Career Development-Chapter 09 PDF

GOVERNMENT POSTGRADUATE COLLEGE 0
JHANG
Department of Computer Science
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING
ABSTRACT
Here we will discuss the various aspects of career development
planning such as:
Career Development Planning – Introduction
Career Development Planning ─ Stages
Impact of Technology on Career Planning
Giving Career an Organic Growth
Organizational Needs for Career Growth
Mentoring as an Effective Tool
Downsizing and Lay-Offs
Managing Workforce Diversity
Succession Planning
Careers in a Global Environment
Retirement Planning
Muhammad Saleem Raza

Department of Computer Sciences
Government Postgraduate College, Jhang
0345-4707500
CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

AREEHA_ABU-TALIB
smsmeesam@gmail.com
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CAREER DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING
INTRODUCTION
All organizations like to improve constantly. One of the biggest
channels to introduce improvements in any organization is through change.
There can be no improvements without change. The same thing goes for the
employee too. There can be no improvement in an employee’s career if he
isn’t open to change.
Nowadays, if someone expects all good

things to happen to him without he doing any
value addition, then he is living in a fool’s
paradise. This is the reason why most of the
organizations have self-development plans to help
their employees improve their skill sets and
become at par with the best talent globally.
This acquisition of new skills helps them in gaining personal growth and
successful long-term careers. The secret to career success has been
encapsulated in the simple words, be the person with the right skills in the
right place at the right time.
WHAT IS CAREER DEVELOPMENT?
Career development is one of those rare steps that addresses the needs
of both employers and employees. Every organization wants its employees to
grow in their professional life, so that they
can mold themselves to face the future.
This is the main reason why
organizations implement training sessions
and introduce many learning curves to
integrate their vision with the employee’s
personal goals. While this process might
sound quite seamless, it does offer a lot of challenges during the
implementation. The biggest reason is the communication barrier that exists
between the management and employees in organizations.
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STAGES:-
Here , we will discuss regarding the elements which are involved in the
career development and the planning process. In general, career building
involves two acts:
 Building one’s own career through available career opportunities.

 Realizing the career goals that the organization expects that the employee
will perform and vindicate the trust that the recruiters showed in him during
his selection.
Career planning can also be defined as

the process in which an employee can use
the available opportunities within the
organization to further their own personal
benefits. But at the same time, it should be
well within the limits of organizational
compliance. In that sense, career planning
should ideally start before joining the company.
Five Stages of Career Development Planning Career planning involves

five important stages. They are:
 Assessing self and identifying areas of strength and aptitude.
 Finding career opportunities that suit your strengths.
 Setting goals in personal and professional life
 Planning the actions of how to attain goals.
 Periodic evaluation of performance.
Let us now discuss the above-mentioned stages in detail.
ASSESSING SELF
Assessing oneself is the act of reviewing one’s priorities, personal
interests, strengths and weaknesses, along with appropriate skill sets. These
reviews help the employee to get a realistic idea of his chances at career
growth in the organization. Assessing will also give him a transparent picture
of the skill sets required for specific job descriptions and promotions.
While this is a great tool for exploring growth opportunities in one’s

own organization, job seekers can use it to look for opportunities among
friends and family, and in job fairs. This reality checking also helps in
finalizing goals and setting aims for the future.
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FINDING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

After the self-assessment is done, the next step is to get a reality check
on what skills the person has and how
they can serve him. In this step, the
candidate is supposed outline all the
steps that he needs to follow to reach a
specific career. This involves taking
stock of technical knowledge and
whether it is sufficient to guarantee a job
opportunity.
The next significant objective is networking. The candidate should

search, if he has anyone in his contact who can offer an opportunity to him,
or facilitate the same. A working professional can utilize this step in making
a realistic assessment of his goals, if they are still achievable, and all the
changes that happened in the work place to influence his outlook.
Most of the organizations conduct annual appraisals that have many

such self-assessment questionnaires. This is where candidates can give
themselves a fair score and prove to the management, where all they have
contributed in the growth of the organization.
SETTING GOALS IN PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE
In this phase, the candidate checks a range of career opportunities
available to him and determines which of his skillsets and knowledge levels
will be needed in the job of his
choice. In this step, the
candidate does research and
information-gathering from
multiple sources like friends,
colleagues, co-workers, etc.
and tries to find the best way that works for him.
In this stage, many potential job-seekers also post their profiles in job
placement centers, who in turn, provide them with a list of qualifications that
employers seek in a candidate’s profile. A similar situation is found inside
the organization as well, where possible options for a position are asked to
brush up their skills.
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GOAL SETTING
The third step in the process of career planning is that of goal setting,
where a person undergoes a period of self-assessment and investigates his
career opportunities to decide his long-term prospects in an organization. It
is important for the candidate to keep checking all his options for a viable
future.
It is also imperative that he

looks for opportunities tailored for
his personal interests, abilities and
skills. In short, his goals should be
specific, measured, set and
reachable, so that he can gauge his
success in pursuing it.
ACTION PLANNING
Action planning involves the steps required to achieve goals such as
additional training or getting a specific set of managerial skills either for his
current position or for the one that he is aspiring to get. This step usually
involves a lot of communication with the senior employees working in
different roles in the organization. As these seniors are the individuals who
can share information with the rest of the people and inform them about the
various dynamics in the working spheres.
PERIODIC EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE
The final step is evaluation of the progress made in inching towards the
career goals. Evaluating one’s success helps people keep a track of their
progress and identify strengths and weaknesses in a career plan.
This habit of self-assessment helps people keep their priorities in check and
keep evolving their skills as a continuous process, not an isolated, one-time
effort. Also, self-assessment helps in getting knowledge on different
functionalities in the working sphere.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAREERS

In today’s competitive recruitment climate, it is becoming increasingly
difficult for organizations to retain their best talent in a lifetime career with
them. This restructuring and merging of organizations have provided
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employees with a golden opportunity to make changes in their career goals

and achieve them.
PROTEAN CAREERS
Nowadays, organizations have ceased seeing themselves as a one-stop
solution provider to their employees. They have evolved into a business
house that provides learning opportunities to motivated people which makes
them more marketable.
These careers have been termed as Protean Careers because the

candidates are now seen to change
their career from time to time to fit
their personal needs. The major
characteristics of these protean
careers are Portable Skills, Multi-
Cultural Working Experience,
Learning on the Job, and Constant
Networking.
Protean Careers consider the interpersonal learning and changes in an

organizational structure as the main factors for a career change.
Gradually, people have slowly gravitated towards a more personal

approach when it comes to career building. This needs usage of subjective
fields such as Designation, Salary and Longevity. These factors entered the
professional life for the need of a better work-life balance in the lives of the
employees. They now desire greater balance in their professional lives and
want it to serve their personal needs. They have understood the value of
spending time with their families.
SPIRAL CAREERS
Today, the careers of employees are changing due to many individual
and environmental parameters. Differing
attitudes and career goals are the main
reasons of career changes. For example, a
person who is highly creative will always
seek to develop his personal skills, so they
will be more inclined to look for cross-
functional career options.
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Similarly, people who are motivated by power and achievement will

look forward to getting hierarchical promotions. This was a dominant model
of career growth till recent years. But now, the changes in the external
business environment have triggered the changes in the internal working
structure of the organizations as well.
This is the reason people are no longer exhibiting linear career changes
that were observed with a stable and highly-structured working environment,
but more organic and adaptive, spiral career patterns.
WHAT INDUSTRY EXPERTS SAY?

Industry experts like Allred, Snow, and Miles have long observed and
mentioned the link between individual growth and career changes. They say
that organizations have now started opting for a more network-oriented way
of working, as compared to the silo-like functioning of individual departments
earlier.
This is the result of a greater need to have a strong connection between

different departments to coordinate tasks better and meet the intense
pressure of global business competition.
These scholars emphatically stress that the skill-set that a person

needs to be successful in his career depends on the organization’s structure.
If the organizational structure promotes venturing into new markets, then he
will certainly find success in learning new things.
TRANSITORY CAREERS
Organizations expect their employees to possess the technical skills
needed to compete with the rest of the competition. But at the same time,
the changes that have come in
today’s workforce don’t allow the
employees to be satisfied with just
possessing technical skills. Those
employees who possess strong
interpersonal skills and have a
collaborative mindset will be able to
survive in an increasingly inter-
departmental style of working.
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While technical skills maybe sufficient in a functionally structured

organization, those who are to succeed in tomorrow’s cellular firms must
have the competency in Commercial, Collaborative, and Self-Governance
skills as well. Career planners are flexible in adapting the new working
models in organizations, so that they can learn from different platforms and
bring in an overall career improvement.
The idea of pursuing personal growth while working for organizational

growth are not fundamentally at odds with one another. They are completely
consistent and can be pursued together. Earlier, employers used to feel
insecure if their employees start learning new things because that used to
make them apprehensive that the person might quit.
But in today’s business scenario, companies endorse that their

employees keep working on new skills and be prepared to face any sudden
change. This has brought a lot of difference in the way people manage their
careers nowadays.
Earlier, they used to be happy trying to develop their capacities in a

particular skill area, but now they have started going for a more peripheral
growth structure which encompasses also those skills that complement their
primary skill.
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CAREER PLANNING

People tend to restrict the impact of technology on career planning to
only those candidates searching for jobs on the internet. While that is a
crucial change in career planning, it is by no means the only change that
technology has brought in an employee’s life. Thanks to the advances in
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technology, employees can now undertake a self-assessment of their skill-

sets through various online platforms and portals.
The employees can now get a clearer idea of the areas they need to
focus on to get a wellrounded profile. It reduces their dependence on
employers and immediate supervisors to get a feedback on their
performance in the form of performance reviews. These employees also
don’t need to rely upon counsellors or on the human resources department
to get their suggestions and to get their questions answered.
This is all possible due to the wide interconnectivity that Internet

provides, using which these employees can sign up for new programs and
learning courses through which they can add new skills to their resume. In
addition to these, many organizations have started giving internal training
through online modules for employees to improve their efficiency during
their convenient hours.
Connectivity also helps people from different departments to be

connected, which increases overall efficiency and time utilization. The
employees can now easily get the response to their queries over mails and
instant messengers, as opposed to the earlier method of walking to the desk
and getting questions asked. Instead of just one mentor, now there are
several ones who can help you out when you are in a fix.
GIVING CAREER AN ORGANIC GROWTH

The technological progress has definitely helped numerous
organizations to manage time properly. But, the downside is that just by
making the technology available without any instructor to moderate the
training sessions will lead to chaos and confusion.
The fully-automated or doit-yourself exercises available online haven’t

made any mark. This is because with the machines, there is always the option
to skip the evaluation stage. Whereas a live instructor will keep checking up
with you to gauge your progress and improvement.
Earlier, the organizations used to be responsible for an individual’s

career growth, but now the onus lies with the employee himself. In such an
environment, the linear growth of careers is extremely difficult to achieve.
Hence, industry experts now advice a more Organic, Personal, and
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Preference-Driven approach to work. Job satisfaction is the new mantra for

success.
MANTRA OF CAREER GROWTH
The following points outline the mantra of career growth:
 Transform yourself using strengths to be a better employee and performer.

