Course Name: Career Planning and Development

MBA program, Major in HRM.

Introduction
If organizations assist employees in better preparing them for new responsibilities by enhancing
the employability, organizations can be better prepared to meet its human resource needs through
career planning and career management
A new type of relationship is evolving from a more paternalistic to an exchange relationship for
mutual benefit of both parties. But employees are expected to assume responsibility for own
learning by exhibiting demonstrable value to the organization and understand the nature of
business. Employers are expected to provide opportunities for skill development, training,
education, employee’s involvement in decision making, assistance with career and performance
based compensation etc.

Individuals’ career planning assumed greater significance with the unparalleled growth and
speed of knowledge, phenomenal increase in educational and training facilities and widespread
increase in job opportunities. Similarly, organizational career planning also gained importance
with the change in technology, human needs, values and aspirations, increase in organizational
size, complexity and number of openings at different levels.

Defining Career Concepts

Career: Career is a sequence of attitudes and behaviors associated with the series of job and
work related activities over a person’s lifetime. The pattern of work related experiences that
spans the course of one’s life. Career has objective events like jobs and subjective views of work
like attitudes, values, and expectations.
1. A career may be defined as ‘a sequence of jobs that constitute what a person does for a living’.
2. According to Schermerborn, Hunt, and Osborn, ‘Career planning is a process of systematically
matching career goals and individual capabilities with opportunities for their fulfillment’.
3. Career planning is the process of enhancing an employee’s future value.
4. A career plan is an individual’s choice of occupation, organization and career path.

Career planning encourages individuals to explore and gather information, which enables them
to synthesize, gain competencies, make decisions, set goals and take action. It is a crucial phase
of human resource development that helps the employees in making strategy for work-life
balance.

Career Ladders and Career Paths

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Typically, a career involves a growth path which takes an individual to a higher position in the
organizational hierarchy over a certain period of time. It is called the career ladder or the career
path. Most of the organisations map out various steps in the lifetime of an organisation in
advance. This is done to proactively assess various job movements, vertical and lateral or cross
functional moves.

Career ladders are part of the information services which in turn is a component of the
career development systems. It is a part of the career management process. According to one
survey conducted among 182 of the fortune 500 firms, career ladders or career path was
considered as one of the effective tools of retention, work motivation and having the
communication.

The process of chalking the career path is beneficial to both the employees and the organisation.
From the perspective of the organisation, they are able to preempt future job opportunities for the
employees and for answering employee queries about their career progression. Lots of
organisations group jobs by job families. General Motors for instance employs one such strategy.
They group marketing, HR, Engineering and production etc to draft a picture of future prospects
for the employee in each group.

For an employee the career path or the ladder helps him set targets for himself throughout
his career; evaluate himself continually and develop new skills required at the time of
transition from one position to a higher. The career path carries the time line, the intermediate
goals and the skills and competencies or the qualifications. It thus serves as a guide map. For
example the career path in a sales department may look like:

Executive Business Development ⇒ Senior Executive Business Development ⇒ Assistant

Manager ⇒ Deputy Manager ⇒ Manager ⇒ Area Sales Manager ⇒ Senior Manager ⇒ Deputy
General Manager ⇒ General Manager ⇒ Vice President and so forth.

At each level an employee may be required to spend a certain amount of time and give a certain
level of productivity. Unless the individual performs brilliantly the time frame is not
compromised upon. In a research survey it was found out that, those organisation who picked up
very young professionals from top business schools and escalated them to senior positions failed
miserably despite their rich skills and qualifications! It is thus necessary to spend certain time at
each level, which prepares you for the next.

Employees who outperform others are placed on fast track development tracks where they are
provided training inputs so that they are able to move up the ladder and assume leadership
positions soon. For such cases multiple or dual career paths have come up in the recent years!
This is especially true for scientists and engineers who lacked managerial skills and were
regarded as misfits for leadership or managerial positions, not anymore. Nowadays organisations
have dual career paths so that a person in a technical position can move up through any of the
desired paths.

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It therefore appears that career paths and ladders are good contributors to the career development
system within organisations. Apart from the above mentioned benefits they also act as agents of
motivation by helping the employees

Career Planning:
Career planning consists of activities and actions that you take to achieve your individual career
goals. It is way by which one can achieve goals and ambitions successfully. It is a difference
between success and failure which always leads to satisfactory results. It is a vison. It is an on-
going process where you:
 Explore your interests and abilities
 Strategically plan your career goals
 Create your future work success by designing learning and action plans to help you
achieve your goals (Virginia Jobs).

‘Career Planning essentially means helping the employees plan his/ her career in terms of his /
her capabilities within the context of organizational needs”. Career planning implies planning of
specific career paths of the employees in the foreseeable future further in the organization. It may
be useful to work out career path charts for incumbents of different job clusters. Career planning
often means job rotation, successive planning and promotion policy. Career planning is a process
which optimizes the interdependence of the individuals and also their organizational relationship.
Career planning is more akin to growth and development which is must for every individual of
the organization. It helps to facilitate dialogue between the individual and the organization in
order to optimize their mutual needs.

According to Douglas T. Hall, “Career plan as an individually perceived sequence of attitudes

and behaviors associated with work related experiences and activities over the span of the
person’s life”.2

Edwin B. Flipo defined a career as, “a sequence of separate but related work activities that
provides continuity, order and meaning in a person’s life.”3

Wrether and Davis defined various terms of Career Planning like, “a career path is the
sequential pattern of jobs that forms a career. Career goals are the future positions one strives to
reach as part of a career.

Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and the path to these gods.
Career development is those personal improvements one undertakes to achieve, a personal career
plan. Career management is the process of designing and implementing goals, plans and
strategies to enable the organization to satisfy employee needs, while allowing individuals to
achieve their career goals."

Features of Career Planning

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1. It is an ongoing process.
2. It helps individuals develop skills required to fulfill different career roles.
3. It strengthens work-related activities in the organization.
4. It defines life, career, abilities, and interests of the employees.
5. It can also give professional directions, as they relate to career goals.

Objectives of Career Planning:

The major objectives of career planning are as follows:
1. To identify positive characteristics of the employees.
2. To develop awareness about each employee’s uniqueness.
3. To respect feelings of other employees.
4. To attract talented employees to the organization.
5. To train employees towards team-building skills.
6. To create healthy ways of dealing with conflicts, emotions, and stress.
7. identifying and making clear opportunities available.
8. To reduce employee turnover.
9. To increase productivity
10. To identify the career stages and enhance the motivational level
11. To achieve the organizational goal by proving the employees paths to reach higher order
needs.

Need for Career Planning

Career planning is essential for:
• To attract competent persons and to retain them to the organization.
• To provide suitable promotional opportunities.
• To enable the employees to develop mi make them ready to meet the future challenges.
• To increase the utilization of managerial reserves within an organization to correct employee
placement.
• To reduce employee dissatisfaction and turnover.
• To improve motivation and morale.

Steps in Career Planning

a) Analysis of individual skills, knowledge, abilities, aptitude etc.
b) Analysis of career opportunities both within and outside the organization.
c) Analysis of Career demands on the incumbent in terms of skills, knowledge, abilities, aptitude
etc. and in terms of qualifications, experience and training received etc.
d) Relating specific jobs to different career opportunities.
e) Establishing realistic goals both short-term and long term.
f) Formulating career strategy covering areas of change, and adjustment.
g) Preparing and implementing action plan including acquiring resources for achieving goals.

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Limitations of Career Planning
Though career planning helps an organization in numerous ways, it has a few limitations that
undermine the importance and relevance of career planning.
These are;
 Time factor.
 Unsuitable for a large workforce.
 Lack of objectivity.
 External interventions.
 Lack of knowledge and awareness.
 Lack of flexibility.
 Difficulty in measuring career success.

Advantages of career planning for employees:

1) The possibility to succeed faster in a career

2) More autonomy and increased responsibility
3) Broadened work experience
4) Increased work contentment

Benefits of Career Planning:

1. Career planning ensures a constant supply of promotable employees.
2. It helps in improving the loyalty of employees.
3. Career planning encourages an employee’s growth and development.
4. It discourages the negative attitude of superiors who are interested in suppressing the growth
of the subordinates.
5. It ensures that senior management knows about the caliber and capacity of the employees who
can move upwards.
6. It can always create a team of employees prepared enough to meet any contingency.
7. Career planning reduces labor turnover.
8. Every organization prepares succession planning towards which career planning is the first
step.
9. Lower the rate of employee turnover
10. Promote growth and development
11. Meet the needs of organizations of the need for human resource in the future.
12. Provide better information.
13. Develop employees who can be promoted.
14. Provide facilities for international placement.
15. help to create the diversity of the workforce.

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Steps in the Career Planning Process

Career planning process is an important aspect for an individual’s career development. Some of
the basic steps in a career planning process are:

1. Self-Assessment: The first step in the career planning process is self-assessment to be done by
the individual to understand his or her skills, areas of interest etc.

2. Research on Careers: The second step in the career planning process is to understand the
career options, companies available, growth options in career etc.

3. Set Career Objectives: The next step in the career planning is to set short-term as well as long-
term career goals for oneself, and to have a clear career path.

4. Learn & Improve Skills: The fourth step in the career planning process is to keep acquiring
new skills and knowledge to be in line with career objectives and with industry requirements.

5. Preparation of CV: The next step in the career planning is to be fully prepared in terms of CV,
cover letter, recommendations etc.

6. Job Search: The sixth step in the career planning process is to short-list the companies where
an individual is seeking a job & start applying.

7. Revise Career Goals: The last step in the career planning process is to continuously evaluate
the career goals and again do a self-assessment to build a strong career path.

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CAREER PLANNING MODELS
There are many models one may use while career planning. The two main models are
1. Waterloo University Model

Figure: Water University Model

2. The SODI Career Planning Model

Given the complexity of career development and the fluidity of the world of work, we need to be
able to navigate our career paths with purpose and clarity.
Law and Watts (1977) devised a simple model of career education which has stood the test of
time. This model has been changed slightly to become a career planning, rather than a career
education model and named the SODI model where the last element is ‘implementation’ rather
than ‘transition learning’, and ‘decision learning’ becomes ‘decision making and planning’.

The model encapsulates four concepts which are:

1. Self-awareness – individual having knowledge about and understanding of their own personal
development. Self-awareness in a careers context involves an understanding of kind of personal
resources (both actual and potential) they bring to world.

2. Opportunity awareness – an understanding of the general structures of the world of work,

including career possibilities and alternative pathways.

3. Decision making and planning – an understanding of how to make career decisions, and being
aware of pressures, influences, styles, consequences and goal setting.

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4. Implementing plans – having the appropriate skill level in a range of areas to be able to
translate job and career planning into reality

At last, The SODI career planning model

 Self-awareness – Having knowledge about and an understanding of your own personal

development.

 Opportunity awareness – An understanding of the general structures of the world of

work, including career possibilities and alternative pathways.

 Decision-making and planning – How to make career decisions and being aware of
pressures, influences, styles, consequences and goal setting.

 Implementing plans – Having the appropriate skill level in a range of areas to be able to
translate job and career planning into reality.

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Career Development

People are the most important resource an organization can have. So, it becomes prime
responsibility of the organizations to take care of their employees and give them an opportunity
to grow especially to those who are career conscious and deliver performance. Career in 21st
century is measured by continuous learning of the employees and identity changes in due course
of time rather than changes in age and life stages. Career development of employees is not a
mere responsibility of organizations, rather it is their obligation to address the ambitions of
employees and create such job positions where they can accommodate their growing ambitions.

Employees are career conscious and they’ll stick to an organization where they feel that they
have an opportunity to showcase their talent, grow to the maximum possible level and achieve
their objectives. When we talk about growth, it can have different meanings to different people.
Some may look at it as a fat package, some may want to climb up the ladder in the hierarchy and
reach the topmost position while some want to acquire higher skills and competencies along with
their growth as a human being. Some people may take it as an opportunity to avail some
exclusive perks and benefits. Depending upon one’s own thinking, different people take different
actions in order achieve their objectives.

Given the present situations, if employees want their organization to give them an opportunity to
grow and achieve their ambitions, they need to be prepared for the future jobs. The main focus of
organizations is on the employability of their people. Therefore, individuals should make sure
that they have skills and competencies plus willingness to perform a specific job efficiently.
Although the organizations can hire employees from outside but they require portable
competencies in order to get the job done. For this, they will need to impart training to them and
develop skills and competencies according to the job profile. But this is a troublesome process
and takes hell lot of time to prepare the employees for a specific job. In order to avoid this
situation to the maximum possible extent, organizations take control of the careers of their
already existing employees and foster succession planning to fill the topmost positions.

Individuals need to develop new and better skills so that they are fit for promotion and reach to a
higher level in the organization. Organizations likewise need to become proactive in designing
and implementing career development programs for their employees. It is the best thing they can
do to decrease employee turnover. Although it is employees responsibility to plan their career
but in today’s turbulent and terrifically ambiguous world of work it is the employers’
responsibility to provide them with opportunities achieve their ambitions. They need to create
that environment and culture for continuous learning and support their employees by motivating
and rewarding them.

Career development is a continuous process where both employees as well as employers

have to put efforts in order to create conducive environment so that they can achieve their
objectives at the same time.

