Personal Development and Career Planning

Choices and ChallengesChoices and Challenges

Satyajeet Singhsatyajeet.singh@yahoo.com

Definitions

What are careers?What are careers?– Sequence of work-related positions

held by someone during lifetime

“We must never wipe out the differences in management ; where there is no difference there is only indifference.”

Definitions

What is Professional Development Planning?What is Professional Development Planning?

- Deliberate process of thinking about self, opportunities, limitations, and choices to develop goals and plans to reach these goals

“If you are failing to plan you are planning to fail”

Factors that Affect Career Choices

Individual– Strengths– Weaknesses– Values, ethics,

attitudes– Goals– Personality and

interests (avocations)– Education– Socialization

Organizational– Profit vs. nonprofit

– Large vs. small

– Private vs. governmental

– Military vs. nonmilitary

– Industry

– Occupational area

“Do not fall victim to what I call the ready, aim, aim, aim syndrome; You must be willing to fire”

How is career development today different from the past?

Old Paradigm– Career in one

organization

– Relational contract

– Movement through hierarchical advancement or intra-organizational mobility

– Career planning by firm

New Paradigm– Career spent in several

organizations

– Transactional contract

– Movement through various organizations for advancement

– Individual is totally responsible for career planning

“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”

Organisations do not compete!

People Do!

Vs (Vibha Paul Rishi) (Vikas Gupta)

Maruti Vs Hyundai

(Jagdish Khattar) (B.V.R. Subbu)

“Men are not for organisations; Organisations are from men”

21st Century

Factors Influencing these changes

• Employment shifts

• Organizational changes (technology and resources)

• Changes in organizational structure (new organizing principles)

• Changing workforce characteristics

• Individual changes (attitudes and values)

• Global competition

“Even if you think you're on the right track; you'll get run over if you just sit there.”

Environmental Analysis

Bargaining power

of Supplier

Threat of

New Entry

Bargaining Power of Buyer

Industry

Rivalry

Threat from

Substitutes

Personal Development and Career Stages

Age Range Development Career Stage

20's to early 30's Young Adulthood Preparation, Entry, and Early Career

30's to 40's Full Adulthood: "Coming to Terms," Family Development

Full Membership and Midcareer

40's to 50's Mature Adulthood: Life Transitions, "Empty Nest," or "Second Prime"

Possible Transition to New Career or Late Career

50's to 60's New Life Interests or Preparation for Later Years

Pre-retirement (withdrawal from work) or New Midcareer

60's and beyond Generative Stage: Giving to Younger Generations

Retirement or New Career?

“Experience is not what happens to a man;

it is what a man does with what happens to him”

Early Career Challenges

Age range: 20’s to early 30’s

Issue 1: Education

Issue 2: Getting a Job!• Know yourself• Know what employers want• Good resume writing and job search strategies• Interviewing well• Internships and cooperative programs

“Defeat is only a state of mind, and nothing more”

Early Career Challenges

Issue 3: First Years on the Job» Learning the ropes» Proving oneself» Moving around» Further developing

skills and expertise

“All behaviour consist of opposite; in corporate world learn to see things backward, inside out and upside down”

Contemporary Career Patterns

• Linear: Progression up the hierarchy (traditional)

• Expert: Devotion to developing increasing knowledge and competency in a specialty

• Spiral: Progression of periodic moves (7-10 years) across related occupations/ specialties

• Transitory: Progression of frequent (3-5 years) moves across different/unrelated jobs

“People these days, are measured by the size of their dreams.”

Contemporary Career Competencies and Strategies

• Establish a clear identity• Focus on employability, not employment

(portable competencies)• Commit to lifelong learning• Invest in reputation building• Maintain a technical specialty, but make

sure to develop additional skills• Gain experience in team and project

collaboration

“The person who is too old to learn is probably too old to live”

How to Establish Career Identity

• Self exploration, introspection, and feedback from trusted others

• Use self assessment tools, discuss with career counselors, and managers

“In life lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know”

Corporate Expectations

• Attitude

• Assertiveness

• Approach

• Association with work

• Contemporary thinking

• Knowledge

“The one who knows ‘how’ shall always have a job, but the one who knows ‘why’ will be the Boss.”

From Shareholders To Stakeholders

Company

Management

Workers

Shareholders

Society

Government

Financial Institution

Internal Stakeholders

External Stakeholders

What you need to do

• Be proactive in your career planning & development

• Along with self exploration, need to explore the work world around you and network

• Set career goals: road maps and rudders

• Have conscious career strategies: evaluate organizations on what they can offer to you

• Perform career appraisals

“If you can’t be the best; be the first.”

What organizations can do

Create environment of continuous learning– training and development

– support employees joining professional groups

Provide opportunities for self assessment and introspection– benchmarking employee skills and competencies

against those needed by company or job market

– in-house or outsourced career centers

“Failures and setbacks come to instruct not to obstruct.”

What organizations can do

Respond to work-life issues– dependent care, scheduling flexibility, culture change

Ensure consistency between career progression and organizational expectations– revamp promotional and reward systems that still might

weigh tenure and political skills heavily

“Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and theirSolutions so constructive that everyone wants to get and deal with them”

What organizations can do

Ensure career development is consistent with other HR processes and programs– developmental performance appraisal– succession planning processes– skill-based rather than seniority based compensation

Re-deploy rather than outplace– requires investing in employee skills

“Organizations should aim to transform an order driven finance organization into the best school of business leadership”

Professional Planning Assignment

• Career goals may not be specific yet--but must have some!

• Self assessment is critical

• Professional development plan provides strategies to help you reach your career goals

• Don’t forget the rest of your life when thinking about your work!

“Even if we all did the things we are capable of doing ; we would literally astound ourselves”

5 Principles for a Smart Career

1. Take responsibility for managing your career; you own your career your employer owns your job.

2. Aim to develop experience that is valuable3. Know when to take career risk and when to

consolidate4. Soft skills and personal characteristics are the most

important ingredient once you are on the journey5. Thanking and Restructuring should be a lifetime

practice.

Its better to be “employable” than to be “employed”

You could be 100% correct.

So what?

Its not about;

Being right.

Its about;

Bringing others along.

Its better to be tentative and right

than

To be absolutely sure and wrong

“You are what you think you are”

Thank You!