Career management - individual & organizational role

"Focus on career, not merely the job" is

the mantra for successful employers and
employees. There was time when
employment with a reputed firm actually
meant life long employment. People
ascended the hierarchy with age. The
terms like career planning and career
development in fact meant timely
promotions. Career progression, largely
was a function of experience in a job. The
idea of employees changing companies to
carve out a career was almost unheard
of. Employees reciprocated the life long
employment offer of companies with total
commitment for the company. An
opening with a good company was
considered a life time achievement;
thereafter it was simply a matter of

time, performance and politically positioning oneself to be at the right place at right time
to go up the ladder. There was hardly anything for individuals to think beyond the job they
were doing as career very nearly meant the job.

Career versus job

How does one differentiate career from job? A career is a sequence of jobs or positions
occupied by an individual during a course of time. Career is the specialization in a
profession which continues to progress in spite of changes in jobs. For example, even
when an individual as maintenance engineer has changed his jobs with various process
industries and maintenance service providers, he is still pursuing a career in maintenance
management. In fact the career plans that an individual nurtures determine the kind of
jobs he takes up. 

Distinguishing jobs from careers and distinct focus on career planning and development
holds the key to employee retention. Recruiting good people is a challenge, retaining them
is a greater challenge in a marketplace where competition is not limited to technology,
products and market share but has penetrated into the domain of human capital as well.
And for an individual, career planning takes the center stage in view of the turbulent
markets where down-sizing, off-shoring and out sourcing are the buzz words in any
business.

Transitory jobs - a corporate reality

Today with intense competition every where, coupled with economic changes sweeping
the world, companies are aggressively pursuing the strategies for acquisition, divestment,
down-sizing, outsourcing, and synergy through alliances. Strategies such as outsourcing,
downsizing, off-shore operations and divestment take out the aspect of permanency from
the jobs. Pursuing strategies that result in loss of jobs for some is always a distressing
experience - both for those who get the axe and for the people who are still with the
company. It is in context of this corporate reality of transitory jobs, that career planning
and development assume more significance. 

In order to equip people deal with this reality, the corporate focus must shift from life long
employment to life long employability. Companies must support the individuals in planning
their careers by providing personalized information on the direction the business is headed
towards, setting the career expectation of people in the right perspective and responding
to career initiatives of individuals. In other words companies must help people by guiding
them to pursue a specific career, which has positive outcomes for the company too in
terms of higher levels of employee commitment and ease in pursuing a given strategy and
resulting restructuring.
Career planning largely an individual's responsibility

If on one hand competition and cost economics are spreading insecurity in jobs and on the
other hand competition and evolution of new industries which were nonexistent a couple
of decades ago are opening a plethora of opportunities for the individuals to choose from.
New opportunities and accompanying threats make the job markets extremely
unpredictable. In such an uncertain environment, it is ultimately the responsibility of the
individual to decide and make choices to pursue a desired career. Personal ambition
coupled with emerging business trends are increasingly shaping the career choice of the
people. An organization can at best support an individual’s career aspirations if it falls in
line with its business goals. With this view of careers in today’s environment, an individual
needs to change the way jobs have traditionally been looked at. A job is not merely a
means of earning money, it must be viewed by the individuals as an opportunity for
learning, so that when you are doing a job to fulfill you responsibility for the company, you
are also strengthening your skills required to develop your career. 

Career management thus is primarily an indivudal responsibility. Career planning and

pursuing the desired career is a life long process for an individual, where he continuously
learns about his purpose, personality, skills and interests. The process of career
management by an individual involves rigour and focus at each step. 

An individual must continuously review learning from his assignments and try to develop
alternate perspectives of the job, which helps in enriching ones' experience. Also a
periodic relook at the job and the company that one serves along with the opportunities
available outside will definitely help an individual in giving boost to his career
advancement. Finally, one must take some time at some important milestones to assess
his progress against the long term goals and make subtle and yet much needed course
correction. Also such a review gives an opportunity for the individual to refine / gain
clarity on long term goals, which in turn will effect his further course of action. 