Career development is the series of activities or the on-going/lifelong process of developing

one’s career. Career development usually refers to managing one’s career in an intra-

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organizational or inter-organizational scenario. It involves training on new skills, moving to
higher job responsibilities, making a career change within the same organization, moving to a
different organization or starting one’s own business.

Career development is directly linked to the goals and objectives set by an individual. It starts
with self-actualization and self-assessment of one’s interests and capabilities. The interests are
then matched with the available options.

The individual needs to train himself to acquire the skills needed for the option or career path
chosen by him. Finally, after acquiring the desired competency, he has to perform to achieve the
goals and targets set by him. Career development is directly linked to an individual’s growth and
satisfaction and hence should be managed by the individual and not left to the employer. Career
development helps an individual grow not only professionally but also personally. Learning new
skills like leadership, time management, good governance, communication management, team
management etc also help an employee develop and shape their career.

Research has shown that careers develop in a predictable and common sequence of events where
people face issues and pressures, which they attempt to resolve. It is an ongoing process by
which individual’s progress through a series of stages which is characterized by a relatively
unique set of issues, themes and tasks. Both individuals and organizations have interests in an
employee’s career and both may take actions to influence it. Two activities of career
development:

1. Career Planning: Becoming aware of self, opportunities, constraints, choices and

consequences; Identifying career related goals; Programming work, education and related
developmental experiences to provide the direction, timing and sequence of steps to attain a
specific career goal

2. Career Management: Career Management can be defined as “an ongoing process of preparing,
implementing, and monitoring career plans usually in concert with the organization’s career
system

Importance of Career Development

Although the business environment has been endlessly experiencing negative changes such as
economic downsizing and restructuring resulting in fewer hierarchical positions but at the same
time the need for improving productivity while keeping a pace with continuously changing
technology has also increased. Organizations, therefore, instead of hiring a new individual from
the market prefer to promote their already existing employee to a specific position as he or she is
already aware of the organizational culture and does not need to be trained. This requires a

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careful succession planning of employees and developing and preparing them continuously for
filling topmost designations in future.

The process of organizational career development is important for both employees and
employers. There may be several unintended and undesired changes as well as consequences that
can change the entire scenario. In such a situation both employees and employers must be ready
to keep with the changing environment and act accordingly. Employees continuously need to
upgrade their skills and competencies to meet the current demands where as organizations must
be ready with those employees who can handle the pressure efficiently and cease the risk of
falling prey to the changed scenario. Therefore, understanding the importance of career
development is very necessary for both the parties.

Business Environment Factors that can Bring Undesired Changes

 Economic Downsizing: The biggest of all the factors that has badly affected the careers
of millions of individuals is economic downsizing. The jobs are cut from the
organizations and the fittest of all employees survive. If employees continuously learn
new and better skills, chances are that economic conditions won’t hurt them that badly as
compared to other individuals.
 De-layering: De-layering means reclassification of jobs. This is an organizational change
initiative where a company decides to reclassify the jobs more broadly. However, old
reporting lines do exist in order to maintain managerial control but some jobs may be
removed or cut down during the process. Again, those individuals have to leave the
organization who are not competent enough to be shifted to other job with different
nature.
 Cost Reduction Strategies of the Organization: Cost-reduction strategies of the
organizations are again very dangerous for those individuals who are not prepared to
move on to the next level. If organizations have to cut down their operating costs, the
employment of those individuals is at stake who are not employable or who have not
performed up to the mark in past. Employees continuously need to upgrade themselves
and show their talent in order to remain in the organizations till long.
 IT Innovations: Continuous changes and upgradation in the technology is also one of the
major factors that bring change. Some individuals can keep a pace with the changing
technology and are always ready to learn and adopt new IT applications while some show
immense resistance which is not acceptable to the organizations. Employees need to keep
themselves updated and show willingness to accept changes as and when they occur and
mould themselves accordingly.

The business changes affect both organizations and employees. The need is to understand them
and find a way to cope with them effectively.

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Designing Career Development Systems

Organizational career development process includes both individuals and institutions. Individuals
plan their own careers whereas institutions or organizations manage the careers of the
employees. Career planning by an individual includes several sub processes such as occupational
choices, organizational choices, job assignment choices and career self-development. While the
major sub processes of career management by organizations include recruitment and selection,
human resource allocation, appraisal and evaluation and training and development. In order to
have effective career development attempts by the organizations, designing automated career
development systems plays a crucial role as it integrates a series of activities related to individual
career planning and organizational career management involving employees, management and
the organization.

An individual’s career is a series or sequence of work-related activities as well as his or her

future aspirations. It is affected by several factors such as his or her behaviour, attitude, values,
ambitions and desires and opportunities and threats and weaknesses and strengths plus the outer
environment and economic conditions. It is a deliberate process followed by an individual
depending upon his or her desires and aspirations over the span of one’s life.

Career management is an ongoing process that takes into account a particular job title or
designation while preparing, implementing and monitoring succession planning depending
upon the future requirements of an organization. Obviously, it also takes human factors in
account but the entire process is directed and operated as per the needs and convenience of an
organization. The best planning takes into account both organization’s and individual’s
aspirations and creates a perfect mix where both the parties can be benefited.

Designing Career Development Systems

Designing career development systems according to specific needs and requirements of an

organization can help HR specialists in bringing efficiency to the entire process of career
management. Since the system tries to integrate all the activities of an employee, management as
well as an organization, it has to be tailor-designed. There is nothing that fits all since the nature
of the every business is different and aspirations of every employee in every industry are
different. Most companies along with career management programs also involve career
assessment process by the employee. If they have supportive environment such as a facilitator
and properly automated system, they will properly assess their careers and fill genuine
information about themselves.

Most organizations such as Xerox, IBM, Wal-Mart, Lincoln electric and Bell Atlantic have their
own specific career development systems. Along with this, they provide their employees with
supportive environment and a culture that supports the whole process of career development.
This is the reason why these companies are considered as the best places to work. Since they
manage the careers of their employees seriously and treat them as the most valuable assets of the
organization, a very high percentage of university graduates prefer joining them even if they
offer low compensation.

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While designing career development system for an organization, the nature of their business, the
industry and the business environment they are operating in should also be considered. Although
it is an internal process of an organization but outer environment factors such as job market,
current trends, economic conditions, etc affect the entire process.

Benefits of a Career Development System

Career development programs are most effective when they are integrated with the
organization’s ongoing training and development strategies. For being able to do this, an
organization must have a carefully designed career development system especially designed to
meet its own unique needs and requirements. An automated and well-designed career
management system not only benefits organizations but also help employees and managers or
supervisors in establishing effective communication with each other. All the parties gain
different benefits and combining which they can together set an organizational culture that
supports such types of activities in an organization.

Benefits of a Career Development System to Organization

 Once organization has a fair idea about employee’s strengths and weaknesses, attitude
and behaviour, values and future aspirations and skills and competencies, they are able to
make better use of employee skills and put them at the right place.
 The organization can disseminate all important details and information at all
organizational levels in order to ensure effective communication at all levels. It fosters
and lays emphasis on better communication within the organization as a whole.
 It also helps organization retain valued employees by providing them what they want.
Since the organization is able to collect all necessary information about a specific
individual, it can make efforts to retain them.
 It establishes a reputation of the organization in the market. More and more working
professionals see it as a people developer and get attracted towards it.

Benefits of a Career Development System to Employees

 The major benefit of career development system to employees is that they get helpful
assistance and guidance with their career decisions. They get to know about their own
aspirations, objectives and desires and understand how to shape their career.
 By using this system, they can set more realistic goals and objectives that are feasible to
be accomplished over the span of one’s life.
 It fosters better communication between the employee and the manager as well as at all
levels of the organization.
 The best part is that they can get feedback on their performance. This helps them improve
their working style and compels them to upgrade their skills.
 The process leads to job enrichment and enhanced job satisfaction.

Benefits of a Career Development System to Managers/Supervisors

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  A career development system helps managers and supervisors in improving and
upgrading their skills in order to manage their own career. Even they get to where they
are heading to and what their aspirations are.
 It fosters better communication between managers and employees.
 It helps them in retaining valued employees as they get to know about their skills and
competencies and future aspirations as well.
 It helps in discussing productive performance appraisal of employees and planning their
promotions as well as their career graph.
 It leads to greater understanding of the organization as a whole and cultivate a supportive
and conducive culture in the organization.
 It helps managers in understanding the hidden aspects of employees and guides them to
allocate employees the right job that matches to their skills and competencies.

Components of a Career Development System

A career development system includes a variety of components for use in the organizations. In
order to increase the efficiency of the system, the HR mangers must have complete knowledge
about these tools since they play a role of consultant when employees and supervisors use this
system. Plus, they are responsible for designing and developing an effective career development
system for their organization. Some activities or components are known as individual career
planning tools while some are used for organizational career management. To achieve greater
efficiency, most organizations use a right combination of both types of activities. Let us
understand these tools and activities to learn in-depth about career development system:

 Self Assessment Tools: This is the first technique that is widely used by organizations in
their efforts to career management of their employees. This is a career exploration tool
where individuals complete self-assessment exercises and fill information about their
skills, interests, competencies, work attitudes and preferences, long and short term goals
and obstacles and opportunities. The whole exercise helps them understand their own
desires and aspirations and likes and dislikes.
 Career Planning Workshops: Once employees are through their self-assessment, they
share their findings with other individuals and their supervisors in career-planning
workshops. It allows them to receive feedback from others and check the reality of their
plans and aspirations. They may change their plans if they find them unrealistic and move
in new direction.
 Individual Counseling: It is one of the most common activities that are undertaken by
almost all people developing organizations. Generally, individual counseling is provided
by career development specialists, HR specialists or life skills development trainers.
Some organizations hire them from outside while some have their own full fledged
departments where they recruit and hire trainers for full time. It helps employees in
understanding their own goals, making a change in them if required and working on
improving their skills and competencies.
 Organizational Assessment Programs: Organizational assessment programs include
tools and methods for evaluating employees’ potential for growth within the organization.

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 Johnson & Johnson is one company that uses these programs to assess the careers of their
employees and evaluate their potential in order to facilitate the staffing and development
of special teams known as “tiger teams”. These special teams are formed to speed up the
development of new products. The most popular programs under this category include
assessment centers, psychological testing, 360 degree appraisal, promotability forecasts
and succession planning.
 Developmental Programs: Developmental programs are used by an organization to
develop their employees for future positions. They can be internal as well as external and
can be performed under the supervision of human resource staff or trainers and specialists
from outside. These programs include assessment centers, job rotation programs, tuition
refund plans, internal training programs, external training seminars and formal mentoring
programs.

In addition to these programs, there are several other components of a career development
system such as career programs for special target groups, fast-track or high potential employees,
supervisors, senior-level employees, women, technical employees, minorities and employees
with disabilities, etc.

Objectives of Career Development Systems

Career development has become primary activity of organizations in order to create a pool of
talented employees as well as enhance their career satisfaction. Along with this, it is also
considered as an organized and planned process to improve the efficiency of organization. In
common terms, we may look upon it as an effort to strike a balance between organizational
workforce requirements and individual career needs. Employees have their own personal desires
and aspirations and need to effectively utilize their personal skills to attain their career goals and
objectives. On the other hand, organizations have needs for staffing and meeting present and
future human resource requirements. A career development system is a mechanism that takes
both the parties in to consideration and helps them meet their requirements as well as objectives.

 Fostering Better Communication in Organization: The main objective of designing a

career development system is to foster better communication within the organization as a
whole. It promotes communication at all levels of organizations for example manager and
employee and managers and top management. Proper communication is the lifeblood of
any organization and helps in solving several big issues.
 Assisting with Career Decisions: A career development system provides employees as
well as managers with helpful assistance with career decisions. They get an opportunity
to assess their skills and competencies and know their goals and future aspirations. It
helps them give a direction so that they can focus on achieving their long term career
goals.
 Better Use of Employee Skills: A career development system helps organization make
better use of employee skills. Since managers know their skills and competencies and
therefore, can put them at a job where they will be able to produce maximum output.

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  Setting Realistic Goals: Setting realistic goals and expectations is another main
objective of a career development system. It helps both employees and organization to
understand what is feasible for them and how they can achieve their goals.
 Creating a Pool of Talented Employees: Creating a pool of talented employees is the
main objective of organizations. After all, they need to meet their staffing needs in
present and future and a career development system helps them fulfill their requirements.
 Enhancing the Career Satisfaction: Organizations especially design career
development systems for enhancing the career satisfaction of their employees. Since they
have to retain their valuable assets and prepare them for top notch positions in future,
they need to understand their career requirements and expectations from their
organization.
 Feedback: Giving feedback on every step is also required within an organization to
measure the success rate of a specific policy implemented and initiatives taken by the
organization. In addition to this, it also helps managers to give feedback for employees’
performance so that they can understand what is expected of them.

A career development system can be very effective in creating a supportive culture in the
organization and help employees grow and utilize their skills to achieve their desires and
aspirations related to their career. Both organization and employees can meet their goals
simultaneously.

Career Development Issues with Teams

Teams are increasingly being considered as a unit of work world over. Organisations seek
harmony, coordination and oneness in teams for growth and prosperity. More emphasis is laid on
group and team dynamics, still however career development issues concerning the teams are
neglected somewhere, which is truer for organisations in the developing world and multi national
corporations.