 Increase professional network to include people outside your department.
 Assessing skills and see their relevance and value in the current job scene.
 Learn new skills that improve your primary skills and complement them.
 Be resilient to changes in job scenario and be adaptive to the job scenario.
The last point, particularly is an important one. Employees often make the
mistake of assuming that their strengths are the absolute ones. However,
even a little change in the working environment could change their strengths
into unrequired or irrelevant skills. So, it is very important to keep a reality-
check on what new skills can be learnt, in tandem with the ones that an
employee already uses at work, so that the employee can be prepared for the
future changes in the market.
ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER MANAGEMENT

Even as employees are being held responsible to develop their careers,
many organizations still want to be involved in encouraging individual efforts.
This is especially in the fields of higher learning, creative thinking, innovative
approaches and being resilient to changes in business environment.
Many organizations have gone a

step further and provided career
programs like mentoring, facilitating
organizational intercommunication,
explaining corporate responsibility and
other such options. These programs have
resulted in more commitment and a
greater sense of satisfaction among the
employees.
HOW ORGANIZATIONS HANDLE THEIR WORKFORCE
Organizations also understand when they recruit highly-motivated and
creative people to work with them. Once they become employees, they will
not only use the organization as a place of learning but also to pursue
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personal development. These people won’t find it difficult to locate

alternative sources of employment if they perceive their current company to
be not focused towards development or growth.
To prevent this exodus of talent

from their workforce, organizations have
now started paying acute attention to the
ways in which people are looking for
motivation now. With this information
coming thick and fast from all circles of
business, organizations have stopped
prescribing a – one size fits all formula
for all its employees.
The organizations have understood that employees are more interested

in working in careers that give them a self-serving, psychological success,
instead of a linear hierarchical growth prospect. This is because no
organization can any longer claim to have a homogenous working
environment that can ensure the candidates the same job responsibilities for
a long period of time.
ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS FOR CAREER GROWTH

Individual growth has now replaced career growth as the driving force
in employee motivation. The way individuals think about their careers brings
into consideration these following important points:
 Finding ways of showcasing strengths.

 Work that provides them challenges.
 Work matches with temperament.
 Addressing developmental needs.
 Work matches with interest.
 Work matches with values.
ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS
An important shift in career management has taken place in the recent
years. where a person gets all his instructions from the immediate
supervisor. Organizations now depend on their board only for the vision and
mission of the organization.
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All the remaining crucial structures, like employee management, have

been given to the supervisors. This is done as such diverse cases can only be
handled by someone who has a history of working with these employees.
In today’s dynamic work environment, employees get growth

opportunities through
their working relationship
with people and
interpersonal skills. This is
in contrast to the
traditional setting where a
group of people from the
higher management used
to take a central decision,
and growth opportunities
were given to a promotion-
worthy candidate after making him attend long meetings and management-
related classes.
PRESSING ISSUES THAT SUPERVISORS FACE

With the supervisors increasingly being expected to take managerial
decisions, the role of a career management counsellor in the organization
has become redundant. However, the supervisors themselves need to get
trained on how to motivate employees and learn interpersonal skills.
Once the supervisors become the People’s Person that their company
wants them to be, they will be able to address some of the most pressing
issues that organizations predict they will face in the immediate future. Some
of these issues are:
 The numerous strategic issues that organizations face over the next three
years.
 The organization’s most pressing needs and challenges within next three
years.
 The critical skills and knowledge needed to address these challenges.
 The ideal staff capacity and qualification needed for this.
 The capability of management to address the issues.
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MENTORING AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL

Mentoring is one of the most effective methods of bringing consistent
improvement in an employee. It uses the method of providing informal
guidance and encouragement to promising talented people who themselves
are not motivated enough to realize their true potential.
HOW MENTORS HELP INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES

Mentors generally are people who come from a higher hierarchy than
the immediate supervisor. These mentors nurture these candidates under
their observation and provide them with timely advice. This one to one
personal relationship builds trust and respect in the mind of the employees
and gives them confidence.
These protégés achieve a lot of success in their careers because of all

the guidance they got from
the mentors. They develop
a sense of insight and
understand the company’s
vision and goals. They also
become aware of the
different networks inside
the organization. They feel
like getting new
opportunities under the
leadership of these veterans.
HOW MENTORS HELP ORGANIZATIONS

Organizations also benefit from this mentor-mentee relationship as
they don’t have to pay for the on-job training. They can also claim that they
are focused on career growth of their employees. Mentors benefit from their
interpersonal skills and technical knowledge improving from their
interactions with the protégés.
In general, people confuse mentoring with a one-way communication

based model of information delivery. However, the truth is that individuals
who have gotten mentors at early stages of their employment are the most
receptive in their feedback sessions. They even have much more patience
while dealing with new talent. This is all because of the constant to-and-fro
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communication they had with their mentors through the queries and opinion-
sharing.
DOWNSIZING AND LAY-OFFS

Downsizing refers to permanent layoffs or a reduction in workforces.
The decade of 1980’s witnessed job losses of approximately 600,000
managers because of –
 Organizational restructuring
 Reengineering
 Delayering
 Economic downtrends
Sometimes divestitures and mergers also lead to job loss. Generally,

companies help the employees to cope up with these involuntary jobs by
providing outplacement counseling service. These services include job
search training, skills assessment, resume writing, and even salary
negotiation services.
The most important thing which mostly companies neglect while

downsizing is, lack of clear and frequent interaction with their employees
with whom the company wish to work in the future. It is important to give
these people timely and precise information related to their ongoing career
prospects with leaner organization.
PITFALLS OF LAY-OFFS
Layoffs were used as a way of increasing profits, but downsizing
employees alone itself does not yield profit. As per Wayne Casio’s Research,
companies which produce new revenue by expanding staff and other assets
earn more profit than those who follow the layoff strategy.
But, going for temporary workers makes us question what is the best
way to manage these employees' career in this 21st century. There are
different benefits given by the companies like lower labor costs or increase
in staffing flexibility might be tricky if the temporary employees are not
skilled enough or are less devoted towards their work.
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In addition to this, benefits for skilled individuals like job variety and
personal growth might make the company run into losses, if the temporary
workers become wandering underclass in the labor pool.
USE OF TEAMS FOR WORK PRODUCTION

Another important point for the core employees to consider here is,
merging workforces leads to more of –
 Conflicts
 Social Exclusion and
 Job Mobility
When people start to work as a team, it becomes difficult to judge an

individual's work. When the skills to be used are not defined properly, it
becomes difficult for an employee to set personal development objectives for
the desired skill acquisition. Researchers Clanni and Wnuck proposed that
the solution to this issue is to concentrate on generic-but-important
comparative skills that working as a team may provide.
WHY DO COMPANIES DOWNSIZE?
A company opts for downsizing because of competitive pressure, but in
the late 1990s this was used as a strategy for all times. During this decade,
companies began to cut-down permanent or to say core employees and
replace them with temporary or part-time employees.
This was the result of sustained global pressure because of the

additional Outsourcing and Off-shoring. Things have changed now, today
companies opt for sticking back with their core employees and limiting the
recruitment of people for some specific functions only. So, basically it means
there are fewer career choices in small companies and inter-company
mobility is widely being accepted as a form of career development.
MANAGING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

By the year 2014 approximately 58% of all the new entrants to the labor
force were minorities and women, males comprised 44% of the workforce.
If we peek into history, we can see how some protected groups managed to
ensure equal employment opportunities and affirmative action legislation
that led to speed the hiring and development.
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Presently labor market has become the new workforce majority; issues
of equality and fair treatment have increased the responsibility of managing
diversity. However, some old stereotypes continue tagging “appropriate”
work roles for women and minorities, even among group members
themselves, because of which they have not been able to speed their
movement into management.
Very often it is seen how women and minorities can move upward, just
so high in the management, plateauing before they reach the senior levels.
Even though the reason behind this glass ceiling phenomenon is not
completely understood, but what we do get is, proper training and
development for these individuals should take their special needs into
account.
GLASS CEILING INITIATIVES
Glass ceiling may occur due to highly subjective behavior of the top-
level management. As all the candidates are well qualified, selection is often
based on interpersonal skills and comfort, especially with people at the top
not willing to let others take hold of important responsibilities.
Another reason proposed is women and minorities are given lesser

challenging or to say easy going assignments on their way to top. They are
generally given tasks related to public relations or human resources instead
of positions in line production startups and entrepreneurial ventures.
Alternative Arguments for Workplace Diversity Another argument that

is often quoted on Workplace Diversity is that some people are not
comfortable in groups or have the latest office news, because of which they
lag. While those who show a little bit of interest in office politics and chit
chatting are always updated regarding the upcoming promotion
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opportunities, which are not generally known till the employees have been
selected.
Also, there are a few people who make certain groups or people feel
excluded and never truly accepted by the rest. The positive part here is, in
every organization people try to change or compromise with the existing
organization's culture, which will make them feel supported and encouraged.
Companies which accept these types of behavior yields the most profit.
Different companies have come up with different solutions to overcome

the glass ceiling issues. Mostly they try to increase the pace of promotion
from within through cultural sensitivity training for all the managers,
including qualified affirmative action’s, which lead to the following:
 Supervisors' Performance Objectives

 Organizing Formal Mentoring Programs
 Motivating Support Networks within Groups
 Helping with Career Planning for some Employees.
However, the results of these ways are yet to be discovered.
SUCCESSION PLANNING
The firms interested in career development programs depend on the
ups and downs in the business cycle and the labor market. When there is a
shortage of manpower, skills etc., firms include career development
programs to their retention and recruitment strategies. But, when the
business goes in a loss, there is no recruitment. Large companies are the
first ones to avail the latest technology to internal staffing and career
development.
As the companies are now becoming more data centric, they check their
own databases first, mining internal HR data for potentials, before looking
outside.
Finally, the firm should do cost cutting, so it starts questioning the

purpose of these career development programs for now. Lot of convincing
business care is required to maintain these programs during these times. But
even in the bad phase, the high potentials group receive career development
attention, the exciting part is the method to select the high potentials have
been changed.
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SUCCESSION PLANNING PROCESS

Earlier an informal process or a rigorous formal evaluation center
rating was believed as an economical way to development on the few bets,
soon enough to blossom their careers within the next 20 years. The issues
with this approach became clearly visible in the highly competitive
environment of 21st century.
When organization strategy which was followed for years’ changes

overnight, the perfectly groomed CEO for yesterday's strategy might not be
the first choice, for the new change thus, companies are now opting for
succession planning, they have expanded their definition of high potentials to
organize larger talent pool, from which the organization may choose at the
right needed time.
CAREERS IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

This pool of highly talented potentials fills as soon as the vacancies are
announced. This is mainly because of the influence of HRIS Technology,
which states –
“For any vacancy, with large number of internal candidates, pool

programmed skills are mandatory, that should match the candidates to the
openings in the firms of any size.”
Earlier, when managers were sent overseas for some projects, it was
as if their career has been sent into exile, if not over completely, but today,
this is like a step towards the top.
This change is mainly due to the rising of a clearly Global Business

Environment. Large companies are the first ones to avail the latest
technology to internal staffing and career development. As the companies
are now becoming more data centric, they check their own databases first,
mining internal HR data for potentials, before looking outside.
The new demand of highly qualified multinational managers has

resulted in laying out several new principles of international career
management. These are as follows:
 Employees whose career will benefit and are willing to contribute the
knowledge gained to the organizations should be selected.
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 Selected employees should be groomed only for international assignments.

Pre-departure training should focus on the cross cultural differenced in
social life, political atmosphere, religion and language along with technical
expertise necessary.
 Career planning is very important to direct how the overseas experience will
groom the potential of the employee. Having the big picture of where the
migration cycle will take you beyond the actual task is very important to
success and can help get over the feelings of abandonment.
 It is very important for the employee to be updated about the country
policies, projects, plans and staffing changes via communication. This keeps
the manager in touch with the company and helps in re-entry.
 The re-entry jobs should use the skills and experience the employee has
gained during the project. One way of doing this is by drafting recent
migrants as mentors or facilitating a forum for sharing their experience.
 Training for home country managers should be an ongoing function. This
training will help to learn the value of international experience and the ways
it can be utilized within the organization.
However, these principles have not been executed yet. This often results
in migrant failures rate of up to 40% which have been reported, and 20%
employees leave their company after their overseas assignment. It is
suggested that people willing to opt for international experience should go
through many self-evaluation and planning steps, to ensure that international
assignments will not have a negative impact on their overall career
objectives.
WHAT TO CHECK BEFORE OPTING FOR A FOREIGN ASSIGNMENT

Before opting for any foreign assignment, the main factors which you
need to go through are its:
 Geographical Location
 Culture
 Customs and
 Political Status of the place
This is to make sure if you can adjust to the new place. However, there
are some contradictions regarding the international careers. As the demand
for managers understanding business from more than one national
perspective increases, there has been a hesitance in sending U.S Citizens
abroad because of the terrorist attacks of 2001.
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Just like high costs and struggles are linked with the uncertainties about
the migrant's ability to perform effectively after arrival have also led many
nations with international operations to develop local managers in the foreign
countries where they function. This would eventually limit the overseas
developmental projects for the future global manager.
RETIREMENT PLANNING
Planning for retirement is not a one-day deal; it should be done from
the early career stages, though young people often do not acknowledge it.
The retirement package should offer various benefits like –
 Investment Counseling
 Profit Sharing and
 Deferred Compensation Plans.
But earnings today are not enough to lend some for retirement.
LIFE AFTER RETIREMENT
After the abolition of compulsory retirement and limitation of certain
benefit pensions, it has become a necessity to make employees think about
their future expense, or Life After Retirement. People today, do not believe
in the concept of retirement at 65, it may vary from 50-75 or even more,
giving you little more time to plan for retirement.
Many companies, are now offering pre-retirement seminars that raises

questions regarding the Financial, Social, and Psychological status related to
career transition. It is better if companies offer a flexible work schedule to
their employees, which will give them some time to discover their interests
and goals while maintaining their bond with their work. This will help them
get over the transition stage.
Say, allowing longer vacation for dedicated employees, which will give
the employees enough time to establish connections with outside peers and
reconnect with their friends and relatives. Starting preretirement program
from an early stage can ensure a kind of satisfaction of retirement for
employees and can also inculcate the feelings of goodwill towards their
employer/company.
ALTERNATIVE WORK ARRANGEMENTS
People age at different rates. It has been observed that many of the
best performances are delivered by people during later stages of their
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career. Just because an employee has crossed a certain age limit, it does not
make them eligible for retirement. Age limits a person's visual acuity,
response time, or stamina, but gifts abundant knowledge and experience.
It is wrong to assume older workers cannot learn new skills, or to be

precise, learning difficulties occurs because of lack of encouragement and
not from the lack of skills and talent. The problem arises because older
workers have not been offered proper training and development chances to
keep them more engaged in their careers.
Several companies like Pacific Telephone, Uniroyal and Chrysler are

offering a golden handshake or to say, accelerated voluntary retirement
programs to their employees. The objective behind establishing a pre-
retirement program may vary, it maybe to free-up the obstructed career
channels for junior employees or managing a projected labor surplus or
manage labor cost savings. It is all about effective planning.
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SHORT QUESTIONS
Describe Career planning.
Career planning is the process of establishing career objectives and
determining appropriate educational and developmental programs to further
develop the skills required to achieve short- or long-term career objectives.
Career planning is simply goal planning with the intention of setting goals for
jobs and career.
Career planning is defined as ―A goal that you desire to achieve in a

selected field or occupation with a well thought out plan to get you there.
Career planning is a lifelong process, which includes choosing an occupation,
getting a job, growing in our job, possibly changing careers, and eventually
retiring. The Career Planning Site offers coverage of all these areas. This
article will focus on career choice and the process one goes through in
selecting an occupation. This may happen once in our lifetimes, but it is more
likely to happen several times as we first define and then redefine ourselves
and our goals.
Define Career Development.

