Active Career Development Systems

By Paul Unks, MEd

This program will provide employees with the necessary knowledge and skills, and a greater sense of personal responsibility, for managing their career development so that they can increase job satisfaction and effectiveness, and make their best contribution to the organization.

 

Benefits:

Upon completion of the program, participants will be able to:

• Apply the career-planning process to their own situation
• Conduct a comprehensive self-assessment that will identify and prioritize their values, interests, personality, skills, and future job objectives
• Integrate their priorities from the assessment into a focused and realistic career goal
• Research the organization's needs and employment opportunities that most closely match their career goal criteria
• Work in partnership with their managers in setting and achieving career goals
• Develop a professional development plan by identifying educational and job assignment opportunities that will build on their strengths and address weaknesses so they can achieve their goals
• Think and act responsibly and strategically in partnership with management to market themselves for targeted jobs
• Manage their stress and health so they can perform better and be effective in the context of organizational change

Sample Agenda:

• Introduction to the career-planning process
• Identifying and addressing areas of job-related stress
• Self-assessment for career planning
  - Each participant will identify and prioritize their values, interests,
     personality, skills, and future job objectives
• Integrating priorities from the self-assessment into a career goal
• Researching the organization for needs and employment opportunities that match career goal criteria
• Professional development: Identifying educational and job assignment opportunities that will prepare and qualify participants to achieve their career goals
• Developing and executing strategies to achieve desired job
• Active listening and effective communication

There are unique sets of responsibilities in the career development process that need to be carried out in a partnership between management and staff. Employees are responsible for:

• Assessing Career Context: Examining One's Skills and Strengths in Relationship
   to Organizational Needs

• Being/becoming self-motivated and self-directed for career exploration

• Information Seeking

• Participating in a career self-assessment
• Gathering information through external assessment

• Setting Realistic Goals

• Thinking through and developing work/life goals
• Evaluating how realistic goals are

• Developing Specific Plans for Pursuing Goals

• Acquiring the ability to think strategically
• Applying professional development and marketing strategies to meet determined goals

• Implementing a Career Plan

• Making personal contacts with key managers

• Performing

• Performing well in current and future job (an outcome of good job performance being the potential for further movement in the organization)

Time Frame:

The recommended time frame is three days, although a two-day seminar is also available. Content will be adjusted according to the organization’s and participants' needs, and to the length of the program. This program can be delivered in components.

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