Individuals are being replaced at a rapid pace and there are both positive and negative facets of
the same. There has been sufficient amount of discussion surrounding individual issues like the
selection procedures, designing the training programs, the appraisal systems and rewards and
recognition. All these fall within the ambit of individual career development issues. However, as
mentioned earlier, not much attention has been paid to career development issues pertaining to
teams! This write up is dedicated to the same.

Teams play a very important role in the individual and career development of the team
members. If team dynamics are understood and exploited properly, individual and
collective development will happen exponentially. For example one simple way of
development of team members would be through benchmarking with team members who exhibit
better competencies and skills. Teams can use these member skills and competencies to develop
the same in other members who lag behind in certain areas where others excel.

Taking the above mentioned example further and assuming a team of people from across various
departments. Different people from different departments make up for an interesting mix in
terms of skills, competencies and attitude. People from quality, for example, can teach or

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introduce various quality concepts to those who are naive to the latter e.g. the marketing
department. People from operations would be reasonably good in quality concepts and HR may
or not be up to the mark depending upon the kind of organisation. Marketing people can
similarly share their competencies in marketing communication which may be a weak link in the
productions department.

This exchange of skills and competencies can lead to better staffing flexibility. In yet another
way, team members may help in identification of training needs for members. Even if team
members do not make a conscious effort on acquiring of new skills, a simple rotation of tasks or
assignments among the team members will facilitate the skills exchange.

The need analysis program can lead to a developmental plan for each member of the team. In
highly empowered teams the execution of the developmental plan also lies on the team members.
In Cadillac, for example, each plant and work unit has a training needs analysis program in place
that reminds the members of the KSA’s required to achieve targets or goals.

Teams can thus be geared towards acting as a very powerful tool for individual career
development, where team members can enhance their own work skills and those of their
peers. One strong reason why teams fail is an inappropriate staff / member selection for the
team, which creates barriers for skills transfer. Once this is overcome development issues within
a team is taken care of.

Mentoring and Career Development

Mentoring is one of the most effective career development program these days. In India it is
gaining popularity even among SMEs (Small medium enterprises). It is in fact one of the better
ways to foster relationship within individuals across the organizational hierarchy.

Mentoring is a process of developing formal relationships between junior and senior

members of the organisation, in certain cases mentoring also takes place between peers. In
other words it is a process of developing relationships between more experienced members of an
organisation and the less experienced ones for transfer of knowledge and skills. These
associations are developed with the intent of developing career functions. For example,
coaching, sponsorship, protection to peer, challenging assignments, introduction to important
contacts and resources are certain ways in which mentoring may happen.

Mentoring is also targeted to psychological functions; role modeling, counseling, benchmarking

individual practices are various ways in which the latter is achieved. It is no doubt an important
tool that apart from employee development also leads to increased job satisfaction, organsational
dedication and career achievement.

The process of mentoring works both ways i.e. it benefits both the parties, the mentor and
the mentee. It increases the job involvement and satisfaction of the mentor. In case of the one

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mentored, he feels valuable, the job satisfaction increases and there is essentially a transfer of
knowledge and skills.

Organisations that have Formal Mentoring Programs

Lots of organisations are using mentoring programs as means of career development. Federal
express, bank of America and Merrill lynch are some organisation that have formal mentoring
programs in place. Bank of America for example has developed quad squads which comprises of
a mentor and three mentees (also called as protégé for ‘males’ and ‘protegee’ for female). Many
organisations have also developed like to like mentoring relationships (for example Anglo-Indian
mentors with Anglo-Indian mentees).

Mentoring Techniques

Mentoring requires an exercise of great wisdom, caution and expertise on the part of the mentor.
There are many techniques that are used these days, some of which have been briefly explained
below:

1. Mentors are assigned with the responsibility of preparing their mentee for change. The
focus is to prepare the individual mentally before he/she is asked for change, so that the
change is not taken as negative and instead a developmental process. This mentoring
technique s called sowing.
2. The other entering technique is called as accompanying, wherein the mentor is involved
in the learning process of mentee side by side explicitly, guiding all the time.
3. Doing is yet another mentoring technique in which the mentor uses his own example to
make something understand. It is also called leading.
4. Harvesting is one technique that is essentially aimed at evaluation of the past learning’s
and to extract conclusions from the same.
5. Catalyzing is one technique wherein the process of learning or knowledge transfer is
speeded. This is done only when a significant amount of change is achieved.

For mentoring it is important to understand the learning requirements and the style of the mentee.
An inappropriate mentoring methodology can act reverse. As mentioned at the beginning of the
write up, you require great deal of expertise for the mentoring process. Handle with care is the
mantra!

Career Management - Meaning and Important Concepts

Career management is conscious planning of one’s activities and engagements in the jobs
one undertakes in the course of his life for better fulfilment, growth and financial stability.
It is a sequential process that starts from an understanding of oneself and encompasses
occupational awareness.

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An individual’s career is the sole source of one’s natural expression of self. One school of
thought describes work as the purpose of life and the source of one’s expression and the purpose
of being or existence. Yet others believe that there is a wide difference between an individual’s
career and his life. In any case, career is an integral component of one’s life and therefore the
need for its management.

Career management is more or less like the organisational management; after all an organisation
is nothing but an assortment of individuals! The process of career management begins with the
formulation of goals and objectives those that are short term or meant to be achieved in the short
run.

This is a tedious task compared to a long term career goal which is more or visionary in nature.
Since the objective is short term or immediate, it is more of action oriented. Second it demands
achievement every day, every moment. Again this step can be very difficult for those who are
not aware of the opportunities available or are not completely conscious of their talents.
However more specific, measurable and achievable the goals greater are the chances of the
management plan bearing fruit.

Achievement of goal requires a well chalked strategy, which implies a plan of action to achieve
the goal. This has to be followed by drafting or establishment of procedures / policies / norms or
rules that govern action or practice.

The final step in the career management process is evaluation of the career management plan for
ensuring that progress is being made or if there is a need to introduce some changes in the latter.

One may also utilize the services of various career assessment tests at various stages to choose
career paths that are in tandem with ones likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. These
tests range from ones that are small and brief to the ones that are exhaustive offering minute
details. Some of the tests that one may like to undergo are MBTI (Myers and Briggs Type
Indicator), SDI (Strength Deployment Inventory) and Multiple Intelligence among others.

The onus of career management is more on the individual self than the employer. Ensuring
personal development in terms of skills, competencies, change in attitude with time are things
one may need to take care of on one’s own. Short term goals need to met and evaluated. The
long term career goals need to be revised with the change in employment scenario and self;
organisations may or may not be concerned in a big way or aligned to your priorities in career
and life. Often counselling is of major help in evaluating a job and the future prospects and for
establishing clarity of values for they undergo a change with the passage of time!

Career Management Process:

Career management is a process by which individuals can guide, direct and influence the course
of their careers.

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Figure: General Periods in Careers

In the course of our career we move from one stage to another setting and implementing
appropriate goals at each stage. Our goals differ from getting established on job at early career
stage to career reappraisal, moving away from technical areas & becoming more of a generalist.
Movement form one career stage to another will require individuals to update self & to
appropriate change goals. When required danger exist that individuals may too long stay in a job
they don’t like or miss career opportunity

A sensible early step in career planning is to diagnose. You might answer questions:
• What types of positions and career experiences do I need to achieve my goals?
• What personal traits characteristics and behaviors require change in order for me to improve
my professional effectiveness?

Indicators of Career Program Effectiveness

A career development program is a planned mechanism to integrate a series of activities

related to individual career planning by the employees and organizational career
management for the employees. The main objective of designing and developing a career
management program is to provide employees with an opportunity to grow within the
organization and expand their horizons and upgrade and use their skills to maximum possible
extent so that the organization can be benefited ultimately. Times have changed and so have the
needs and aspirations of employees. Gone are the days when they would stick to their job until
their retirement. In today’s world, when there is so much to explore and achieve, they simply
can’t afford to be static. They need continuous development and evolvement of themselves and
reach new heights.

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Career program in such a scenario tries to strike a balance between the employee requirements
and objectives and organizations requirements and objectives. The entire program is a
consortium of several activities and workshops that help in fostering better communication at all
levels of organization so everyone can understand each other’s requirements, skills and
competencies.

The program also gives employees an opportunity to understand their own desires and
aspirations and feasibility of their goals so that they can assess their skills and competencies and
therefore, set realistic goals. Once a career program is introduced in the organization, the top
management has to make sure that it serves the purpose for which it has been introduced and
implemented. There are several factors that indicate the effectiveness of a career program. By
assessing and analyzing them, the HR professionals can measure till what extent the program has
been successful.

Indicators of Career Program Effectiveness

 Matching the Standards with the Results: Comparison between already established
goals and objectives and achievement is the biggest indicator of the effectiveness of a
career program. Lesser the difference between the two, more successful the program is.
But before matching the two, HR managers should make sure that the set standards were
feasible to achieve and achieved output is calculated without any bias.
 Greater Self Awareness among Employees: The effectiveness of the program can also
be measured by the degree of increase in self awareness among employees. If they feel
that they have achieved greater self awareness and self-determination and acquired
necessary and useful information about their career, the program is definitely a big
success.
 Balance between Employee and Organization Requirements and Objectives:
Implementation of a career development program should result in better communication
at all levels within the organization, a balance match between individual and
organizational career and identification of talent pool by HR specialists are other major
indicators that can help you measure the effectiveness of a career development program.
 Changes in Performance Indexes: Improved employee performance ratings, improved
employee morale, reduced turnover rates, reduced employee absenteeism, increased
promotions from within and reduced time to fill job openings are other positive indicators
for measuring the effectiveness of a career program.

Along with this, a positive change in the attitude and behaviour of employees and adequacy of
organizational career information can also be seen as indicators of career program effectiveness.

Implications of Workplace Changes

Career, as a series of upward moves of income, status, power and security has died long back. In
21st century, career is seen as continuous learning and changes in identity due to experience and
personal learning along with upward moves in income, status and power. Employees, these days

21
want a fulfilling career and organizations need to give them. The traditional psychological set up
of individuals has changed and they no longer have the same interests. They desire for a
boundary less, alive and flourishing career where they get a chance to shape their lives according
to their requirements. Organizations need to understand the desires and demands of their
employees if they want to create a pool of talent for them and ensure better working all through.
In order to strike a balance with continuous workplace changes, both employees and
organizations have to come to the mutually beneficial terms so that both can meet their
requirements and future aspirations.

Tips for Individuals to Handle Workplace Changes

 The main focus of organizations today is on the employability of individuals. They

should not hold on to a specific job. Rather they should focus on developing skills and
competencies that are portable and can be used anywhere and everywhere in the time
crisis.
 Individuals must take care of their career needs, desires and aspirations. They need to
take control of their careers and look out for their career interests. After all, they also
have right to look out for their dream jobs.
 They must think of developing new and better personal skills in order to achieve their
dream careers. Plus, they should make every effort to assess themselves and their
competencies and plan their careers accordingly. Most organizations lack in employee
career planning. In such a scenario, the entire responsibility comes on individuals to
choose their own direction.
 Employees must invest in reputation building, networking, socializing and peer learning
relationships so that they can fulfill their desires and aspirations.
 Individuals must be committed towards life long learning to keep their skills updated and
relevant to increase their employability.

Recommendations for Organizations

 Although it is an employees responsibility to manage his or her own career but times
have changed and it is now employer’s responsibility too to provide their employees with
tools and techniques, professional career guidance and opportunities so that they can
enhance their skills and re-invent themselves.
 It is employer’s responsibility to create an environment that supports continuous learning
and overall development of individuals. It can be done through professional training,
associations, workshops, etc. Organizations such as Motorola, Intel and Ford are known
as people developers just because they offer supportive environment to their employees.
 The organizations must make arrangements to provide additional training such as
orientation training, core training and computer training in order to increase
employability of the employees. Along with this, they should support this with a proper
reward system.
 Before hiring new candidates or outsourcing, organizations must try to redeploy their
already existing employees and teach them new skills.
 They should assist employees in striking a balance between their work and non-work life
so that they can produce better output at work.

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Organizational Assessment Programs

The purpose of organization assessment programs is to evaluate the potential of employees for
growth and development within the organization. Many organizations such as Johnson &
Johnson, Ford, Intel and IBM use such programs to fulfill their staffing requirements. Since these
organizations are known for continuous innovation, they need special target groups in order to
handle their very special department. These specially formulated teams consist of those
individuals who have greater employability and are able to work under pressure. To speed up
high-priority development of new products and innovation of entirely different products, highly
competent individuals are required. In order to fulfill their staffing requirements, these
organizations take help of assessment programs.