Career development involves managing your career either within or
between organizations. It also includes learning new skills, and making
improvements to help you in your career. Career development is an ongoing,
lifelong process to help you learn and achieve more in your career.
Career development represents the entire sequence of activities and

events related to an individual's career. Career development encompasses
acquiring of educational qualifications and certifications, career path, self-
actualization as an individual, shifting of careers and career growth, learning
curve, family life, accomplishments and recognitions or felicitations
“The pathway to good decision making and successful life management

typically involves many stages”. Explain briefly.
The pathway to good decision making and successful life management

typically involves the following four stages-
 Access  Explore
 Set goald  Acts
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Access
Skills—what skills do I have? And which do I really enjoy using?
Just because you‘re good at something doesn‘t necessarily mean you like
doing it.
Interests—what excites
me? What interests me enough that I
don‘t realize the passage of time
while I am engaged in it?
Values—what things do I
believe in? What motivates me to
work?
Personality—who am I? What are my personal preferences?
Knowing the answers to these questions and having a deep understanding of
who we are helps us in our career planning. We can use this information to
evaluate possible careers or career changes, look for opportunities, and find
greater satisfaction in other areas of our lives as well.
Explore
Once you have done some self-assessment, you can move to
researching and exploring the world of work. This exploration may include
informational interviews, online and library research, volunteering, or other
activities that allow you to learn about various occupations
Set goals
From your self-assessment and exploration you should have a clearer
idea of what you are looking for. Now is the time to set some goals. This
includes identifying specific action steps that will move you forward.
Act
Sometimes people get stuck looking for the ―perfect‖ action step.
Remember that any step forward is an accomplishment.
The roadmap to success begins with planning your career development

process. Justify this statement.
There is a step-by-step process designed to help to plan the career

development process now, and anytime in the future when we want to change
course.
Following things are necessary for successful planning:

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SELF-ASSESSMENT.
Discover your desires and passions. What would you do if money were
no object? You may know exactly what you want to do. If so, move on to the
next step. If you're struggling with this, there are some free and fee-based
self-assessment tests available to help you.
Career Skill Assessment.

This sounds similar to the self-assessment, but rather than focusing on
your personality and interests, career skill assessments focus on your core
job strengths and weaknesses. Again, there are free and fee-based career
skill assessment tests available to help you with this step.
Setting Your Career Objective

Now that you understand your personality, interests, skills and
strengths, it's time to make a decision! You may want to explore different
career options to discover your best choice.
Career Development Plan

The nuts and bolts of planning your career development process. Set
goals and timelines based on your career objective. Look at an example
career development plan, or use the career development plan template to
help you work through this step.
Implement Career Development Plan

It's action time! If your plan involves a career change, use the navigation
bar on the left to help you through your career search, resume, cover letter
and job interview questions.
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GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CAREER.

To get the most out of your new career, planning strategies and learning
skills will help you get to the next level. We've also created a free e-course to
help you with this step of the process.
By planning your career development process, you're well on your way

to your perfect career. Knowing your strengths and skills, along with having
a plan, will give you the confidence and motivation you need to make a
positive change.
Describe the stages of career anchors.

Trial stage
The trial stage begins with an individual's exploration of career- related
matters and ends usually at about age 25 with a commitment on the part of
the individual to a particular occupation. Until the decision is made to settle
down, the individual may try a number of jobs and a number of
organizations.
Unfortunately for many organizations, this trial and exploration stage
results in high level of turnover among new employees. Employees in this
stage need opportunities for self- exploration and a variety of job activities
or assignments.
Establishment.
The establishment/advancement stage tends to occur between ages 25
and 44. In this stage, the individual has made his or her career choice and is
concerned with achievement, performance, and advancement.
This stage is marked by high employee productivity and career growth,
as the individual is motivated to succeed in the organization and in his or her
chosen occupation.
Opportunities for job challenge and use of special competencies are
desired in this stage. The employee strives for creativity and innovation
through new job assignments. Employees also need a certain degree of
autonomy in this stage so that they can experience feelings of individual
achievement and personal success.
Mid Career Crisis Sub Stage.
The period occurring between the mid-thirties and mid-forties during
which people often make a major reassessment of their progress relative to
their original career ambitions and goals.
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Maintenance stage.
The mid-career stage, which occurs roughly between the ages 45 and
64, has also been referred to as the maintenance stage.This stage is typified
by a continuation of established patterns of work behavior.
The person is no longer trying to establish a place for himself or herself
in the organization, but seeks to maintain his or her position. This stage
is viewed as a mid-career plateau in which little new ground is broken. The
individual in this stage may need some technical updating in his or her field.
The employee should be encouraged to develop new job skills in order to
avoid early stagnation and decline.
Late-career stage.
In this stage the career lessens in importance and the employee plans
for retirement and seeks to develop a sense of identity outside the work
environment.
Explain HRM strategy.

