Career development incorporates personal improvements, employee training, employee development, and organizational, educational programs. To achieve futuristic positions in your career, you always strive through a sequential pattern of jobs to form a career. French and Bell term career management as the process of designing and implementing goals, plans, and strategies to enable the organization to satisfy employee concerns while individuals achieve their career goals.
In the modern world, individuals are not confined to one organization as they can move anywhere to reinvent themselves or even change their profession. Various organizations such as MCA Connect Careers have designed to support and establish competencies within organizational missions and objectives to curb unemployment and develop the career skills required. To establish a fully functional career development system, several factors are involved, including;
Needs: Entails conducting a needs assessment to define the present system.
Vision: Aids in determining possibilities and new directions as it is linked with the interventions
Action plan: It is formulated to promote the achievement of the vision
Results: The program should integrate employee training and management development programs.
Factors influencing career choices
- Career counselors
- Social influences
- Interest and specialization of parents
- Influence of parents, friends, and relatives
- Media influences
Characteristics of stages of modern career development
With time individuals accumulate work experience and maturity in a career field. The progression from the start through growth to the decline phase is a natural occurrence in career life. Some of the stages involved in career development include;
Assessment stage: It’s depicted by unawareness. You don’t comprehend your strengths, values, and weaknesses. You work towards wanting to know more about yourself. You may opt to consult a career coach or career counselor for further assessment.
Investigation stage: In this stage, you are researching what work exists in the world. You are not sure what career options are available. You may feel overwhelmed with opportunities available as you conduct informational interviews with people in your field.
Preparation stage: You are getting ready to perform meaningful work. You are full of excitement to do your life’s work. In this stage, it is vital to set goals and adopt a success-oriented mindset/ attitude as you gain knowledge and experience.
Commitment stage: You feel confident as you have already figured out what you want to pursue. Being ready to commit calls for more focus on your energy towards the target. It involves conducting a job search, negotiating, and accepting a job offer.
Retention stage: In this stage, you feel comfortable in your career field. You remain committed to enhancing your skills up to current standards in the industry. You have already figured out how things work. You are eager to build a professional network as you portray first-class customer service skills.
Transition stage: The stage is characterized by discomfort as you are unsure of what your next move will be. You will learn to perform conscious changes in your career.
Conclusion
Career development entails the total combination and upholding of sociological, psychological, physical, educational, economic, and opportunity factors. Career planning additionally involves selecting concrete career goals and a path towards the set objective. Actions towards career development can only be helpful if an employee is committed.