Organizational Assessment Programs

 Assessment Centers: Assessment centers are popular decision-making tools that are
used by most companies including Pratt & Whitney, AT & T, Sears Reobuck & Co.,
TVA, JC Penney, IBM, GE and Bendix. All the individuals (participants) in assessment
centers are engaged in a variety of exercises and put in different situations including tests,
group discussions, interviews, in-baskets and business games. Their performances are
evaluated by the experts. After that a panel of trainers gives them an in-depth feedback on
their strengths and weaknesses. They then are given an opportunity to improve their skills
and set their future career goals.
 Psychological Testing: Psychological testing consists of written test that help individuals
as well as organizations understand their personality, career interests, work attitudes,
vocational interests and other personal characteristics. It reveals their career needs and
preferences and then they are given jobs that suit their personality as well as skills and
competencies.
 Promotability Forecasts: Promotability forecasting is a tool that helps organizations is
identifying the individuals with exceptionally high potential to perform different types of
jobs. This technique is used in making early forecasts. Once individuals are identified,
they are made to attend conferences and training programs and other relevant
developmental experiences in order to groom them for higher positions. Several
companies have different programs to groom different groups of employees. Along with
this, high potential employees are given developmental assignments that are a real test for
them.
 Succession Planning: Succession planning is a formal process with an aim to groom
lower level individuals to replace next-higher level individual in case he or she leaves the
organization or gets retired. The process involves continuous review top executives and
the next lower level employees in order to determine whether he or she is the right
backup for the senior executive or not. This is the most important exercise which often
takes several years in grooming the next person for the senior position. It includes overall
development of the selected individual and continuous review of his or her performance.
This is a common assessment tool in Fortune 500 companies that choose their CEO by
the same process. Organizations create a pool of talented employees who have high
leadership potential. They are put to different jobs in different situations and are

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 evaluated by a panel of experts. The process is usually restricted to senior level
management only.

Benefits of Formal Succession Planning

Succession planning is one of the most important career development tools used by
organizations. This is done to determine the backups for each senior position by identifying and
training the executives who are at the next-lower levels. This is an important process as most
organizations rely on it to find their next CEO and other top notch executives. This includes an
overall development of lower level employees to make sure that they can effectively handle the
responsibilities that they will be handed over in next few years. Formal succession planning is an
examination of organization’s long range plans and strategies and HR forecasts. It also offers
several other benefits and has a positive impact on organizational culture and efficiency.

Benefits of Formal Succession Planning

 Formal succession planning is a systematic approach for preparing employees at lower

levels to handle the responsibilities of next higher levels in the coming years. The process
involves a lot of serious planning and careful HR forecasts in identifying the capable
employees who have the potential to be promoted to next level in the hierarchy.
 It provides a logical approach for succession of top notch positions by the next lower-
level employee. It is all about identifying the skills and competencies and potential of an
employee so that he or she can be deployed at different jobs in the time of crisis.
 Succession planning gives the answers to all the questions regarding preparing an
individual for the next level in the organizational hierarchy. It helps HR specialists in
knowing and understanding why a specific individual should be developed and trained to
promote to the next level.
 It reduces the randomness in organization’s processes and managerial development
movements and establishes formal steps and actions, policies and procedures to support
the process of selecting the CEO and other top management executives.
 A formal succession planning process is a proactive approach to fill a top position. It
helps HR professionals to anticipate problems in the process before they get started. This
is very important to avoid negative and dysfunctional situations.
 It fosters cross-functional development and facilitates the integration of HR planning
components, processes and procedures. Not only this, it supports connecting formats,
guidelines, analyses, judgments and discussions at their front.
 Formal succession planning helps in further exploitation of computer systems, HRP
software applications, HR tools and techniques in order to support the identification,
development and training of the individuals.
 It helps HR managers in overcoming the limitations of reactive management approaches
and fosters pro-active management approaches to make organization a better place to
work.
 It establishes a logical basis for making choices among qualified candidates. Who should
be selected, why they should be selected and what skills and competencies they own and
what needs to be developed in them are critical factors while identifying the employees
for succession planning.

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  The process establishes a specific connection between the business objectives and HR
strategic planning. Along with this, it also increases internal promotion opportunities.

Career Personality Tests

A career personality test centers on finding what a particular individual is best at and for
what types of jobs he or she will be suitable. This test helps professionals in understanding
their priorities, career aspirations, desires and values and goals. It is not necessary to choose a
career in a particular domain which you have studied at university level.

Different individuals have different mind setups and different needs and requirements and skills
and competencies when it comes to their career. Not all individuals having same educational
qualifications are competent to handle the same type of job. If you want to change your career
but don’t know which way to go, do not worry! A career personality test will help you in
defining your goals and objectives more clearly and finding the career opportunities that would
suit you according to your personality type.

Career personality tests can be broken into different parts including career assessment
tests, personality assessment tests and assessment on how to have a successful professional
life, personality tests for career paths. All these components play an important role in helping
individuals make their career choices.

These tests are not popular in small organizations but several industry giants known as people
developers regularly provide opportunities to their employees to understand their competencies
and career interests so that they can put at the right place and be used effectively.

Career personality test deals in identifying the interests, abilities, likes, values and desires and
aspirations of the individuals related to diverse jobs or occupations. The main objective of
conducting these tests is to enable people to identify the careers they can excel into by analyzing
their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, interests and disinterests, skills and
competencies. It is good to conduct these tests prior to taking admission in a particular course but
since most people don’t do that, many big organizations help their employees find what they are
best at.

The second main component is personality assessment test which is comprised of different
questions and scenarios. The main objective of this test is to determine the personality, character,
capability, emotional quotient, willingness and preferences of an individual inside various
professional fields. The personality patterns can be used to identify which particular line of work
is ideal for an individual where he or she can give their best. Based upon the results of test, the
individuals are told what careers match their personality. Organizations use this test to determine
the competency of an individual within a chosen area.

Understanding how to have a successful, long and fulfilling professional life is very important.
Most people who are not satisfied with their professional lives are not happy in their personal
lives too. Therefore, striking a balance is very important. It can be achieved only when

25
individuals do what they like. A career personality test helps them understand how they can
bring efficiency and effectiveness in their work to live a fulfilling and satisfying life.

There are numerous types of career personality test. You can conduct an online research to find
out which one is the most authentic and gives genuine results. You can determine more suitable
career options according to your personality.

Three stages of career development:

Careers develop over time, have multiple work related paths and experiences. Individuals,
organizations and the environment are critical to the development of a career
Focus is taken away from the stereotypical idea of the career as a stable, long-term, predictable,
organization driven sequence of vertical movements.

1. Orientation stage – involves the establishing of the type of professional career a person wants
and the steps that must be taken in order to achieve these objectives.

2. Development stage – consists of actions undertaken in order to create and develop the
necessary qualities for potential employment opportunities. This can be done through mentoring
programs, job rotation and training programs.

3. Evaluation stage – involves activities related to self-evaluation as well as the evaluation by

others. Identification of strengths and weaknesses is done at this phase.

Model of Career Development –Traditional View

1. Preparation for work (Age 0 to 25):

Developing occupational self-image; assess alternate occupations; develop initial occupational
choice; pursue necessary education

2. Organizational Entry (Age 18 to 25)

Obtain job offer(s) from desired organization(s); select appropriate job based on accurate
information

3. The Early Career (Age 25 to 40)

Learn job; learn organizational rules and norms; fit into chosen occupation and organization;
increase competence; pursue the dream

4. Midcareer (Age 40 to 55)

Reappraise early career and early adulthood; reaffirm or modify the dream, make choices
appropriate to middle adult years; remain productive in work

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5. Late Career (Age 55 to retirement)
Remain productive in work; maintain self-esteem; prepare for effective retirement

Model of Career Development – Contemporary View

Some of the apparent challenges are changing demographics, competing in a global economy,
eliminating the skills gap’ the need for lifelong learning and the advent of the learning
organization. Individuals and organizations must be flexible and adaptable to succeed in this
uncertain and changing environment. Hence new concepts of (and maybe more relevant) career
development are being accepted:

Individually Oriented Career Development Model

This states that effective career development begins as the individual responds to the need to
make a career decision. Career development occurs in a series of steps though the order of
progression through these steps may vary. It is a cyclic and ongoing process.

1. Career exploration: gathering information about oneself and the environment.

2. Awareness of self and environment: Deeper self-awareness and understanding of opportunities

and constraints in the environment leading to revision of career goals or strategy development.

3. Goal setting: Goals may be specific or general. If goals are based on awareness of self and the
environment, it is likely to be realistic.

4. Strategy development: An action plan with a timetable for performing strategies and achieving
goals. Some strategies are competencies in present job, increased involvement in work,

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developing skills, developing opportunities, cultivating mentor relationships, image building and
engaging in organizational politics.

5. Strategy implementation: Carrying out the strategy the individual has developed can lead to
progress towards the goal and feedback from work and non-work sources.

6. Progress towards goal: Extent to which an individual is nearing the career goal
Feedback from work and non-work sources: Valuable information about progress career goals

7. Career appraisal: Feedback and information on progress towards the career goal allows
individual to appraise own career. This can lead to career exploration leading to another cycle of
activities

Organizationally Oriented Career Development Models

It is also true that careers should also be more organization focused and should guide the
career management system. Some models:

Pluralistic approach: A career culture is defined by the organization’s structure, the performance
that it values, and the reward that it offers. It aligns the organization and the individual.

A system’s view: This states that there are 3 stages:

 The people system
 The job market system
 The management and information system

Team based career development: Team members serve as models; teams reward behavior; teams
determine training opportunities; people move laterally with the team; team evaluates individual
and vice versa.

Role of Career Development

A. The Individuals Role:
 Knowing what: understanding industry’s O/T and requirements
 Knowing why: Understanding the meaning, motives and interests
 Knowing where: Understanding boundaries for entering, training and advancing within a
career
 Knowing whom: Forming relationships that will gain access to opportunities and
resources
 Knowing when: Understanding the timing and choices
 Knowing how: Understanding and acquiring the skills needed

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 B. The Manager’s Responsibility:
 Coach: Listens, clarifies, probes and defines career concerns
 Appraiser: Gives feedback, clarifies performance standards and job responsibilities
 Advisor: Generates options, helps set goals, makes recommendations and gives advice
 Referral agent: Consults with the employees on action plans and links employees to
other people and resources

The Importance of Networking for Management Graduates and Professionals

Networking for Management Graduates

If you are in a business school or college, chances are that networking would be useful to you to
make a difference in your eventual career. For instance, networking can be a great method of
knowing about how the real world companies work and this is especially important for those
business school students who want to make a mark in investment banking and consultancies as
their seniors and fellow alumni can enlighten them about the skills and the traits needed to make
it big in these professions. Moreover, it is a known fact that many companies like to offer
summer internships and placements to students from the institutes where those companies have
recruited in the past and therefore, keeping in touch with alumni can greatly help the students to
get a foothold in the corporate world. Apart from this, students can also benefit from networking
by knowing about the latest business trends and happenings in the corporate world and preparing
themselves accordingly to take advantage of the latest trends. Of course, as we mention in the
next section, it would be better if networking were kept at the professional level and unethical
practices avoided as far as possible. The key aspect here is that as long as networking is done for
positive purposes, it yields good returns for everybody.

Networking for Professionals

Networking does not end once one graduate from school. In fact, it enters a new phase when one
starts one’s professional life. Networking is very important for one’s career growth as new
opportunities and job offers that are not publicized can come one’s way. Further, by having one’s
resume forwarded by one’s peers and friends, there are more chances that one can get recruited
as many companies depend on internal referrals for recruitment. Apart from this, professionals
can get to know the tips and strategies that would contribute to success from one’s professional
networks. Indeed, one of the downsides of professional networking is insider trading that is
exemplified by the recent scandals in the United States where many Asian Americans were
convicted because they were passing on tips about stocks to each other. Leaving aside these
downsides, professionals need to remember that as long as they keep the interactions at the level
of professionalism, networking can be a great method through which one learns new aspects
about one’s career and professional growth. Therefore, do remember to update your LinkedIn
profiles whenever you change jobs and do remember to network with as many people as
possible.

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Networking in the Age of Social Media

With the advent of social media and web 2.0, networking has become a lot easier. It is no longer
necessary to research the whereabouts of school and college friends as well as professional
colleagues as Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media tools allow us to keep in touch with
our entire network of acquaintances across countries and continents. Indeed, the advent of social
media has made networking into a mass based activity wherein anyone with an internet
connection can connect to anyone in the world anywhere and anytime. This is the power of
social media that is being harnessed by alumni and professional networks in their quest to engage
with peers, friends, and colleagues. Indeed, alumni meets are now being organized easily and at
times, in the virtual world as networking has taken on an entirely new dimension with social
media. If you just join Facebook or LinkedIn, chances are that you can connect with your
classmates, bosses, subordinates, coworkers, and even recruiters who can offer you good leads
for your next career move.

Concluding Remarks

Having considered the various aspects of networking, it would be worthwhile to note that
networking is indeed important at each stage of one’s education and career. After all, it does not
harm to say the occasional hi to one’s peers and it is certainly important to wish one’s
connections in Facebook and LinkedIn on their birthdays.

Industry Academia Collaborations Add Value to Corporate and Universities

The Need for Industry Academia Collaborations

Industry and Academia cannot exist independently of each other. Just as the education system
prepares students for their future careers, it also has to collaborate closely with industry to try to
understand the needs of the industry so that they can prepare the students accordingly. If there is
no collaboration between industry and academia, the students graduating from the colleges and
universities will be unemployable as they lack the requisite skills that are needed to succeed in
the competitive corporate world. Indeed, this is the reason why many employers feel that a
majority of the graduates from colleges and universities in Asia cannot be employed because
they are simply not skilled enough for the jobs in the corporate world. Further, research and
development that takes place whenever industry and academia collaborate can lead to
actualization of the needs that industry wants and which are fulfilled by the academic institutes.
This is the reason why industry and academia must collaborate actively.