During the whole process, folowing points will be of immense help for an individual:

 Taking a long term view of where one wants to be

 Accept short term trade offs for long term benefits (low pay offer or some lateral
move, which are vital for career development and contact building)
 Judicious decision between specialized jobs and isolated jobs
 Building the right connections - both inside and outside the firm
 Assess oneself honestly (through interviews for higher positions, performance in
seminars or workshops etc.)
 Keep abreast of changes and capture first mover advantage
 Plan your exit (timing, convenience and dignity)

Though, the onus of managing one's career lies with the individual, thrust of HR must be
on designing great careers from the jobs that they offer to attract and retain the best of
the talent available to such an extent that people find themselves in the "right job" and
view these jobs as stepping stones to great careers.

Challenge for HR - matching career aspirations with business

needs
Employee loyalty to the company is higher when the job fulfills intrinsic needs and
personal goals of the employees. By assissting an individual in planning his career and
providing opportunities for career development, an organization can ensure higher loyalty
and productivity from employees. 

Challenge for HR professional in an organization is to match and support career

expectation of high performers with organizational requirements. 

Few of the ways in which this can be done is shown below:

 Mentoring is one way by which organizations create context for directing careers
of youngsters
 Enriching the jobs - Encourage people to continuously redesign the work
procedures
 Job rotations in line with individual capability and company requirements
 Providing organization wide, team based and individual learning opportunities
 Taking stock of future leadership requirements and designing the career path of
capable and performing individuals
 Design developmental programmes that improve the employability of the people
and engage them with challenging assignments

Though an organization and an individual have distinct roles to play in the process of
career management, what is interesting is that HR can add value at each step of the
individual efforts in career progression. Also individuals must use the HR interventions in
an organization as an opportunity for giving shape to their career plans. Role of an
individual and that of an organization with respect to some of the aspects of individual
carreer planning and major HR interventions is brought out below:
Individual and organizational role in career management
Key Aspect Individual role HR Role
Managing the expectations
realistically:

clarifying possibilities of
Developing and gaining
Goal seting (by knowledge based and
clarity on long term
an indiviual) goal / purpose
hierarchical based goals

providing information on
business direction and
possibilities
Planning w.r.t. type and Support individual plan
Action duration of jobs to be through movement along the
taken up, companies or career path:
planning(by an industry to be targeted, Job rotations, advancements,
individual) and other developmental problem solving assignments
needs etc.
Learn from the Align individuals to the
Mentoring & experience and insights company values
of mentors / coaches
coaching (by provide informal guidance
the org.) establish life long about building career within
relationships the organization
Assessment (by Learn about present
assess values synchronization,
profile and gaps that
individual & need to be fulfilled in the
performance, potential and
org) likely career path
long run
Honest performance
Attaining additional
Development appraisals,
educational qualification,
identifying
individual developmental
(by the obtaining external
needs and fulfilling the same,
individual & certfications as
providing opportunity to
authentication of skills
org.) implement learning for
possessed
organizational benefit
opportunity to participate in
focus on de-
Challenging various task forces to solve
bottlenecking processes,
real time business problems
work (by the thus keeping the element
org.) of "challenge in the
exposure to new business
work" alive
improvement tools
Career management - value proposition for an organization

Career management provides a great opportunity for an organization to arrive at

congruence of aspiration and interests of high performing individuals with current and
future business needs. By providing proper direction and development, career progression
of these individuals can be planned within the organization, where not only the individual
achieves a sense of personal fulfillment but also future requirements of critical positions in
the organization are taken care of. 

In a nutshell, career planning for an organization starts with managing and directing the
career expectation of the employees realistically. Considering individual goals,
performance and potential, HR must chart out the career path of the employees in such a
way that these efforts of career planning and development culminate into sucession
planning at highest levels in the organization. This will not only ensure smooth transfer of
charge at the top without major cultural upheavals but also in enriching organizational
talent pool and strengthening leadership bench.