Appendix B Career Development

Appendix B Career Development

I.WHAT IS A CAREER?

A career is a sum total of work-related experiences throughout a person’s life. Careers encompass all of the different jobs people hold throughout their lives and different organizations they work for. Careers are important to most people because:

• A career is a means of supporting one’s self and loved ones, and of providing basic necessities and opportunities for the pursuit of outside interests.

• A career can be a source of personal fulfillment and meaning. Many managers find making a difference in an organization to be personally as well as financially rewarding.

DIFFERENT CAREER PATTERNS

• A person whose career is linear moves through a sequence of jobs in which each new job entails additional responsibility, a greater impact on an organization, new skills, and upward movement in the organizational hierarchy. A linear career follows a line of upward progression, either in one company or a set of companies.

• Managers with a steady-state career keep the same kind of job during a large part of their work life, often becoming highly skilled and expert in what they do. An example might be a talented and creative graphic artist who turns down promotions into supervisory positions so that he can continue what he really likes to do, which is design work.

• A manager with a spiral career has held a series of jobs that build on each other but tend to be fundamentally different. An example would be a marketing manager in a large corporation who transfers to a job in public relations, and then after several years takes another job in an advertising firm.

STAGES IN A LINEAR CAREER

Preparation for Work

During this stage, people decide what kind of career they desire and learn what qualifications and experiences they will need in order to pursue their chosen career.

• Deciding on a career is not easy task, and sometimes people turn to trained professionals for help. A certain degree of self-awareness and reflection is required.

• Personality, values, attitudes, and moods should impact one’s initial career choice. After choosing a career, a person must gain the knowledge, skills, and education necessary to get a good starting position.

Organizational Entry

• At this stage, people are trying to find a good first job. The search entails identifying potential opportunities, learning as much as possible about them, and making one’s self an attractive candidate for prospective employers.

• Organizational entry is a more challenging for some kinds of careers than for others.

• Entry-level positions are important because it is the level at which most managers begin their careers.

Early Career

The early career stage begins after a person obtains a first job in his or her chosen career area. At this state, there are two important steps: establishment and achievement.

• Establishment means learning the ropes of one’s new job and organization, such as specific job responsibilities, expected and desired behaviors, and important values of the organization and its members.

• After establishment the employee is ready for the next step, which is achievement. Achievementmeans making one’s mark, accomplishing something noteworthy, or making an important contribution to the job or the organization. This step is crucial for career progression because it is a means of demonstrating one’s potential and standing out from others competing for desired positions.

• Increasing numbers of Americans at this stage are working abroad to make their significant achievements, and their bold decisions seem to be paying off.

• Some people find a mentor to be a valuable asset. A mentor is an experienced member of an organization who provides advice and guidance to a less experienced worker. Mentors often seek out protégés, but persons can also be proactive and try to enlist the help of a potential mentor.

• Research has found that receiving help from a mentor is associated with an increase in pay, pay satisfaction, promotion, and feeling good about one’s accomplishments.

Mid-Career

The mid-career stage generally occurs when people have been in the workforce between 20 and 35 years.

• For some, the mid-career stage is a time of major accomplishment and success. For other managers, the midcareer stage is a letdown because their career plateaus. A career plateau occurs when a manager’s chances of being promoted or obtaining a more responsible position dwindle. Because of downsizing and restructuring, upper level positions in many organizations are scarce.

• Plateaued managers who are able to come to terms with their situation can continue to enjoy their work and make important contributions to their organization. Some managers in this situation welcome lateral moves.

Late Career

This stage lasts as long as a person continues to work and has an active career.

IV.EFFECTIVE CAREER MANAGEMENT

Effective career management means that all levels in the organization, there are well qualified workers who can assume more responsible positions as needed, and that as many members of the organization as possible are highly motivated and satisfied with their jobs and careers.

• Managers face the challenge of ensuring not only that they have the kind of career they personally desire, but also that effective career management exists for all employees in their organization.

• There are two important foundations of effective career management in any organization: a commitment to ethical career practices and accommodations for workers’ multidimensional lives.

Commitment to Ethical Career Practices

• Ethical career practices include basing promotions on performance, not irrelevant considerations such as personal friendship, and ensuring that diverse members of an organization receive the career opportunities they deserve. Supervisors must never abuse their power to make career decisions affecting others.

• Managers at all levels must abide by and be committed to ethical career practices, actively demonstrate this commitment, communicate that violation of these practices will not be tolerated, and make sure that organizational members who feel they were not ethically treated can communicate their concerns without fear of retaliation.

Accommodations for Worker’s Multidimensional Lives

• Effectively managing careers also means being sensitive to and providing accommodations for the multiple demands that many organizational members face in their lives.

• Dual career couples are now the norm rather than the exception, the number of single parents is at an all-time high, and more and more mid-career workers need to care for their elderly and infirm parents. By making accommodations for workers’ multi-dimensional lives, managers not only help organizational members to have satisfying and productive careers but also help the organization to achieve its goals.

Jones, Essentials of Contemporary Management1