Preparing a Career Development Plan
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Chapter 5: Expanding the Talent Pool: Recruitment and Careers: 5.4b Identifying Career Opportunities and Requirements Book Title: Managing Human Resources Printed By: Cedric Turner (cedric.l.turner@gmail.com) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning
5.4b Identifying Career Opportunities and Requirements
To identify career opportunities and requirements managers have to analyze the competencies required for jobs, progression among related jobs, and supply of ready (and potential) talent available to fill those jobs. In Chapter 4, we discussed a variety of ways this can be done, such as via questionnaires and interviews. Informal discussion with different groups, such as new employees, managers, longtime employees, minority employees, and technical and professional employees, is another way. Identifying the needs and problems of these groups provides the starting point for the organization’s career development efforts.
Begin with a Competency Analysis
In Chapter 4, we also discussed how firms analyze jobs carefully to identify and assign weights to the knowledge and skills that each one requires. The system used at Sears measures three basic competencies for each job: know-how, problem-solving, and accountability. Know-how is broken down into three types of job knowledge: technical, managerial, and human relations. Problem-solving and accountability also have several dimensions. Scores for each of these three major competencies are assigned to each job, and a total value is computed for each job. This information is then used to make certain that a transfer to a different job provides an employee with the following experiences:
an increase in at least one skill area on each new assignment,
an increase of at least 10 percent in total points on each new assignment, and
assignments in several different functional areas.
Identify Job Progressions and Career Paths
Once the skill demands of jobs are identified and weighted according to their importance, it is then possible to plan job progressions (The hierarchy of jobs a new employee might experience, ranging from a starting job to jobs that successively require more knowledge and/or skill) . A new employee with no experience is typically assigned to a “starting job.” After a period of time in that job, the employee can be promoted to one that requires more knowledge and/or skill. While most organizations concentrate on developing job progressions for managerial, professional, and technical jobs, progressions can be developed for all categories of jobs.
Job progressions then can serve as a basis for developing career paths—the lines of advancement within an organization—for individuals. Figure 5.9 illustrates a typical advancement for an HR associate for a large multinational corporation.
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Figure 5.9
Typical Line of Advancement in HR Management
© Cengage Learning
Career development and planning systems were once primarily focused on promotions. However, in today’s flatter organizations and more dynamic work environment, an individual’s career advancement can move along several different paths via promotions, transfers, demotions, and even exits. A promotion (A change of assignment to a job at a higher level in the organization) is a change of assignment to a job at a higher level in the organization. The new job normally provides an increase in pay and status and demands more skill or carries more responsibility. To retain employees and improve their promotability, many larger firms offer to reimburse employees for getting advanced degrees and remaining with the company for a certain period of time. “Corporate universities”— special facilities where employees receive training—are also utilized. (We will talk more about these programs in Chapter 7.)
In flatter organizations, there are fewer promotional opportunities, so many individuals find career advancement through lateral moves. A transfer (Placement of an individual in another job for which the duties, responsibilities, status, and remuneration are approximately equal to those of the previous job) is the placement of an employee in another job for which the duties, responsibilities, status, and pay and benefits are approximately equal to those of the previous job he or she held (although as an incentive to make a transfer, organizations sometimes offer transferred employees small pay increases). Individuals who look forward to change or want a chance to learn more about their organizations and obtain different skills often seek out transfers. Frequently these employees do so with an effort to augment their skills so they will be more promotable in the future.
A transfer sometimes requires the employee to change work group, workplace, work shift, or organizational unit; it may even necessitate moving to another geographic area. Thus, transfers make it possible for an organization to place its employees in jobs where there is a greater need for their services and where they can acquire new knowledge and skills.
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A downward transfer, or demotion (A downward transfer that moves an individual into a lower-level job that can provide developmental opportunities) , moves an individual into a lower-level job that can provide developmental opportunities. Although a demotion is ordinarily considered unfavorable, some individuals actually may request it to return to their “technical roots.” It is not uncommon, for example, for organizations to appoint temporary leaders (especially in team environments) to positions with the understanding that they will eventually return to their former jobs.
