Career management is as important to an employer as it is to the employee. By supporting workers in their pursuit of advancement, organizations truly boost their own performance. And the good news is, it’s actually pretty easy to implement one of many different types of career management programs.

What Is Career Management?

Career management is the process of planning an employee’s journey towards a professional goal, and then acting on those plans through a variety of methods. There are several parties involved in career management, including the employee, their manager, HR and or a specialized L&D team or leader, and the company as a whole.

Organizational career management can be defined as all of the activities undertaken by a company to ensure that an employee decides upon, and then follows their chosen career path. At some point between creating the career path and obtaining it, the employee or organization may want a different direction. This could be because the company has updated its strategy or is responding to a crisis. Similarly, the employee’s career development goals might change over time or after gaining new workplace experiences. In any case, going over one’s career goals should be revisited periodically.

Modern career management is more living and breathing than in decades past, due to the speed of technological evolution and resulting business adaptations. Although the process remains the same, it must be done more often. This means a more frequent rate of career pathing and goal setting, as well as many other initiatives, as we get into below.

Independent Career Management

Historically, career management was considered “the active management choice of one’s own professional career.” Typically, the HR team where a person was employed was not involved. However, as the concept of human resources has developed, career management has become something that either an individual or an HR department can initiate. This is a much more practical approach because HR will have a better idea of the opportunities that a company can provide at any given moment.  

Initiatives Related to Career Management

There are countless programs that are closely connected to the career management process. One easy way to distinguish between career management and the rest is to think of it as an “umbrella” concept, in that the other learning and development programs are certain parts of it. For example:

Career development is a process where the employee takes a direct part, in cooperation with HR, in designing and following a career path. 

Career planning is an aspect of career development in which HR and the employee discuss the person’s future career. 

Professional development tries to improve the skills that an employee will use throughout their career. 

Workplace skill training involves all of the abilities that an employee uses at a specific company, some of which may not be relevant at a different company.

Why Is Career Management Important?

The organization’s involvement in supporting workers’ career goals is recognized as something that benefits both parties. And yes – this is despite the fact that the employee might not remain with that organization for their entire career. Organizations that don’t emphasize career management are ignoring one of the main reasons for an employee to quit, which is a lack of a clear career path. Stated simply, an employee who does not receive L&D opportunities is almost sure to leave. Investing in career management decreases those chances. 

Achieving an optimal career path is a balancing act. One of the goals of the activities connected to career management is to find common ground between where the employee sees their career going and the positions that the organization needs to fill. When only company goals are considered, there is a risk of alienating the worker, which can cause problems with employee retention. On the other hand, if a worker’s preferences are made a priority, skill gaps can be the result. 

In addition, companies that provide career management services enjoy less expensive succession processes, good employee branding that attracts talented candidates to apply for open positions, and a larger pool of employee skills from which to draw.

The Role of the Organization in Career Management

Whether planned formally or informally, there is a general set of functional positions that an employee needs to take as they progress through levels of the company. This pathway serves as a natural lead-in to a career management initiative. With an understanding of how an employee gets from position A to position B, an organization can add various elements to support the employee’s development as they move ahead:

Activities and Resources

Companies should encourage workers to manage their careers and make sure to record their progress. To start employees on the road to career progression, and to keep them on track, organizations can initiate:

• Informational programs – during the onboarding process, and whenever new L&D courses and/or company positions become available, the HR department should publicize career management opportunities and provide related resources such as career workshops, explanatory literature, and success stories
• HR functions – implementation of assessment centers, career counseling activities, and performance appraisal systems will form a comprehensive career management system that tracks employees’ progress in an organized manner

Learning and Development

Employees can enroll in learning and development programs in order to build the skills required to advance in the organization. This includes managerial training, technical knowledge, and soft skills. It is also possible to fund external educational programs for advanced technology-based skills, university degrees, and professional certifications. Also, coaches are an excellent resource for teaching workers the skills that are best acquired through close observation and advising.

Many organizations already have an outstanding source of internal expertise in the form of mentors. By pairing employees who intend to reach a certain position with those who have already achieved it, companies can provide workers with precisely the knowledge that they require to follow their chosen career path.

Skill Application

Employees have to ‘use it or lose it’ – and that’s true for any type of newly learned skill. Otherwise, they will face the dreaded forgetting curve. To avoid the waste of L&D resources, and to give employees the sense of progress, companies should provide numerous opportunities for the application of skills:

Internal Job Openings: This is the optimal way to apply skills, and the most concrete means to enable the progress of an employee’s career path. However, only about 25% of hires are sourced internally. 

Lateral Mobility: If the next step up the hierarchy is not available, companies can still look for opportunities wherein the employee takes another position at the same hierarchical level. This can keep workers engaged and provide cross-functional training.

Dual Ladder Mobility: “Dual ladder” means a pathway that is parallel to a management track in terms of benefits but without managerial responsibilities. This is a valuable option for companies that have a flat hierarchy and/or many technology-oriented positions.

Informal, Temporary, and Seconded Roles: Employees can be encouraged to take on senior responsibilities in addition to their regular tasks and for a limited time. In addition, workers can be ‘seconded’, meaning that they are temporarily relocated to a different part of the organization, or even to a partner company.

How Career Management Connects to Skills

The one constant of every step of career management is the development of skills. There may be many ways to enhance a worker’s skills, but it is vital that the right sorts of abilities are identified before learning and development courses begin. This tends to be a major weakness of many career management programs, because it is challenging to know exactly what skills an individual employee requires. Plus, this changes over time. Lately, events such as Covid-19 and the Great Resignation have led to significant revisions of L&D priorities. Currently, according to talent consultant Korn Ferry, the most essential soft skills are:

• Self-Awareness
• Teamwork
• Organizational Awareness
• Communication
• Adaptability

Yet this list is bound to continue to change, while experts on the subject will cite different skills. In all, it is the job of the HR team to track what is popular in their industry while matching that to the needs of the company and employee career paths. 

Growthspace as a Career Management Asset

Nurturing employees so that they can move up in a company relies on many factors, especially skills. Don’t let the challenge of coordinating L&D programs with the career goals of employees, particularly in a large organization, be a barrier to advancement. Growthspace’s talent development platform connects employees with exceptional trainers, coaches, and experts from around the world through a technology that ensures an optimal match.