So what is career development? From an organization’s point of view it can be defined as – An ongoing and formalized effort that focuses on developing enriched and more capable workers. So, should HR have a role in managing the career development of employees or are employees responsible
for developing their own careers? This is a question that many organizations are wrestling with. Some organizations take the attitude that employees are responsible for their own careers: “why should we train or develop them”, they say, “because they will only leave and go somewhere else for more money
if we do”. At the other end of the spectrum there are some organizations (for example the United Technologies Corporation,) who pour huge resources into employee development and training in the expectation that they will have better skilled employees who will be highly motivated and stay with the
organization longer. We take the view that somewhere in the middle is probably where most organizations need to be.

Here are two tips to think about when managing the career development process:

• Map out alternative career paths in the organization and communicate these to employees so they can see the pathways to career progress. Make it clear however that progress along a particular career path is dependent on the employee developing their skills and competencies to meet the challenges
  of the next job and there are no guarantees that positions will be available.
• Provide opportunities for employees to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities by introducing:
  
  - Mentoring programs (formal and informal)
  
  -Career Coaching – train supervisors in coaching skills
  
  -Job Rotation – provide the opportunity for employees to gain experience by short stays in other parts or the organization
  
  -Tuition Assistance Programs that will enable employees to keep their skills current through attending external academic and training programs.

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Quote of the Day

For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger