepared yourself for them.
4. Work on getting the right experience.
Try to gain as much experience as possible in your job. You may even take additional projects and work if its possible. Anything that will render you more versatile in your craft is a gigantic help that can help boost you up the career ladder. You might be interested in HR strategy plan examples.
5. Make yourself indispensable.
Everything that moves inside a workplace are all there because they have proven themselves to be competent in their jobs. Forget about being the best. Work toward being indispensable, toward being critical to the company’s successes. To make sure that you are not overlooked for any promotions or future roles, lead them see you by performing excellently at everything you do. You may also see job plan examples.
6. Network.
Try to make as many professional connections as you can, especially those that are relevant to your job choices and career aspirations. Put yourself out there for the whole world to see. Networking is not simply making contacts. It’s about making the right contacts who may be able to assist you in achieving your career goals. You may also like community strategic plan examples.
Career growth should be our top priority. It should be the goal we are all heading toward. With the help of a supportive supervisor, a healthy working environment, and a career development plan, this can be made easier.