The Practice of Industry Academia Collaboration in the West

In the West and the United States in particular, there is a great deal of collaboration
between industry and academia, which is a win-win situation for both. The corporates fund
the universities and the research that they do and the universities in turn share the findings
of the research that they do with the corporates. Often, it is the case that the stellar and
innovative ideas emerge from campuses like MIT, Stanford, and Wharton where cutting edge
research is done with close collaboration with industry. Indeed, the game changing idea behind

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Facebook has come mainly from the campus in which Mark Zuckerberg was studying as well as
the recent innovations in robotics and artificial reality that have come about mainly due to close
industry academia collaboration. One can go as far as to suggest that industry academia
collaboration results in gains for both as the universities gain from the funding and the
establishment of chairs whereas the corporates gain from access to the leading academic minds
of the day, which is useful in spotting future trends and identifying game changing ideas. This is
the reason why the west and the US in particular have been as good at innovation as they nurture
and incubate talent right from the time they are in college and even schools.

Some Emerging Trends in Industry Academia Collaboration

The future of industry academia collaboration looks a bit shaky, as the ongoing economic
crisis has severely dented the ability of the corporates to continue funding to the
universities. Further, with so much of saturation in the market for new ideas because of the glut
of innovators who want to beat the recession with true cost effective technological innovations,
the corporates are increasingly finding it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Of course,
this does not mean that industry academia collaboration is on the rocks. Far from that, the future
might very well portend another level of partnership between the defence companies and the
universities as the former need latest advances in technology and the latter needs funding to
sustain themselves. The best-known example of such an effort is the creation of the internet,
which started as a project by the Pentagon in collaboration with academia. The future of industry
academia collaboration can also take the shape of part time moonlighting between the students
and the corporate sector, which means that industry would be closely involved directly instead of
through chairs and trusts that route the funding to the students.

Concluding Remarks

There is a lot that universities in Asia (especially in China and India) can learn from the West as
far as industry academia collaboration is concerned. It is high time for the universities and the
industry in India and China to get together and work together so that these countries can become
innovators and game changers in their own right.

Role of Personal Development in Career Growth

Who do you think is a valuable employee? An individual becomes a burden on his/her

organization when he fails to perform additional tasks beyond his/her regular key responsibility
areas. Multitalented employees definitely have an edge over those who restrict themselves only
to a particular task and fail to contribute in other departments and areas. Organizations tend to
retain those who show active interest in attending various training programs, seminars or relevant
workshops in order to constantly upgrade their knowledge and acquire additional skills.

Gone are the days when employees could afford to just stick to what they have been doing for
ages. In today’s scenario, individuals are expected to actively participate and contribute in other
departments as well and also overall productivity of the organization. A front office executive is
no longer expected to attend only phone calls throughout the day. He/she needs to constantly
upgrade his/her skills and take active interest in other related departments as well such as

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administration, logistics, office transportation and so on. As a marketing employee if you call ten
clients a day, brief them about your organization’s offerings and feel that your work is over, you
are sadly mistaken. You need to find out and implement innovative marketing strategies and
techniques to not only sell your organization’s products and services but also attract potential
clients. Retaining customers is also one of the most challenging aspects of marketing. Trust me;
you need to read a lot, and keep your eyes and ears open to reach to various unique marketing
solutions. Constant up gradation of knowledge is the need of the hour.

Personal development plays a crucial role in one’s career growth. An individual who can
contribute not only in his area of expertise but other domains as well are bound to get quick
promotions and lucrative incentives and rewards. Trust me, personal development is imperative
not only for career growth but also for mere survival in the organization. No organization would
like to retain an individual who is resistant to changes and fails to perform in unpredictable and
unforeseen situations.

Personal development helps you set goals and expectations for yourself. Any individual
without a vision in life not only fails to deliver but also gets easily lost in the crowd. It is
important to set expectations for yourself. There is a scope of improvement always. Never ever
feel that you are the best and you know everything. Believe me, that there are many things under
the sky which we still do not know and need to find.

Tom joined Organization A as a management trainee in the marketing department. Within two
years he was promoted and was asked to lead a team of five sales representatives. Five years
down the line, Tom was heading the entire marketing division of Organization A and had a
major say in company’s policies and strategies. A management trainee was made the head of a
particular department in just seven years. What do you think could be the reason? Being
extremely nice to your Boss does not help always. It was Tom’s determination to constantly
upgrade his knowledge, analyze and find out where all he needs to improve, acquire new skills
which eventually helped him not only appear in the good books of the management but also
climb the ladder of success within the shortest possible time frame.

Personal development makes you a confident and mature professional, two extremely important
qualities for career growth. It helps you smile even in the worst circumstances. Upgrading
oneself with time is extremely important as it not only prepares you for the present but also for
the future.

Steps in Personal Development Planning Process

Personal development is no rocket science and one really needs to have patience and believe in
oneself. There is no specific formula and you can’t expect miracles to happen all of a sudden.
Personal development requires meticulous planning and careful analysis. As an individual, you
need to know in which all areas, you need to work hard or what all new skills would help you
deliver more than hundred percent. Simply joining a course without understanding the need to
join it and how it would help in your career is of no use. Never join anything unless and until you
yourself are fully convinced.

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You need to first know what your goals and objectives are. Ask yourself as to why do you need
personal development? Why do you have to take the pain of attending training sessions, or taking
time out to upgrade your knowledge? What is your vision in life? Personal development planning
refers to the process of creating a detailed action plan as to what should be an individual’s course
of action and how should one approach to gain as much knowledge as he can and acquire
additional skills. Without a proper plan, trust me, you would end up in a big zero. Do not look
for shortcuts in life. It is always better to adopt a step by step approach. Never do anything in a
rush.

Let us go through various steps in the whole process of personal development planning:

1. Know your goals and aspirations in life. What do you want to be in your life and where
would you like to see yourself five years down the line? Remember, goals need to be
realistic. Write your goal on a piece of paper. You need to be very clear and confident
about it. Be honest to yourself.
2. Do a SWOT analysis of yourself. Understand your strengths. There are very few people
who actually know their weaknesses and areas of improvement. Sit and jot down what all
new things you would like to learn which would eventually help in your career.
3. Understand what would be the best available option which would help you acquaint
with the latest developments in your respective fields or keep you abreast with latest
technologies, softwares and so on. Is it reading books or surfing various websites or
discussing with colleagues or for that matter enrolling in various additional courses? You
need to be very clear about the medium.
4. Thorough research is extremely important. Do sit with your superiors, friends or
someone you really look up to for their advice and guidance. Take their suggestions and
understand if you really need to spend money on a particular course and would you be
able to earn back the entire amount? If you are taking admission in a particular course, do
not forget to check its authenticity and relevance so that you do not have to regret later.
5. Be extremely focussed in life. Never lose hope. Learn to accept failures with a smile and
make sure you do not repeat them.
6. Be patient enough. Give your hundred percent to whatever you do. Anything done half
heartedly yields no results.
7. As you learn new things and acquire new knowledge, try to implement the same in
your day to day work as well. Find out whether newly acquired skills have actually
made your work easier or not? Regular monitoring of work is essential. Take regular
feedbacks from your Bosses.
8. Do not get demotivated if the results are not positive at the first attempt. You need to
give yourself some time.

Why Professionals and Students Must Invest in Specialized Skills

The Second Machine Age and its Implications for Manufacturing and Services

Many Asian countries benefited from outsourcing of manufacturing and IT (Information

Technology) services from the West. Prominent among these beneficiaries are China, which
became the workshop of the world and India, which became the back office of the world. Indeed,

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this wave of outsourcing resulted in the creation of millions of jobs in direct employment and
countless others in indirect employment. Though outsourcing led to job losses in the West, the
Asian countries were not complaining as they benefited from the transfer of wealth to them. Of
course, the western companies benefited in an equal measure as they saved on costs for low-end
work, which left them free to focus on higher value adding work, and innovate to remain ahead
of the technological curve. However, a recent trend that has become noticeable in the West to a
large extent and to some extent in the East is that the very process of performing work is
changing because of automation in the form of robots and the dawn of the second machine age
which means that even the work that used to be outsourced can be done in the West cheaper and
with more quality.

The Third Wave of Automation

What we are referring to is the arrival of artificial intelligence and automated manufacturing
systems like 3D Printing, Design Thinking, Driverless cars, and manufacturing processes that do
not require any human intervention at all. Indeed, the emergence of these technologies threatens
to take away the advantage enjoyed by China and India mainly because there is no need for
manual labor even in IT where most processes can now be done through AI and robots. Even in
manufacturing, 3D printing, and design technologies are replacing the assembly line, which
means that the work that was hitherto being sent to China and India can be done in the West at
far lower cost and without the constraints of distance and geography. In an ironical twist, the
West which had focused on higher value adding work when it began the waves of outsourcing
seems to have found the answer to the riddles of manufacturing and IT wherein it can replace
most lower end and some middle end work with machines. This is akin to a second industrial
revolution wherein just as the first industrial revolution automated the basic tasks and the IT
revolution automated the next level of basic tasks, we are witnessing the emergence of a third
wave of automation which promises to be a game changer.

The Future of Jobs in the West

Whether you are a professional or a student, this emerging lateral power paradigm has
implications as you no longer can rest content with IT or manufacturing knowledge and instead,
have to have an exceptional resume to remain competitive. It is no longer the case that one can
specialize in engineering or computer science or one can graduate as a management professional
in the West because most of the jobs that were hitherto the preserve of these degrees would in the
future be automated. Indeed, like the two waves of automation, which resulted in the shop floor
becoming redundant in the west and the lower, and the middle end of the services sector being
replaced by innovative and cutting edge computers, the future would most probably be driven by
large-scale replacement of these tiers by robots and processes like 3D printing. The implications
for the future of jobs in the west are many as professionals and graduates would have to acquire
specialized skills just to remain in the race for employment. No, wonder that the recent trends
indicate that those with masters’ degrees and PhD’s earn more than those with basic degrees in
corporate America.

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Where Does the East Stand ?

Having considered the implications for professionals in the west, we can now turn to what
happens to jobs in the East. The situation is not so dire here as there are still many jobs that
cannot be automated fully. Having said that, it must be remembered that even in the services
sector in the Asian countries, professionals, and students would have to quickly move up the
specialization curve if they are to realize their dreams of making it to the top. This can be seen in
the way most Asian IT companies talking about moving up the value chain instead of being
content with maintenance and basic coding work. While this article is not intended to be
alarmist, it must still be said that the emergence of this wave of automation should be a wakeup
call especially for those professionals starting their careers and more so, for the students who are
entering universities for engineering and management. This is the clear implication of the trends
that are shaping the future of jobs in the west and in the east.

Conclusion

Before concluding this article, it would be pertinent to point out that just as Silicon Valley is now
a hotbed of innovation with the likes of Apple and Google rapidly stretching the boundaries of
what is possible and making what was hitherto thought impossible into a reality, the tech clusters
and the management centers in Asia can similarly have technology incubators and centers for
managerial excellence. In conclusion, as the future emerges with enough pointers to the world of
tomorrow, there cannot be a better time to spruce up on one’s skills and invest in oneself so that
it pays off in the future.

Skills are a Key Ingredient of Success in Contemporary Organizations

In a world where unprecedented change and relentless competition between individuals,

companies, nations, and other players is the norm, to succeed, one must have the right skills. The
skills that are acquired as part of the formal education are one aspect and those acquired on the
job as well as from informal learning are another aspect. In this article, we refer to both kinds of
skills and we categorize them as formal and informal skills. In addition, there are the other skills
where the acquisition of degrees and training are characterized as hard skills which land one a
job whereas the other skills like soft skills, which are related to managing people, interpersonal
communication, and empathy and emotional intelligence are the key aspects are these soft skills.
Further, the hard skills are usually acquired during the formal education and on the job training
whereas the soft skills are acquired during informal interactions with networks, peers, mentors,
and specialized training that is outside of the education and formal employment. Having said
that, it must be remembered that both formal and informal skills as well as hard skills and soft
skills are sometimes acquired in all settings which means that the ability to learn and adapt are
the key determinants rather than which college or institution one attends or which company one
starts ones career. Indeed, in the marketplace for jobs and graduates in the 21st century, all kinds
of skills are necessary and vital for continued career progression.

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Prepare a Personal SWOT Matrix

Whether one is adept at soft skills or hard skills, the fact that one must choose one’s career
accordingly should not be lost in the process. For instance, if you are strong on technology but
lack interpersonal skills, you must choose to work in a company that places a premium on
technology expertise rather than the ability to talk smoothly. Of course, this does not mean that
soft skills are not important as the basic requirement in any job or career is how well one relates
to others in the workplace. Further, having the ability to communicate and vibe very well is not
the only thing you must possess as in recent years; globalization has ensured that all students and
professionals are adept in interpersonal communication and language skills. The key point we are
trying to make is for you to have a mix of skills and determine your strengths and weaknesses.
You must be able to draw a matrix where you list your skills at which you are good and skills
that need improvement along with the jobs that require these skills and then plan and apply
accordingly. Indeed, the ability to create a personal SWOT matrix would help you to assess
where you stand objectively and without biases that can help you in the long run. Apart from
this, the fact that you must continually upgrade your skills is something that we shall discuss in
the next section and the importance of which cannot be overstated.

