Team Victorious: Career Development 

6 Ways to Take Control of Your Career Development If Your Company Doesn’t Care About It

This article discusses options that individuals can take to establish their career development plan of action. Employees at all levels must recognize their weaknesses, seek feedback from those around you, and sharpen their work skills. Companies have reduced offers for formal training in career development. The reason may be due to employees changing jobs so frequently. Companies may not see the worth in endowing employees that may leave.  Your skill set is ultimately your career capital, so take the time to develop your functional skills. Skirting from one job to another won’t allow you to develop the skilled expertise you need to develop your career.

The six points you need review to take control of your career development are (Cast):

• What are you evaluated on. Pinpoint and write down what you understand the goals and key performance indicators are. Engage in an ongoing conversation to ensure you stay on the right path. 
• View your blind spots. Top performers always seek feedback from those around them. If you don’t receive any feedback from the boss or those around you, initiate the conversation yourself. 
• Categorize your learnings. List the five to ten skills or competencies you need to enhance in your position, and rate yourself  
• Increase your visibility with the C-suite (CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, CFO).  Try to be noticed by the senior people who will see you in action and ideally take notice of your contributions. 
• Become an expert in an area of importance to your company. Become the expert person in your department on an emerging issue. Becoming an expert in an area of growing importance can lead to promotions and other career opportunities. 
• Pursue good advice and mentoring. The perspective of a senior person is invaluable, but don’t ambush anyone. Try to meet casually. Learn the person’s bio, and be prepared to ask a few good questions related to their area of expertise. 

Your career should be the primary venue for fulfilling most of your personal needs. Strong functional skills take time to develop, but a well-rounded skill set is essential for your career development. Implement a career plan for continuous growth and development goals. Maintain a record of your achievements and related activities. The reality is that the burden is on employees to take control of their career.

5 Steps to Building a Career That Aligns with Your Passions

This article discusses the 5 steps to building your career around your passions. Life is too short to not be living out your dreams and passions according Joy Chen, it’s important not to waste time doing what you don’t love every day, rather its more beneficial to one’s self to be doing something that drives excitement.

The 5 steps are:

1.  Ask yourself some important questions-  What is your passion? What do you love to do? What makes you happy? What do you do with the least effort?

2.  Take notes of small details- Enjoy the position you are in right now. There are so much you can learn while you are at the bottom of your career.

3.  Learn from your peers- Its important to learn from what your mates are doing. Ask questions and take pointers. Obtain mentors and even become a mentor, it will help you learn even more.

4.  Learn from each opportunity- Even though you may be eager to move up within the company or get a raise or recognition. Broaden your skillset while you wait. Be open minded. Be receptive to learning.

5.  Accept the Journey- It’s important to find the career that align with your passion. The process will be a life long journey to reinventing yourself. During the journey you will find yourself and develop new perspectives.

 At the end of the day it’s very important to search for your niche in life. It’s equally important to love every step of the journey and be happy where you are now. Be open-minded and learn as much as possible. A well-rounded person is a great commodity for any company or towards the path of leadership or entrepreneurship.

Career Development Works

The most advantageous thing a company can do is to insure each employee with an incentivized program that guarantees them the opportunity to succeed and remain promotable on their job. It is a winning situation for both parties in that; the employer benefits from the additional skill set and training that the employee is gaining, and for the employee the incentives and promotions that come with the incentivized training.

Obviously, there is an investment of time and commitment that must be made on behalf of both employee and employer, as training and development of an employee takes time depending on what they are being trained for. As employers prepare employees for additional training and development it also keeps the employers turnover rate down and increases the employees promotability.  Organizations that provide continuous structured learning for employees set their companies up for progressive growth.

Works Cited

Cast, Carter. Harvard Business Review. 18 01 2018. Media Print. 18 04 2018.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281054

Juneja, Prachi. Career Development-Overview. ManagementStudyGuide, https://www.managementstudyguide.com/career-development.htm Accessed 27 March 2018.