Tip #5: Taking Charge of Your Career

Posted on | March 31, 2009 |

Career development is important for both employees and organizations; employees obviously want to make the most of their working lives and progress up the proverbial ladder, while organizations consistently need people to grow and fulfill the ongoing needs of the company. It’s an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” situation. So who’s responsible for career development?

An organization’s responsibility lies in the creating an environment in which its employees can succeed. This may mean anything from simply making sure new and open positions are available and properly communicated to interested employees, to providing additional support for internal training.

Though an organization has some responsibility in the career development process, a significant portion remains with the employee. To take charge of you career, make sure to create a comprehensive career plan. Take out a piece of paper and write down (or draw if you’re artistically inclined) where you would like your career to go. Be sure to note some mile stones and goals, as well as a potential finishing point. After that, make sure you carefully think and write out the steps and methods you will take to reach those milestones and achieve those goals. Think about what, if any, education you may need (will you need an MBA or other qualification?) and certainly consider how much time you will need to spend at each milestone in order to gain enough experience to reach the next.

Ask for career advice and help from people more experienced than you are or ask someone more senior if they will be your career mentor. The worst that can happen is that they will say no, and you may be surprised at how many senior people will be happy to step up and give you advice and direction. Taking the time to write out a well developed career plan will significantly help you in reaching your goals; after all there’s no use in deciding to become the next CEO of General Electric if you have no plan to get there.

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One Response to “Tip #5: Taking Charge of Your Career”

Tip #23: Breaking Down Career Myths | dailyhrtips.com
April 9th, 2009 @ 3:56 am

[...] like for this one to be true, but it’s just not the case. As we’ve examined in past HR tips (http://www.dailyhrtips.com/2009/03/31/hr-tip-career-development/), career development is only partially the responsibility of the organization. A tremendous amount [...]