Managing Careers

Career …
 Definition

“Career is defined as a sequence of positions, roles or jobs held

by one person over a relatively long time span”
 Career Concepts
• A career path is the sequential pattern of jobs that form a
career
• Career goals are the future positions that an individual strives
to reach as part of a career
• Career planning refers to the process by which an individual
selects career goals and the path to these goals
• Individual career planning is the process whereby each
employee personally plans career goals
• Organizational career planning is the process whereby
organization plans career goals for its employees
• Career management is defined as the process of designing
and implementing goals, plans and strategies that enable HR
professionals and managers to satisfy workforce needs and
allow individuals to achieve their career objectives
• Career development programs help in achievement of career
objectives
Career Anchors …
 Career Anchors
• Autonomy
• Security/Stability
• Technical/Functional Competence
• General Management
• Entrepreneurial Creativity
• Service
• Pure Challenge
• Life Style
Career Planning Program by the
Organization
This planning consists of …
 Elements of a Career planning program

• Individual Assessment and Need Analysis

• Organizational Assessment and Opportunity Analysis

• Need Opportunity Alignment

• Career Counseling
Career Planning Process
 Individual Assessment and Need Analysis
• Career drift: The phenomenon of people entering their
jobs, occupations and careers with little attention to career
planning and then feeling disengaged
• Workshops: A number of career planning elements like
self-assessment, communication of organizational
opportunities and one to one counseling can be combined
to ensure that career goals are realistic
• Assessment Centers: They evaluate employees on their
competencies and their ability to perform in future
position
• Need Analysis: Its purpose is to identify T & D exercises
that will help individual to meet his career plans as well
as organizational objectives
 Organizational Assessment and Opportunity
Analysis
• Employees’ goals and aspirations must be realistic, practical
and achievable in terms of organizational possibilities

• An individual employee needs information about possible

career directions, possible paths of career advancement and
specific vacancies, major technological changes

• Informal Career planning programs enable employees learn

about career options and opportunities from their supervisors
or their colleagues

• Career paths are logical progressions between jobs or from one

job to a target position
 Need Opportunity Alignment

• HRIS is a formalized system of tracking and

recording career moves across the organization

• Information on available positions in organization

would help employees analyze his/her prospects and
plan his career path in the organization

• Alignment will win employee acceptability and trust

and optimize the utilization of resources
 Career Counseling
The supervisor, along with the HR department, has to
counsel the employee regarding the available
opportunities, the employee aspirations and competencies
by seeking answers to questions like:

– What are my skills?

– What are my actual needs?
– What are my future prospects?
– What are opportunities available?
– What are my job requirements?
– What training will I require?
– What is in store in career for me?

It is the responsibility of the organization to either provide

answers to these questions or help employees find the
answers
 Benefits to an organization

• Ensures availability of resources for future

• Enhances organizational ability to attract and retain

talent

• Ensures growth opportunities for all

• Handles employee frustration

 Benefits to an individual

• Employees understand their own strengths and

weaknesses
• Employees have a better knowledge of career
opportunities
• Enables to choose the suitable career
• Helps to plan career in a long term perspective
• Provides an opportunity to change career plans
• Gives a sense of satisfaction, achievement and
motivation
 Issues in Career Planning
• Dual Family Careers

• Low Ceiling Careers

• Declining Opportunities

• Restructuring

• Career Plateaus

• Work-family issues
 Career Development Cycle

• Exploration stage: Identifying individual’s likes and

dislikes

• Establishment stage: Identifying individual’s job,

satisfaction and settlement

• Maintenance stage: Maintaining individual’s reputation

and becoming major contributor to organization

• Disengagement stage: Equipping individual for a

change, balance of work and non-work activities
 Career Objectives and Career path
• Promotion: Advancement of an employee to a better job in terms of
greater responsibilities, prestige, status and increased rate or pay or salary.
Types are:
➢ Merit based Promotion
➢ Seniority based Promotion
➢ Merit cum seniority based Promotion
➢ Time bound Promotion
➢ Vacancy based Promotion

• Transfer: Horizontal movement or reassignment of an employee from one

job to another at the same level of organizational hierarchy but in a
different place or unit most probably with similar pay, status, duties and
responsibilities. Types are:
➢ Employee initiated Transfer
➢ Company initiated Transfer
➢ Public initiated Transfer
 Steps for planned self development
• Self Assessment

• Opportunity Analysis

• Decision-making

• Leverage network

• Continuous Assessment
 Succession Planning
• It helps identify specific individuals to fill future
vacancies in key positions

• An organizational replacement chart forms the

basis for this process

• It gives an overview of the present incumbents and

the prospective replacements

• Information Technology has made it easier for the

organizations to carry this activity as a continuous
exercise
 Elements of Succession Planning

➢ Continuity

➢ Long-term perspective

➢ Organizational need perspective

➢ Turnover Management

➢ Emphasis on results