HRM strategy pertains to the means as to how to implement the specific
functions of Human Resource Management. An organization's HR function
may possess recruitment and selection policies, disciplinary procedures,
reward/recognition policies, an HR plan, or learning and development
policies, however all of these functional areas of HRM need to be aligned and
correlated, in order to correspond with the overall business strategy. An
HRM strategy thus is an overall plan, concerning the implementation of
specific HRM functional areas.
What factors are included in HRM Strategy.

HRM strategy typically consists of the following factors:-
 "Best fit" and "best practice" - meaning that there is correlation between the
HRM strategy and the overall corporate strategy. As HRM as a field seeks
to manage human resources in order to achieve properly organizational
goals, an organization's HRM strategy seeks to accomplish such
management by applying a firm's personnel needs with the goals/objectives
of the organization. As an example, a firm selling cars could have a corporate
strategy of increasing car sales by 10% over a five year period. Accordingly,
the HRM strategy would seek to facilitate how exactly to manage personnel
in order to achieve the 10% figure. Specific HRM functions, such as
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recruitment and selection, reward/recognition, an HR plan, or learning and

development policies, would be tailored to achieve the corporate objectives.
 Close co-operation (at least in theory) between HR and the top/senior

management, in the development of the corporate strategy. Theoretically, a
senior HR representative should be present when an organization's
corporate objectives are devised. This is so, since it is a firm's personnel
who actually construct a good, or provide a service. The personnel's proper
management is vital in the firm being successful, or even existing as a going
concern. Thus, HR can be seen as one of the critical departments within the
functional area of an organization.
The implementation of an HR strategy is not always required, and may

depend on a number of factors. Explain.
The implementation of an HR strategy is not always required, and may

depend on a number of factors namely the size of the firm, the organizational
culture within the firm or the industry that the firm operates in and also the
people in the firm.
An HRM strategy can be divided, in general, into two facets - the people
strategy and the HR functional strategy. The people strategy pertains to the
point listed in the first paragraph, namely the careful correlation of HRM
policies/actions to attain the goals laid down in the corporate strategy.
The HR functional strategy relates to the policies employed within the

HR functional area itself, regarding the management of persons internal to
it, to ensure its own departmental goals are met.
Define career anchor.

A career anchor may be a special skill that somebody wants to use, an
ambition somebody wants to achieve, or an ethical principle that is
particularly important to somebody, but it always something that is very
important to that person‘s sense of who they are.
A guiding force that influences people's career choices, based on self-

perception of their own skills, motivation, and values.
Explain Succession planning.

Succession Planning is a process whereby an organization ensures that
employees are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the
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company. Through your succession planning process, you recruit superior

employees, develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities, and prepare them
for advancement or promotion into ever more challenging roles.
Succession Management is not replacement management. Explain.
Succession Management is not replacement management .Succession

Management is making provisions for the development, replacement and
strategic application of key people over time, and requires the identification
of the organization‘s values, mission, and strategic plans.
It is a proactive approach that ensures continuing leadership by

cultivating talent from within the organization through planned development
activities.
Define Succession.
Ans. Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence.

(It is not to be confused with secession, the act of withdrawing from an
organization, union, or political entity.)
Why new interest in succession is developing?

The forces that have renewed interest in succession systems and have
changed them in dramatic ways are trends that have affected business in the
new global economy. Leadership is and has always been a relatively scarce
commodity within companies. To lose a strong, effective leader is a serious
blow to any organization.
Companies reward high performers with opportunities for development

and not necessarily extended, long-term employment. The internet has
enhanced the mobility of leadership talent, making it easy for employees to
find opportunities elsewhere and for those opportunities to come knocking
on their door. Executive recruiters and headhunters today possess greater
clout and sophistication.
No longer is it unfair game to recruit your competitor's best and

brightest workers. Non-stop, unpredictable organizational change has caused
organizations to quickly identify growing gaps in talent and emerging needs
for new types of talent.
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Describe Best practice in succession management.
The best systems are developmentally oriented, rather than simply

replacement oriented. The system becomes a proactive vehicle for managers
and executives to reflect on the progress of their talent and the opportunities
they require for genuine development. Highly effective systems always
actively involve the very top players in the organization. Senior executives
view effective succession management as a critical strategic tool for
attracting and retaining talent.
Best practice succession systems are also effective at spotting gaps in

talent and identifying important lynchpin positions – the select set of jobs
that are critical to the overall success of the organization. Succession
planning does the job of monitoring the succession process, enabling the
company to ensure that the right people are moving into the right jobs at the
right time and that gaps are being spotted early on.
What are barriers in Succession management?
The barriers in Succession management are-

 Organizational culture
 Low priority given by senior officials
 Insufficient resources
 Inadequate rewards for initiative/risk
 Limited mobility
 Lack of role models.
What are the requirement for building the managers for succession
management ?
Following are the requirement for building the managers for

succession management:
 The new and changing mindset about people.

 Developing a people strategy plan.
 Talent management as a strategic and holistic approach.
 Integrated solution approach to leadership development.
 Management change and restructuring issues.
 Dealing with cultural adaptation.
 Implementing training programs.
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What are the requirements for an effective succession management

process?
Companies that create an effective succession management process:
 Quickly anticipate and fill succession gaps.