The Importance of Continuous Learning

As they say, learning is a lifelong process and there is never a time when you say that you have
learnt enough. Indeed, even experts and professionals usually attend continuous job
improvement programs where they learn new skills that are compatible with the changing market
conditions. As we mentioned in the introduction, the world of the 21st century can be summed
up by the maxim, “Hunt or be Hunted” which means that one must constantly outpace the
competition and perform better than others if one is to succeed in the uber competitive
marketplace. With the ongoing recession making it difficult to get jobs without you having a real
edge, it must be emphasized that skill acquisition is a continual process that does not have a full
stop.

Emotional Intelligence at Work

Having said that, it must be remembered that apart from having a competitive edge, one must
also be able to relate emotionally and intelligently with your peers and superiors in a manner that
has come to be known as emotional intelligence at work. This is indeed one of the most
important skills, which you need to have apart from being the best on your job. Studies have
shown that those professionals who focus hard, relate to people, can sacrifice short-term
gratification for longer-term rewards, have perseverance, and can endure failures and setbacks
have been found to be at the head of their chosen professions when compared to those who
started their careers along with them. In other words, what this means is that one must have the
“double whammy” combination of laser sharp focus, a competitive mindset, ability to work hard,
and persevere in the face of failure along with empathy and emotional bonding with people to
succeed.

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Conclusion: It is Your Attitude, which counts

Before concluding this article, we again stress on the fact that when two aspirants for a job are
evaluated and when they are found to be equally good, it is the aspirant with the right attitude
who is usually selected for the job. This means that no matter how qualified you are and how
pedigreed your education is, having the right attitude can take you places. As the saying goes,
attitude is everything and the discussion in this article can be summed up as success is
determined according to the matrix of skills that comprise all categories and the winner in the
ultra tight job market is one whose skill matrix is well balanced and whose personality is well
rounded.

Career Choices for the Present Times

The four career choices analyzed here are entrepreneurship, freelancing, sabbaticals, and
regular full time employment. While all of these are attractive to different individuals, the
bottom line for any career choice is how well you are able to support yourself and your families.
In addition, feet on the ground approach is preferable as many career choices sound appealing on
first glance while the reality is altogether different.

1. Entrepreneurship

With all the eye popping and mouthwatering valuations of startups wherein young and
restless graduates who are barely out of college attracting millions in venture capital
funding, there are many who are either quitting their full time jobs or not applying for
these jobs in the final year of their studies so as to jump on to the entrepreneurship
bandwagon. However, remember that you can succeed as an entrepreneur only if you are
able to attract funding which means that either you have a compelling business idea or
have connections or both which is the ultimate goal.

Moreover, entrepreneurship requires that you network with others as well as have
business partners who share your vision and are willing to put in the high number of
hours to get the venture going and become successful. Of course, if you strike gold, then
you can very well become the next Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder) who with their
game changing innovations has revolutionized the world.

In addition, you need support from your family for this option as they need to put up with
the long hours prospecting, meeting, and networking as well as travelling with no
guarantee of an assured income.

2. Freelancing

While freelancing sounds different in the sense that you would be “your own boss”, at
the same time, you should also consider that “you would be on your own” meaning that
assured income, health benefits, social security, and paid vacations are all nonexistent for
freelancers. Indeed, with the growing competition between knowledge workers

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 worldwide, the assignments usually go to the ones who bid the lowest or have
exceptional track records.

In addition, you need to build trust and comfort level with your clients which take time
and you would need to get adjusted to long working hours though you can work from
home. Having said that, given the state of the job market, freelancing might be a good
idea for those who for various reasons could not land a job immediately after graduation.
In such cases, at least you have something to show for on your resume when you are
ready to be hired for full time employment.

Moreover, once you establish yourself in the field, you can even start your own company
and which is something that is attractive to many. But, remember. No Health Benefits.
No Pension Benefits and No Paid Leaves.

3. Sabbatical

There are many who think of taking a Sabbatical which is the term used for job seekers
and career employees when they take a break to pursue higher education, work with an
NGO (Non Governmental Organization) or Nonprofit, or take a break just to think over
the next career move. While this option sounds exciting and interesting as you would be
exploring the world around you, you need to remember that unless the nonprofit is
globally or nationally recognized, you would not be able to gain any traction from the
internship with them.

In addition, if you are considering a sabbatical to pursue higher education, keep in mind
that you need to take a loan on top of foregoing your salary and other benefits from your
job that you would leave. Considering the expensive nature of higher education, it is
important for you to do a cost benefit analysis. Moreover, there is no guarantee that after
you finish the degree, the job market would improve. So, the bottom line requirement
here is that you must derive value from your sabbatical for it to worth the effort.

As for taking a break just for the sake of it, well, we would advise that only if you have
enough savings or assurance of your employer hiring you back or extending the contract
once your break is over.

4. Conventional Job

Finally, the safest bet any time wherein you land a job with an established company and
stick to the company for a considerable time before you make your next career move.
This is the tried and tested option wherein you are assured of a fixed income every month
in addition to healthcare, social security, and retirement benefits. This is more attractive
for those who have dependents in the form of parents, siblings, spouses, and children who
need a regular and steady income stream to sustain themselves.

While this option sounds best, you should also be aware that given the fickle nature of the
economy and the fluctuating economic conditions, not all employers are ready to offer

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 the best salary and the best benefits unless you are either a star achiever or an
experienced job seeker. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the company would not
downsize employees in the next couple of years (which is the timeframe chosen for this
article). Therefore, while contemplating singing on the dotted line, consider all these
aspects and in addition, ensure that you get a good salary package that is commensurate
with your abilities and experience.

Conclusion

Having considered the four career choices in brief, there are ways and means for knowing more
about them and as always, the best method of doing so would be to talk to someone who is that
field. Therefore, network as much as you can and learn more from real people in addition to
looking stuff on the web for information, links, and for building contacts which are all very
important for any and all of the career choices.

Skilling the Workforce to Make them Employable and Contribute to Economic Growth

Need for a Skilled Workforce

Any employer needs a workforce that is competent and has expertise in the niche that it operates
in. For instance, manufacturing industries need skilled workers who are able to function
effectively on the shop floor and this means that whoever they employ must be adept at handling
machinery, taking up skill based jobs, and other aspects related to the job.

Further, service sector companies need employees who are good at software, technology,
financial services, and above all are fluent in English and are able to communicate effectively. In
this context, services sector refers to the entire gamut of employers in the financial services and
IT space.

Therefore, no matter what the niche that the company operates in, a skilled workforce is needed
in the same manner in which investments and returns on capital are necessary to sustain
the operations.

Difference between Quantity and Quality of the Workforce

This leads us to the next point wherein how do the various stakeholders including the
government, the private and the public sector companies, the non governmental institutions
working in the field of labour relations, and the future workers themselves should get together to
coordinate and cooperate in a wholesome effort to skill the workforce.

This is more the case with countries in the developing world such as India where the average
graduate from any of the numerous colleges and universities has been found to lack simple skills
or is considered “unemployable” by the industry.

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For instance, surveys have shown that while there are millions who graduate from colleges and
universities in India, only a fraction of them are found to have the necessary skills and basic
expertise that would make them competent for the job.

The point to be noted here is that unless there is a shift in emphasis from “quantity to quality”
wherein it is not only the numbers but the quality of the numbers should matter.

Now, one might ask whether it is not the duty of the employers to train and equip the workers
once they are hired so that they perform effectively on the job. After all, no amount of skilling
which is generic can help since each employer has different expectations and requirements from
the workforce.

The Foundation must be Strong

The answer to this is that while the employers must and do train their employees and new hires,
the effectiveness of such training programs is only felt when the employees have certain “base
skills” which can include familiarity with technology, ability to communicate effectively, and
analytical logical reasoning abilities.

After all, in the same manner in which one cannot build a house without the underlying
foundation being strong, one cannot expect employers to train the new hires and employees from
the basics onwards. Indeed, this would not only be a waste of time and money, but would also
defeat the very purpose of having colleges and universities on which the government spends a lot
of money anyway.

Thus, the clear implication is that before the graduates can be employed, they must be
employable and as we shall discuss next, there is a need for all stakeholders to do their bit here.

Catch Them Young, Watch Them Grow

For instance, colleges and universities must not only focus on “churning out” graduates with
little knowledge and expertise and instead, must ensure that they are trained in various elements
of skill based aspects as well as communication abilities and above all, an ability to think
logically and analytically in addition to being problem solvers.

For this to happen, the private sector must make its requirements clear upfront to the colleges
and the universities as well as the government must convene a taskforce and a committee in each
college wherein representatives from the private sector and the government along with the
college representatives must meet and arrive at ways in which they can implement skill based
training in their curriculum.

As the saying goes, “catch them young and watch them grow”, there should be an emphasis on
practical skill based training right from the school level so that the workforce of tomorrow is
skill ready from the time they enter college and graduate with more “value added skills”. For this
to happen, the government has to play an active role and this would be discussed next.

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How Government Can Help

In recent months, the Indian government has come up with a program to undertake mass based
skilling initiatives aimed at the workforce of tomorrow. This program entails creation of a
capable and competent workforce that is skilled adequately to meet the challenges of the labour
market.

Towards this end, the Indian government’s ambitious objectives are driven not only by an
idealistic tilt but also a practical and pragmatic realization that unless the youth of today are
skilled and made employable, they would be jobless and more likely to be deviant and prone to
causing trouble. Indeed, the demographic dividend that everyone is talking about as an advantage
that India has over its rivals can easily turn into a demographic nightmare if the millions of youth
do not find jobs and hence, take to the wrong path and wrong ways that can cause social unrest.

Finally, as has been mentioned throughout this article, it is simply not enough to boast about how
many millions are graduating every year from colleges and universities if these graduates are
found to be not fit for employment.

Thus, any program to skill the workforce must necessarily shift the emphasis from quantity
to quality and from mindless learning to more skill based and competency based curricula.

What is LinkedIn and Why Having a Linked in Profile is Important

LinkedIn, as most of us are aware of, is akin to a social networking site like Facebook to be
precise. But LinkedIn is mostly being used for the professional purpose. This is a platform
which you can utilize to showcase your skills, expertise, education, experience, etc. You might
be thinking that a resume also can do these things, but one thing to keep in mind – resumes are
not launched or sent to someone until you personally do it. You can update your resumes to job
sites, but who sees them? I am sure not many.

But if you update your profile in LinkedIn, chances are there that the number of audiences will
increase. Basically, through Linked you can let the job world know about yourself in a bit
detailed manner. So, a well written LinkedIn profile come into the picture.

Whether recruiters accept the fact or not, they Google candidates name before hiring just to
check the background which is essential for them to know before they hire you. Now that we
know what LinkedIn is, it is essential to know why having a LinkedIn profile is so important?
Let’s see why it is important?

 Will connect you: If you want to get connected with different professionals from diverse
industries, domains, and backgrounds, it is time for you to be active on LinkedIn because
it provides ample opportunity to get to know about like-minded people.
 To know about Job Postings: If you want to remain updated about the ongoing hiring
trends in different companies, LinkedIn will help you to a great extent. People, who are
looking for a job can follow the company pages on LinkedIn. By doing so, they will
always be updated as and when the company posts any openings.

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 To Appear in Recruiter’s Search: This is another benefit of being updated on LinkedIn.
If your profile is updated on LinkedIn, it also appears in Google search list. This
automatically increases the chances of being hired or at least viewed. Many of my friends
directly have got several job offers through LinkedIn because it is easy and quick for the
recruiters as well.
 Globalization: By being active on LinkedIn, you are making your profile available for a
broader audience. LinkedIn is not only being used in India but overseas as well to a great
extent. So, once you complete your profile on LinkedIn with the right choice of
Keywords and content, it will be visible to them beyond the country’s barriers.
 Personal Branding: By developing and keeping your profile updated on LinkedIn, you
are creating your own brand. LinkedIn comes with features like recommendations and
endorsements. People who know you and might have worked with you can also write a
testimonial for you which further validate and reinforces your areas of expertise. This
makes it bit more real and interesting. It is good to know about a person who is being
endorsed and commended by someone senior.
 A good mate: Having a LinkedIn profile is like keeping your diary but for professional
use. Whenever you win an award, undertake a project or volunteer a task, just update that
on your LinkedIn profile. By doing so, you will not miss any of the important details
which a recruiter must know in order to hire you for a particular organization.
 Real and Truthful: Apart from some mock profile, LinkedIn seems to be real and
authentic as it takes all the original and accurate information. People, upload their own
picture and update their own professional and educational background. Most of us do use
LinkedIn for professional purpose. Unless and until we upload correct information, we
will not get anything relevant and it will not be useful. Hence people usually avoid
mentioning fake details or false information.
 Limited but correct Information: LinkedIn has its own character/words limitations. So,
people do not have the chance to write unnecessary and lengthy information, unlike a
resume. In a resume, if you see, there is no limit to filling up information.

Although we suggest and most of the hiring managers suggest not exceeding the page of
the resume more than 2 pages, people still tend to add on information to a resume which
is not essential. Hence many of the resumes find a place in junk or garbage bucket.
Whereas LinkedIn will not allow you to exceed even a single character if the limit goes
beyond the prescribed rule.

 Something more about you: This is the best part of LinkedIn. It does not or rather it
should not just talk about the laundry list of mere job description. It goes a step beyond. It
talks about you as a professional. Some people just paste their whole profile on LinkedIn
and dare to think that their profile is 100% complete which is a wrong notion altogether.
The summary part of your LinkedIn should not be copied and pasted from your resume.
Rather give it some time to think.