Transfers, promotions, and demotions require individuals to adjust to new job demands and usually to a different work environment. A transfer that involves moving to a new location within the United States or abroad places greater demands on an employee because it requires the person to adapt to a new work environment and new living conditions. The employee with a family has the added responsibility of helping family members adjust to the new living arrangements. Even though some employers provide all types of relocation services—including covering moving expenses, helping to sell a home, and providing cultural orientation and language training—there is always some loss in the employee’s productivity during the relocation process. Pretransfer training, whether related to job skills or to lifestyle, has been suggested as one of the most effective ways to reduce lost productivity.
Of course, many employees choose to exit their organizations as part of their career development. When a person’s career opportunities within a firm are limited and his or her skills are in demand externally, the best career options could be for the individual to switch companies or to work as freelancers, consultants, or entrepreneurs. Although some employees leave voluntarily, other employees are forced to leave. Larger organizations often provide outplacement services (Services provided by organizations to help terminated employees find a new job) to help terminated employees find jobs elsewhere.
Rather than laying off employees if it can help it, Scripps Health, a California-based hospital group, has created a career center for workers who might otherwise lose their jobs.
However, even with the best career planning, it is almost impossible for people to have perfect certainty about where their careers are going. People change over time, and because of that, their needs and interests change. Moreover, successful career paths often do not proceed in a lockstep manner. As Highlights in HRM 6 mentions, before founding Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos spent a number of years in the financial industry. In terms of their career advancements, many people note that they were either “in the right place at the right time” or carved out entirely new career paths for themselves.
Highlights in HRM 6
Career Path of Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com
1986—Graduated from Princeton University with a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science
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1986—Hired by Fitel, a telecommunications and information technology firm that created software for tracking international stock trades
1988—Hired by Bankers Trust, Co., a financial firm that specialized in risk management utilizing new sophisticated computer systems
1990—Promoted to vice president
1990—Hired by D.E. Shaw, an investment and hedge fund company
1992—Promoted to senior vice president
1995—Founded Amazon.com
Track Employees’ Career Stages
A person’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes as well as career aspirations change with age and maturity. The challenges and frustrations people face at the same stages in their careers are remarkably similar. A model describing these stages is shown in Figure 5.10. The stages are
preparation for work,
organizational entry,
early career,
midcareer, and
late career.
The typical age range and the major tasks of each stage are also presented in the figure.
Figure 5.10
Stages of Career Development
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© Cengage Learning
The first stage—preparation for work—encompasses the period prior to entering an organization, often extending until age 25. It is a period in which individuals must acquire the knowledge, abilities, and skills they need to compete in the marketplace. The second stage, typically from ages 18 to 25, is devoted to soliciting job offers and selecting appropriate jobs. During this period, a person might also be involved in preparing for work. The next three stages entail fitting into a chosen occupation and organization(s), modifying one’s goals, continuing to improve one’s productivity, helping groom other employees, and finally preparing for retirement.
Small Business Application
Small Companies Often Offer Big Rewards
Once upon a time, it seemed all young professionals dreamed of working their way up the corporate ladder to success in a large company and retaining those well- paid, perk-laden positions until the employees were ready to fade into the sunset. Yet evolving trends over the last 20 years have turned that rosy view of corporate life into a myth, and no one seems to be the worse for it. Quite the contrary. Many new grads and seasoned professionals alike are choosing to work for less-than-500- employee firms because of the many advantages they offer, and smaller firms are welcoming these knowledge workers with open arms.
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For the midterm and advanced career professionals, transitioning from a large corporation to a smaller one often means jumping straight into the limelight. The change is rejuvenating, as they find themselves taking on more diverse responsibilities, getting involved in new arenas, and seeing more clearly how their own efforts impact the company’s results. And with all of that comes greater recognition. “Your work and contributions will be noticed,” says Lindsey Pollak, a management expert of next-generation career trends. “You are more likely to be listened to, and to feel that you are an important part of the company and that your ideas really matter.”
Even those with fewer years of experience under their belts are likely to be energized by working in smaller firms. Job descriptions tend to be less defined in these environments, giving employees the chance to push themselves in new directions beyond the confines of their jobs. They also often find themselves working with the highest-level managers, learning directly from experts.
Small-firm employees of all types often cite another benefit: Working in a small company means enjoying a big-picture view of the business and industry rather than getting pigeonholed into one small aspect of the work at hand. “You get divorced from the nuts and bolts of operating a business when you work for large companies,” says Mike Barnes, a newly hired logistics executive at Halton Co., a provider of construction equipment in Portland, Oregon. Like many people in his situation, Barnes says this closer connection to the mission of the business gives him a level of job satisfaction he has not felt in a long time.
However, employees who opt for working in a small firm cannot expect to find everything they might get in a larger corporation. Tighter budgets mean smaller companies sometimes cannot afford to pay salaries equal to those of big firms, and they often cannot provide the support systems or perks, like generous expense accounts, hefty bonuses, and company-paid smartphones. But many small employers provide alluring trade-offs such as shorter work weeks, less travel, and work–life balance incentives, including telecommuting and flextime.
Where people decide to work really comes down to determining how they are going to meet their career and life goals. Notes management author and analyst Tony Jacowski, “Your choice of organization should be based on the quality of work experience you will gain rather than the size of the organization. If you have the talent and the expertise, you will quickly climb the corporate ladder irrespective of the size of the company.”
Source: Sarah E. Needleman, “Moving to a Small Company Can Lead to Big Rewards,” Wall Street
Journal, March 5, 2008, http://online.wsj.com; Lindsey Pollak, “The Advantages of Working for a Small
Company,” http://www.lindseypollak.com; Tony Jacowski, “Benefits of Working in a Small Company vs a
Corporation,” http://ezinearticles.com; Jacqueline Parks, “The Benefits of Working for a Small Business,”
http://www.associatedcontent.com.
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Offer Different Career Paths
One of the ironies of organizations in the past has been that people in technical careers— successful engineers, scientists, and so on—were often promoted right out of their area of specialization into management. Instead of doing what they were good at, they were promoted into jobs for which they were not well-suited or did not enjoy.
The solution has been to develop dual career paths, or tracks, that provide for progression in special areas such as information technology, finance, marketing, and engineering, with compensation that is comparable to that received by managers at different levels. As we explained in Chapter 2, Microsoft offers software engineers both a management-focused and technical-specialist career track and allows them to move back and forth between the two.
Fast-track programs are another way to give employees exposure to different types of jobs, particularly younger employees with high potential who seek meaningful training assignments whom a firm is trying to retain. In fast-track programs, “HIPOs” (high-potential employees) progress rapidly through a number of managerial positions designed to expose the employee to different functions within the organization. GE has an intensive two-year program of this type. Employees in the program might, for example, spend a number of months in the company’s energy division in Atlanta, its aviation division in Cincinnati, and in Brazil working for GE’s oil and gas division.
However, proactive companies try to make the most of all of their talent rather than just high-potential employees. It’s not uncommon for an employee to do poorly in one position but be an excellent fit for another, or an employee who is burned out to be reinvigorated by a different job role.
One way to help rank-and-file employees learn new skills, identify new roles they might aim for in the future, and retain them is by allowing them to exchange or swap jobs. Virgin America and PricewaterhouseCoopers have separately piloted programs that allowed flight attendants and junior staffers, respectively, to swap jobs with their counterparts in the United States and Australia. BNSF Railway allows employees to switch jobs in different areas and in different locales. The swaps are referred to as “career development moves.”
Chapter 5: Expanding the Talent Pool: Recruitment and Careers: 5.4b Identifying Career Opportunities and Requirements Book Title: Managing Human Resources Printed By: Cedric Turner (cedric.l.turner@gmail.com) © 2016 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning
© 2020 Cengage Learning Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may by reproduced or used in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, or in any other manner - without the written permission of the copyright holder.