Career Development

The pathway taken to enhance a career. For career development to be effective it will need to be managed in a proactive way. Moving between job roles in an aimless way is not going to especially help towards an enjoyable and progressive career.

Understanding the needs of employers and the requirements of job roles can help an individual to focus on developing particular skills at certain times of their working like. The priority needs of different skills can vary considerably during a working week, month or year, with project work often needing quite specific skills for that time period. The stage of an individual's experience will also determine which skills are most prevalent at that moment in time.

Career development will see an individual engaging in continuous lifelong learning because there is always something new to learn, or to refresh skills and knowledge which has not been utilised for some time.

A career development plan will often consist of several distinct time blocks, against which development aims will be identified.

The main blocks might be:

A. What do I need to do now?
This will typically be anytime from the present to about a couple of weeks’ time. If any skill is lacking, or more likely in need of refreshing, to get the job done, then usually mentoring, guidance and training from colleagues or a line manager would often address these needs in most cases.

B. What are my short-term development needs?
The timescale for this block, of up to about 12-months, fits well with annual performance appraisals carried out by employers. If this is managed correctly, an employer could easily see rapid improvements in efficiency and productivity from development activities undertaken by an employee. This short-term period need is often met by attending a short training course which can help prepare you for a longer-term qualification in the coming period.

C. What are my medium-term development needs?
These will typically cover a period over the next 2 to 3 years. The timescale allows for more considered thought into how to position oneself for a job move – either internally or externally – or to reinforce and consolidate a current position.

Over this time period it is typical to consider if the addition of a qualification, rather than just training courses, or similar, will be a useful addition to your curriculum vitae.

D. What are my longer-term development needs?
The time period for this will be looking forward to the next 4 or 5 years and where someone thinks they might like to be along with the skills needed to achieve this aspiration. It will typically be a realistic and plausible aim, based on some knowledge on current employment conditions locally and in the wider industry.

Quite a bit can change in the meantime but what is being aimed for in this key time block of your career? This will inform you on what is needed in the shorter and previous time blocks. Maybe a move from a trained operative to a management role? Thought will need to be given to have not only gained adequate technical qualifications leading up to this aim, but also an appropriate management, or other, course/s to attend.

An introductory or broad base type course in the subject area you are looking at for this aim might be the ideal precursor to gaining a foothold into a new role, and from there you would be able to engage in more specific courses to develop yourself further.

E. What is my career fulfilment vision?
This is a longer-term aim (10 years plus) where you have a vision of where you think you might be settled in a role that can maintain your interest and motivation for either (a) the rest of your working life, or (b) a significant stage of your career which would act as a springboard to further enhance your career.

Often this stage can be thought of as being fluid and quite changeable, but it is a good idea to have a vision or fluid goal, albeit general in nature, in which to aim for. There will be many unforeseen opportunities along the sway, and these will typically deflect you, ideally in a positive way, on your career pathway.