Think about how you would introduce yourself to someone. Think on those lines and
accordingly update your Summary of LinkedIn. In the experience section, share the
learnings which you might have accumulated while working in your current company.

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 The challenges that you have faced, how you overcame them, how did you add value to
where you have worked? Let the reader peep into you as a professional.

 Active Job Search: when you send your resume to a company, what do you do usually?
You send the resume and then wait. But here in LinkedIn, rather than being a passive job
seeker, you can actively follow up with the company or the hiring manager. Without
sounding too desperate, you can follow up with the recruiter which will show that you are
a proactive professional in the job world.
 Know more about people: LinkedIn, nowadays, has become a platform to gain and
share knowledge. It is like the exchange of knowledge and values. This gives you a
platform to know great things from Influencers. They keep publishing posts, articles and
many more knowledgeable things about the industry. Young professionals can reap great
benefits from using LinkedIn.
 Your Own Identity: LinkedIn is your own professional identity and a platform to
showcase your skills. If someone is a good writer, he/she can write articles and post it on
LinkedIn. It will be viewed by many, and you never know a good opportunity somewhere
might be waiting for you. For a person who is running his own business, he/she can use
this platform to promote his products or services which his company is offering. This
platform can be equally used for advertisement and promotion.
 Good way to be in touch: In today’s busy world, we usually do not get time to
physically network with our colleagues, peers, and ex-colleagues. LinkedIn gives you an
opportunity to remain in touch with your professional world. And if you are not active on
LinkedIn you might lose a good opportunity. If the hiring manager does not find you on
Google search, it will give an impression that you may not be tech savvy and care less to
get connected with a world of professionals.

So get Linked and get connected!

Tips for Professionals on Making Smart Career Moves during your Working Life

Determining Whether you want to be a Big Fish in a Small Pond or Small Fish in a Big
Pond

Whether you are a fresher or an aspiring professional, or you have established yourself in your
career, or are beginning to find your feet in your job, there are some ways in which you can
maximize your chances of moving ahead and avoid pitfalls that can take you down and leave you
high and dry.

Indeed, smart career moves that are well thought out and planned as well as executed
intelligently with due diligence can make the difference between success and failure in this uber-
competitive world.

To start with, you need to determine whether you want to be a “Big Fish in a Small Pond” or a
“Small Fish in a Big Pond”. In other words, you must decide whether you want to join a large
company or a smaller one or indeed, a startup, depending on the stage of your career you are in,
and your skills and abilities as well as past performance.

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For instance, if you are a fresher, it makes sense to join a reputed firm and build up your
resume with the brand equity and value that comes from working for big and established firms.
This is the reason why many fresh graduates aspire to join firms that are in the Fortune 100 or
Fortune 500 list and work for a few years and then, make the shift to other firms.

Mid Career Moves and First Job Decision

It follows from this that established professionals who feel that they are likely to be thwarted in
promotions in big firms simply because there are too many of them who are aspiring for the
same position decide to join smaller or medium-sized firms after a decade or so of experience.

Indeed, our experience in working with Fortune 100 firms has taught us that many fresh
graduates would not mind putting in long hours and be dedicated and committed for five or more
years in a big firm to build up their resumes.

Once, they have gained traction and accumulated skills and experience, invariably, they find that
their growth prospects are minimal after they have reached the middle management tier. Thus,
they then decide to seek their fortunes elsewhere since they can easily become senior managers
in small firms and indeed, even executives in startups.

Fit Between Personality and Organizational DNA

Next, the decision as to which firm to join is as important as how much salary they pay. To
explain, once the immediate monetary and financial security is in place, one has to find “the firm
that suits one” meaning that at some point in your careers, you have to determine whether you
“fit in” in a particular firm.

This decision has to be made carefully and after much due diligence since the organizational
culture must “jell with” your own cultural and personal attributes.

For instance, many professionals like to work in professionally managed firms because of the
freedom and flexibility that comes with working in such organizations in an autonomous manner
since interference from family members of the holding family is nonexistent.

Indeed, this is especially the case with senior executives and middle managers in positions of
power and responsibility as they find that working in professionally managed firms is good for
their career growth.

On the other hand, there are those professionals for whom familiarity and closeness to the
founders and the family members of the family-owned firms are a source of career progression.
Thus, it depends on the fit between your personality and the organizational DNA (the term used
to describe the core cultural attributes of organizations) that should be the factor in making such
decisions.

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The Glamour of Working for MNCs

Third, many professionals dream of working in MNCs or Multinational Corporations rather than
domestically located firms due to the glamour and the chances for international travel as well as
the brand image of that firm.

For instance, it is common to find many students in Asian universities who aspire to join MNCs
for this reason. It is also common to see many students taking up Computer Science and IT
(Information Technology) branches in college so that they can join software and technology
firms and use them as a ladder to go abroad and possibly, settle there.

Often, Money is the Clincher

The fourth and perhaps the most important factor that must determine your career moves are the
aspects of job security and compensation along with perks and benefits from specific firms.

For instance, the reason why many professionals join reputed firms is that they are guaranteed a
minimum amount of compensation that is usually higher than the Industry Average in addition to
having some sense of job security. In addition, many professionals stick to firms that give
generous perks like paid vacations and paid education for their children.

Apart from this, in these recessionary times, it is very important to “stay alert” and “keep one’s
ears to the ground” to the possibility of layoffs and hence, this is another factor that should be
taken into account.

Conclusion: Employees Leave Managers and Not the Firms

Lastly, at whatever stage of your career you are in, it is worth remembering that research has
found that employees leave managers instead of the firms meaning that apart from the macro
factors that influence your decision, the microcosm of your working life wherein the people
whom you interact with on an everyday basis often determine your job satisfaction and
fulfillment at the workplace, is often the clincher for many professionals in making career
moves. To conclude, it would be better if you can make a decision matrix of all the factors that
make up your career and then, decide accordingly.

Current Employment Trends and Their Implications for Business, Society, and Individuals

Changing Nature of Work and the Trends in Employment

The world of work is changing. Part Time and Freelance employment has grown whereas stable
and secure jobs that last an employee’s lifetime in one organization are scarce. If the Baby
Boomers were expected to work all their lives in at most two or three jobs, the Gen Xers
accelerated that with more frequent job hops.

Where the present generation entering the workforce, the Millennials, are concerned, studies
show that there is a drastic shift in the way the very nature of employment has changed. If the

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Gen Xers were not aware of freelancing when they started their careers in the 1990s, the same
cannot be said about Millennials for whom the Gig Economy is as natural as the full time,
secure, and stable employment of yore.

Indeed, Freelancing and Gig Work is so accepted now that virtually no one is surprised if
somebody says that they are an Uber driver or a Freelance Consultant who works from home.
Thus, it is the fact that employment patterns and the very nature of work has changed
dramatically when compared to even a decade or two earlier.

The Race to the Bottom and Business Leaders Encouraging Gig Work

These employment patterns have implications for all stakeholders, whether they are business
leaders, governmental policymakers, societal actors, and more importantly, individuals like you
who can be students or working professionals.

To start with, it is the case that business leaders are promoting contractual and freelance jobs
as a solution to the deteriorating profitability in the midst of tough economic conditions.
While this was true a decade earlier when the Global Economic Crisis was sweeping the world,
the same cannot be said now where the economy does seem to be in good health.

This has led to some Left Leaning Economists to state that business leaders want to save costs
and hoard capital for themselves and their shareholders that have prompted them to come up
with part time jobs as a solution.

Indeed, the fact that businesses do not have to pay for health insurance or social security in
addition to maternity benefits and paid leave means that some of these suspicions seem to be
true.

Whether you are on the left or right side of the debate, the fact remains that businesses do have to
account for Gig Work by tweaking their Human Resource and Operational Strategies to
accommodate the growing tribes of part time workers.

Bankrupt Governments and the Looming Social Security and Healthcare Crisis

As for governmental and societal stakeholders, policymakers have to reorient the entire safety
net by which they protect workers from the adverse economic conditions. When there are no
obligations for paying social security and pensioner benefits to workers, the government is left
with the unenviable task of accounting for these benefits on its own.

This is especially hard when the future social security and healthcare obligations are so
enormous and humungous that the government might be bankrupt trying to meet those means
that we are approaching a crisis as far as these aspects are concerned.

In addition, the societal stakeholders such as community organizations and activists have to plan
for increased job insecurity or the rise of the so-called Precariat whose work and lives are
transient and depend on day to day events as far as sheer survivability is concerned.

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This has implications for the way in which housing, immigration, public utilities, and urban
system planning have to be worked out to prevent societal chaos and social unrest. Thus, it is a
tough ask for these stakeholders as well who now to account for maintaining the systems that
sustain us without breakdowns.

Implications for You, Whether an Aspiring or a Working Professional

As for individuals such as you who might be an aspiring or working professional, you need to
draw lessons from the implications discussed so far and plan your future accordingly. If you are
just starting out, it makes sense for you to invest early without spending too much so that you are
ready for downturns. For those of you who are already working, you must realize that the Gig
Economy can be harnessed by even those who have a decade or two of experience.

Indeed, whether you are ready or not, the shifting nature of employment means that you would
be impacted, directly or indirectly. Some experts suggest that you need to leverage your
experience and networks in case you have to deal with job losses.

Others advise that those who are starting out should postpone major life decisions such as
Marriage so that they are financially stable before they commit themselves. Perhaps the most
important implication is that you are not guaranteed a pension or lifelong health insurance and
hence, this is something that you need to plan for as well.

Thus, without sounding dire, what we suggest is that it is better to be safe than sorry and hence,
be cautious and conservative in managing your finances.

Conclusion

Lastly, while all this seems gloomy, it is the reality that all stakeholders have to face as the race
to the bottom in which the market economic players are engaged in means that unless you are
prepared, you would be left behind.

In addition, you must work the system to your advantage by thorough preparation and diligence
which means that sooner or later, you would find yourself on a safe footing. The implication is
clear and that is that you cannot expect the government or other stakeholders to come to your
rescue and hence, you better build a parachute for yourself.

How Self Learning can help you be Ahead of the Curve in a Fast Changing World

The shelf life of working professionals is reducing by the day. While in the immediate years after
the Second World War, professionals could expect the knowledge they gained during their study
to last for a decade or two before it became obsolete, the decades of the New Millennium have
upended such obsolescence to less than five or ten years.

Indeed, given the rapid and exponential pace of technological change, some experts believe that
programmers would find their expertise eroding every three years wherein the pressure to keep
up with the latest technologies kicks in.

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In other words, while in earlier decades, one could expect to last a decade or two with their
current skills, at the moment it is just a few years which means that the motto “Keep Learning
Continuously or Perish” is the guiding principle for the present generation.

Indeed, it can be said that the way things are going at the moment; soon professionals would
have to constantly keep upgrading their skills and enhance their knowledge or find themselves
laid off or given inconsequential assignments.

Thus, there can be no greater threat to working professionals than the risk posed by knowledge
and skill obsolescence.

This is where self learning plays a key role in ensuring that working professionals stay ahead of
the skills and knowledge curve. Indeed, sites such as this, ManagementStudyGuide.com, help
professionals of all ages to enhance their skills and enrich their knowledge to keep up with the
latest trends.

For instance, logging into any of the modules can help working professionals refresh their
knowledge and enrich their skills as well as brush up the basic concepts so that they feel that they
are fresh out of college and hence, ready to take on challenging assignments. Indeed, when the
modern workplace demands constant upgrading of skills, there can no better way than to do so
by using sites such as this.

Self learning is the equivalent of enrolling and attending refresher courses and the executive
management programs that are offered by business schools. It is also a good substitute for
classroom learning which requires time and dedicated effort that some working professionals
might not have and in this respect, self learning can be better than enrolling in specific courses.
Above all, self learning is valuable since the latest trends and happenings are usually in the news
but not analyzed in detail and this is where sites such as this can help.

Having said that, we are not saying that self learning is the panacea or the answer to the
problems of skill and knowledge obsolescence. Indeed, while self learning is valuable, classroom
and discussion based learning is also a good way to refresh and update and upgrade one’s skills.

Moreover, self learning must be accompanied by face to face discussion and debate with peers
and colleagues and hence, what we are saying is that self learning can provide a head start which
you can capitalize on later if you want to be ahead of the curve. For instance, sites such as this
can help you to learn new concepts and acquire knowledge about the latest happenings and
trends in business.

You can then supplement and complement such knowledge by engaging in discussion, whether
online or face to face to ensure that you get different perspectives. Indeed, the fact that self
learning offers a chance for you to step out of conventional modes of learning, is perhaps its
greatest strength when compared to conventional modes of learning.

Thus, on balance, it is the case that self learning offers you the chance to get off the blocks faster
than your peers and then, once you have established a head start, you can then use this advantage

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to go up the value chain. Indeed, the concept of the skills and knowledge value chain is very
relevant in case of self learning since sites such as this help you find all topics at one place
instead of having to be scattered in looking in different sites.

By being a One Stop Shop for all the concepts and topics, self learning sites such as this can help
you focus your energy and narrow your attention to the right concepts rather than be distracted
by the noise.

Apart from this, while self learning and classroom learning are indeed as different as chalk and
cheese, each can be used to complement and supplement each other and this where sites such as
this can be used in conjunction with other modes of learning to ensure that you are ahead of the
curve.

