Career development

Career development is important for an individual or a person finishing graduation, who is starting into a new phase of life. For an individual career development may be the understanding the combination of educational, physical, psychological, and economic factors that influence work in the total lifespan of an individual. In an organization, career development may be the management of how employees view their careers, within and outside the organization.

In an organization, the human resources department plans an organized method to match the needs of the business with the career interests of the employees. Developing this plan may assure the individual that they will reach their long-term goals in life and motivates and help them to work efficiently.  In some companies, when an employee joins, a brief introduction about the employee’s role and the various steps ahead in the job tree is given. This will help the employee work toward getting higher positions in his or her career. Managers may also help their subordinates achieve this target by identifying their strengths and skills. And also converting their weaknesses into their own strengths.

The career development has a cycle.  This is a continuous process.

The first step is to have a career goal. This goal will be based on the skills, knowledge, and interest about the career interest. The employee should also try to achieve that goal and not jus plan it. The next step is informational gathering. This can be done by joining internship programs. One can get lot of information about their careers from peers and other experienced people. They can also gain experience by doing interns. When going for an interview, an individual who has done internship programs will be of value and will be considered more over a fresher who has no experience.

Career development involves a self-assessment and self-development process. The self-assessment process generally helps an individual to select the career they are most interested in pursuing.

Review Questions:

• What is career development?
• What are the ways to develop a career?