 Identify employees with high management potential and actively plan their
careers and development to build "bench strength".
 Align their "people strategy" with their "business strategy." As a company grows
and its strategy evolves, its leadership needs can change significantly. To meet
needs like these, companies must regularly discuss their talent recruitment and
development practices.
 When organizations meet these requirements, they create the kind of leadership
and management capacity that delivers sustainable business results. They also
reduce the range in performance in key roles, minimize attrition among top
performers, and promote a high internal hiring rate.
 Many senior managers think their company is adept at succession planning, and
they may be right. The problem is that although succession planning is
essential, it's just the first step. It's equally important to develop the leaders
and managers so they can execute the business strategy and deliver results.
That's why companies that succeed at finding and nurturing leaders who can
grow their business do more than plan.
Define Management Development.
Management Development is best described as the process from which

managers learn and improve their skills not only to benefit themselves but
also their employing organizations.
Management Development has become very important in today‘s

competitive environment.
According to a survey, those
companies that align their
management development with
tactical planning are more
competitive than the companies
who are not. It has also been
indicated that 80% of the
companies report MDP,
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compared with 90% that provide executive leadership training. For most of
the companies 37% of the training budgets go to management development
and learning programs. Therefore, it is important to consider management
development as an important part of organizational competitiveness.
What are the reasons behind the management development programs?
The reasons behind the management development programs-
 It is managements‘ responsibility of ensuring the success of the organization

 It is the management who deal with people of different background, culture,
language, etc
 Mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, etc are all under management‘s
control
 It is managements‘ responsibility to ensure that the employees obtain the
required KSAs to perform the tasks
 It is managements‘ responsibility to ensure that right people is hired for the
right job, at the right time for the right place
Manager’s job is complex i.e. for the managers understanding the

training need is not easy. Explain.
Manager‘s job is complex i.e. for the managers understanding the
training need is not easy because his training need is determined by how well
his department is meeting its objective and goal.
 It is the management who makes decisions on the basis of judgment and

intuition
 It is the manager who performs several routine duties as well as handling
the exceptions in their own as well as subordinates‘routine.
 Managers are engaged in varied, discontinues, and brief activities
 It is the management that understand the organization, its vision, mission,
ethics, values, strategies, capabilities, and how his organization f its into the
industry, and how his behavior will influence people outside the organization
 Therefore, managers must be able to get the required knowledge, skills, and
attitudes (KSAs) to meet the challenges as soon as they arise.
Define Job Rotation.
Job rotation is a job design technique in which employees are moved

between two or more jobs in a planned manner. The objective is to expose
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the employees to different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance

job satisfaction and to cross-train them. The purposes of job rotation are :
1. To give employees experience with all organizational activities as a

training process
2. To offset boredom, which can occur when performing the same job
over an extended period of time.

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GOVERNMENT POSTGRADUATE COLLEGE 0

Muhammad Saleem Raza

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

Nowadays, if someone expects all good

 Building one’s own career through available career opportunities.

Career planning can also be defined as

Five Stages of Career Development Planning Career planning involves

While this is a great tool for exploring growth opportunities in one’s

FINDING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

The next significant objective is networking. The candidate should

Most of the organizations conduct annual appraisals that have many

It is also imperative that he

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAREERS

employees with a golden opportunity to make changes in their career goals

These careers have been termed as Protean Careers because the

Protean Careers consider the interpersonal learning and changes in an

Gradually, people have slowly gravitated towards a more personal

Similarly, people who are motivated by power and achievement will

WHAT INDUSTRY EXPERTS SAY?

This is the result of a greater need to have a strong connection between

These scholars emphatically stress that the skill-set that a person

While technical skills maybe sufficient in a functionally structured

The idea of pursuing personal growth while working for organizational

But in today’s business scenario, companies endorse that their

Earlier, they used to be happy trying to develop their capacities in a

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CAREER PLANNING

technology, employees can now undertake a self-assessment of their skill-

This is all possible due to the wide interconnectivity that Internet

Connectivity also helps people from different departments to be

GIVING CAREER AN ORGANIC GROWTH

The fully-automated or doit-yourself exercises available online haven’t

Earlier, the organizations used to be responsible for an individual’s

Preference-Driven approach to work. Job satisfaction is the new mantra for

 Transform yourself using strengths to be a better employee and performer.

ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER MANAGEMENT

Many organizations have gone a

personal development. These people won’t find it difficult to locate

To prevent this exodus of talent

The organizations have understood that employees are more interested

ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS FOR CAREER GROWTH

 Finding ways of showcasing strengths.

All the remaining crucial structures, like employee management, have

In today’s dynamic work environment, employees get growth

PRESSING ISSUES THAT SUPERVISORS FACE

MENTORING AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL

HOW MENTORS HELP INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES

These protégés achieve a lot of success in their careers because of all

HOW MENTORS HELP ORGANIZATIONS

In general, people confuse mentoring with a one-way communication

DOWNSIZING AND LAY-OFFS

Sometimes divestitures and mergers also lead to job loss. Generally,

The most important thing which mostly companies neglect while

USE OF TEAMS FOR WORK PRODUCTION

When people start to work as a team, it becomes difficult to judge an

This was the result of sustained global pressure because of the

MANAGING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

Another reason proposed is women and minorities are given lesser

Alternative Arguments for Workplace Diversity Another argument that