Therefore, what we recommend is that you make the most or the best of both worlds by using
self learning to complement and supplement other modes of learning.

Lastly, given the pressures of the contemporary jobs landscape where one has to continuously
learn to be able to just survive, it becomes clear that whichever mode of learning you choose,
whether that is classroom based or self learning, remember not to get distracted and lose your
focus or your drive.

After all, your future depends on how well you can learn by being ahead of the curve and hence,
give your best and ensure that you learn responsibly and with adequate thought to the cost
benefit aspect so that you do not burn a hole in your pocket.

To conclude, the changing times means that there must be changing methods of learning and this
is where self learning can help you to stay ahead of the curve and be on top of the learning and
skills value chain.

Designing and Implementing an Effective Work from Home Policy

Need for Effective Work from Home Policies

With work from home and remote working becoming quite popular and the norm in many
organizations, it is imperative that Human Resource (HR) Managers think about ways and means
to design and implement effective work from home policies.

Indeed, with remote work being reported by nearly half of the employees in major corporations
in surveys and studies, organizations more than ever need a well thought out and rigorously
implemented Work from Home (WFH) policy.

The key point to note is that the WFH policy must serve the interests of all stakeholders and not
only the employers or the employees alone.

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WFH and Misuse

To start with, it is better if HR Managers define what is meant from WFH for employees lest
they are under the impression that they can do remote work whenever and wherever they want.
In other words, the WFH policy must not be misused or abused by lazy employees seeking to
escape their work and responsibilities.

On the other hand, employers and most importantly, the immediate managers of supervisors of
the employees must not cherry pick the employees who are allowed to WFH which means that
there needs to a common yardstick that is applied to all employees and not only to the Manager’s
favorites.

For instance, a well designed WFH policy would take care of these aspects by specifying the
base expectations and norms that employees and managers are required to follow.

This can take the form of a WFH policy that aims to make employees fulfill their work
responsibilities even when they are working remotely.

Thus, the deliverables and the outcomes from remote work must be the same as those that other
employees who are working in the office are expected to fulfill. This means that WFH must not
become a synonym for shirking work and taking the organization for a ride.

WFH and Favoritism

On the other hand, the employees too must not be taken for granted when permitting them to
work from home.

This can take the form of a WFH policy that is consistent and applicable to all employees. For
instance, the usual practice of allowing remote work at the discretion of the managers must be
tempered with clear guidelines about the kind of situations that warrant working from home.

This can include women employees who are expecting and those among them who have had
deliveries in recent months as well as those with family responsibilities.

WFH and Women Employees

Indeed, the need for a WFH policy is felt acutely in these cases as women employees often feel
that they are not able to balance their professional and personal commitments due to them having
to take care of young children, infants, and other family members.

Having said that, it is also not the case that all women employees are allowed to work remotely
irrespective of their personal situations and professional standing. The reason for this is that a
lenient WFH can be misused by others who do not have genuine and valid reasons to work from
home.

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Implementing the WFH Policy

On the other hand, a WFH arraignment should not lead to employees missing meetings and other
important commitments. Of course, it can be argued that Skype and VOIP (Voice over Internet
Protocol) dial-ins can be used as a means for the remote workers to participate in calls and
teleconferences.

While this can indeed be done, the bottom line is that employees must be asked to attend in
person whenever the situation demands.

Indeed, even those employees who work from home for extended periods must be asked to report
to the managers and HR managers in person every now and then so that there is a confirmation
about the genuineness and authenticity of the reasons for remote work.

One of the main reasons why many employees request remote work is that medical and personal
emergencies often mean that they cannot attend office and at the same time, due to the criticality
of the professional commitments, they cannot proceed on leave as well.

Thus, a well designed WFH policy would take care of these competing demands for time by
Smart Working arrangements where employees with dire personal emergencies are also able to
contribute to the organization by balancing their personal and professional commitments.

Apart from that, a well designed WFH policy must also be rigorously implemented and
monitored for compliance.

This can take the form of the immediate managers and the HR Managers reviewing such
arrangements with the concerned employee(s) from time to time to evaluate whether all sides are
on the “same page” wherein neither work is shirked nor employees suffer.

This is the crux of a well designed and rigorously implemented WFH policy that leads to a
healthy Work Life Balance and actualizes a work environment that is fulfilling and leads to
engaged and motivated employees.

Conclusion: A WFH Policy that works

Lastly, with remote work becoming common, it is high time for all organizations to come up
with a coherent WFH policy that meets the organizational requirements as well as satisfies the
needs of the employees.

With rapid advances in communications and computing technologies, it is our view that personal
presence in the office would soon become redundant when taken together with the need to save
money and energy from not commuting.

To conclude, recent research has found that remote work is often more productive than working
in the office as well as can be misused at times. Thus, the challenge for contemporary HR
Managers is to actualize an effective WFH policy.

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Why Reskilling Might be the Solution to Avoiding Job Losses from Automation and Robots

The Gloom and Doom over Job Losses and How Reskilling can Help

It has now become routine to read about how automation would result in widespread job losses
and how robots would soon replace factory workers, drivers, and even white collar professionals
as the Age of Machines arrives.

Indeed, the negative reports that regularly appear in the media paint a very grim view of the
future where humans are no longer needed in the workforce and all work is done by Artificially
Intelligent robots and machines.

While it is easy to give into the pessimism and throw up one’s hands in despair, the fact remains
that the problem of job losses is engaging industry leaders and intellectuals as much as it is
worrying workers and professionals.

Indeed, this is the reason why the organizers of the World Economic Forum, which is
responsible for hosting the annual gathering of the business and political elites from across the
world in Davos every year, has come out with a report detailing how certain measures such as
Reskilling can help workers and professionals stay competitive in the Digital Economy of the
future.

What is Reskilling and what needs to be done to actualize it in Practice?

So, what exactly is Reskilling and how does it help, and what can the different stakeholders do to
ensure that there are no widespread job losses due to automation?

To start with, Reskilling simply is the Retraining of workers and professionals to help them
acquire higher value adding and complementary and supplementary skills as well as sharpen
their soft skills so that they can find avenues for work if their jobs are automated.

In other words, if your job is at risk of being automated, the best thing that you can do is to
acquire newer skills and enhance your skills so that you remain competitive. While on the face of
it, this looks easy and simple to accomplish, the reality is that it takes much effort and
determination from all stakeholders to actualize this in practice.

Indeed, this is the reason why last year’s Davos conference focused exclusively on the problems
and prospects of the emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution and deliberated on ways and means
to avoid the negative consequences of the same.

Thus, one of the topics discussed was on how to retrain and reskill the workers to meet the
challenges of the future. As part of the deliberations, a report was prepared that identified some
of the practicable and implementable solutions that can be adopted.

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Reskilling and the Role of Stakeholders

Reskilling requires a lot of commitment from both workers and employers and especially the
latter as they need to invest in retraining the former and migrate them to higher value adding
skills. Indeed, the WEF clearly states that both industry and government have to come together if
Reskilling of the workforce has to be successful.

Moreover, the key to success of this initiative is to identify which skills would be needed in the
future.

Apart from this, business leaders would have to place people before profits and be willing to let
go of some revenues and at the same time, make investments in building human capital rather
than physical capital and machines alone.

Similarly, governments would have to subsidize the efforts at Reskilling and civil society groups
and other stakeholders have to pitch in and create support systems that would help workers in
devoting time to retraining and Reskilling themselves.

Thus, there is a need for systemic initiatives and solutions to meet the challenges of the Machine
Age and all stakeholders must come together as otherwise widespread job losses can lead to
social unrest.

How Reskilling Works

The specific ways in which such a situation can be ameliorated in other parts of the world is
through workers enrolling for training and development programs sponsored either by their
employers or governmental agencies and which are conducted by external trainers who are adept
at both identifying the skills required for the Machine Age and who have the necessary expertise
to do so.

In addition, online learning and eLearning sites such as ManagementStudyGuide.com (this site
on which you are reading the article) can partner with corporates and governmental agencies to
offer courses and workshops on the skills that would be in demand in the future.

Apart from this, there needs to be an effort on part of the workers and professionals to invest
time and resources on retraining and Reskilling themselves instead of sitting and moping over
loss of jobs and occupations.

More importantly, corporates must recognize the importance of soft skills that would command a
premium in the Digital Economy. Above all, it is better to Catch Them Young or in other words,
train students’ right from the High School days on skills that are needed for the future.

Conclusion

As can be seen from the discussion so far, there needs to be a comprehensive approach to
Reskilling and Retraining without which a sense of atrophy and apathy has now become the

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norm in some the erstwhile Manufacturing hubs in the United States and which was in some
ways contributed to the success of President Trump in the election of 2016.

Indeed, if other Western countries and in particular, India, have to avoid such a situation, it is
better to start the efforts now rather than later so that they have a head start in terms of meeting
the challenges of automation and robotics.

To conclude, the world is on the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution which would be as
disruptive as the previous transformations were and hence, it makes sense to learn from the past
and apply those lessons in the present to actualize a prosperous future for all, and not only to a
few.

The Need for Professionals and Experts to be Independent in Highly Polarized Times

The Polarized and Charged Times we live in and the Difficulty of Being Independent

It is a fact that we live in highly charged and polarized times. Reasoned debate has given way to
hyper partisan rhetoric and illogical and plain irrational behavior from all stakeholders including
politicians, businesspersons, and more importantly, the armies of professional experts and the
media figures.

Indeed, the last category needs special mention as it is the job of experts and journalists to act as
gatekeepers of democracy and to speak truth to power.

Instead, what we have is the media being compromised and the experts tending to look the other
way when facts are distorted and plain lies are spread. We need to look not beyond the
phenomenon of Fake News and the Post Truth paradigm wherein it is increasingly the case that
blatant propaganda has replaced any sense of reason and logic.

Indeed, this is not only the case in the Developing World where anyway institutions are weak but
also manifest in advanced Western democracies that have long prided themselves on being
fiercely independent and protective of their core mission to safeguard democracy.

This sorry and sad state of affairs has resulted in drowning out any semblance of norm and rules
and instead, what we have is an increasingly charged and polarized experts and professionals
who have compromised and abandoned their allegiance to their core mission.

Remaining True to One’s Mission

The basic duty of Doctors is to uphold the Hippocratic Oath, the job of lawyers to follow the
constitution, and the responsibility of media is to act as watchdogs of democracy. In addition,
professionals and experts have an obligation to remain wedded to their underlying sense of right
and wrong and not be swayed by extraneous inducements.

Of course, one can always argue that all this idealistic attitudes do not feed us since all of us have
to earn a living. Further, when the system encourages experts and the media to put profit before

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principles, how can they be objective and unbiased in their approach? Indeed, it is alright to
preach morals when one’s stomach is full.

Thus, it means that the prevailing economic and political and not to leave out, social system is
geared towards profit maximization and hence, to expect anyone to follow the money is
essentially foolish.

This is the reason why many professionals and experts often dismiss any allegations of bias by
pointing to the nature of the system itself.

Distrust of Experts Leading to Trump and Brexit

Having said that, it is also the case that there is something known as taking this bias and
prejudice too far since ultimately, the result is that the system itself is in danger of collapse and
decay.

Indeed, the key argument in this article is that while one can indeed follow the money, there
comes a point when there has to be some semblance of independence lest we end up Killing the
Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs.

In other words, while the capitalist free market system operates in accordance to profit
maximizing principles, it is also predicated around a basic commitment to survival and
continuity rather than collapse and chaos.

Indeed, even democracies and the institutions that run them have a duty to uphold the
constitution and bear allegiance to law and order.

This is the reason why there is a growing backlash against the partisan media and a general
tendency to disbelieve the experts.

This can be seen in the events such as the Election of President Trump and the Brexit vote, both
of which were seen as a pushback against the compromised establishment.

If we are to prevent more chaos and confusion, this is the time for all responsible stakeholders to
act in accordance with their core mission.

The System Tends to Correct Itself

If you are an aspiring professional, you need to remember that maintaining independence is
indeed tough and outright impossible.

On the other hand, there is an inbuilt logic in the operations of organizations wherein the system
tends to correct and rebalance itself to prevent collapse.

Thus, our suggestion is that while you are in your job or profession, be aware that when the
rebalancing happens, you can become the first casualty if you are caught off guard.

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Having said that, experts and professionals often fail to recognize the warning signs even though
they are trained to do so and hence, be on the lookout for straws in the wind that would indicate
the direction in which the wind is blowing. In other words, be alert to changing trends and then
actualize your strategies and plans accordingly.

Apart from this, while maintaining independence in careers and organizations comes at a price,
you need to factor in the costs of not doing so and the impacts it would have on your careers.
Indeed, when the system corrects itself, you really do not want to be the one who is exposed
when the tide turns.

Concluding Thoughts

Lastly, while we have steered clear of moralistic and bombastic arguments in this article, the
importance of a conscience and conscientious sense of right and wrong is often the reason why
some experts tend to be firm rather than be compromised.

As the legendary Hollywood movie, Wall Street portrays, when someone is staring at the abyss,
it is usually one’s character that pulls him or her out of it.

To conclude, the present polarization and charged atmosphere leaves many experts and even well
meaning professionals exhausted, and hence, our concluding suggestion for any of you in a
dilemma is to follow your heart and the rest would fall in place.

The End

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