Career development requires following actions/factors for its successful and unobstructed growth:
Performance. Performance is the foundation of career success. Good and ethical job performance will expand the organization’s expectations of you and then you will get scope to exceed them to justify your excellence and talent which will make you indispensible to the organisation.
Exposure. Career success vastly depends on and furthered by exposure. Exposure means becoming known by those who decide on promotion, transfers, and other career opportunities. Even good performers can miss out on important career opportunities if they lack exposure.
Institutional reputation. Degrees acquired from reputed and quality academic institutions will have more opportunity to succeed in terms of getting jobs, higher pay, and status. Top universities of a country, of a region or of the world have built in reputation in the employment market due to the belief that the students of these universities have broad-based, reliable and dependable knowledge, expertise, competence and capability. So, graduates from reputed universities and colleges will stand out in the job market than that of lower profile universities and colleges.
Networking. It is extremely important for employees to build a network of contacts who are likely to be useful for the employees’ career development. Networking is using informal contacts inside and outside an organisation to keep one visible. It is a process for letting people know who you are and what you are doing. Experts recommended that networking should be regarded as an ongoing lifetime project, requiring consistent effort and commitment.
Employer reputation. Organisational reputations are also strong factor for career success and ling-term employability. Some organizations have a star reputation as breeding grounds for high-potential employees. They are highly marketable for their age-old existence and operations, reputation for quality product, good human environment, attractive compensation and benefit package, intelligence, ambition, aggressiveness and team culture. Therefore, people who are working in these firms have competitive edge in the job market.
Mentors and Sponsors. Employees will have quick development if mentors or sponsors help their career development by offering advice, giving instruction and opening up new opportunities.. A mentor is someone who offers informal career advice. He/she is generally an older experienced senior manager. On the other hand, a sponsor is someone in the organisation who can create career development opportunities.
Organisational loyalty. Career development is affected by the organizational loyalty that is exhibited in long-term service to the same organisation. It is regarded as faithful, committed and dedicated service and gets high priority by the human resource management for giving career development opportunities. Organizations fill senior positions from internal source from those who have spent their whole career –life in the same organization.
Academic qualifications. Ongoing expansion of skills and knowledge makes an employee more valuable and therefore more attractive to the organisation. Students with business and economics postgraduate degree such as MBAs and Master of Commerce, for example, are among the most highly remunerated. Such is the case of students of Information technology. Therefore, conscious acquisition of skills and experience improves the desirability of the persons to prospective employers. Self improvement also overcomes the problem of career plateauing and professional obsolescence.
Computer skill. Computer literacy is a must today to get competitive advantage in the employment market as well as within the organisation. Skills related to Keyboarding , touch-type, e-mailing, and other internet operations are regarded as essential competency of employees and therefore, key to career development.
International experience. International experience is becoming an important growth opportunity today. Industries like garments, pharmaceuticals, computer, automobiles, and other consumer products are now in the international market. So, people with global experience are getting special attention and potentiality for overseas assignments. It also gives greater responsibility, freedom and broader experience which will further career development too.
Language skills. Conversant in lingua franca like English is a must for all employees of the world. Besides that French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, etc language skill will be added qualification for getting wide acceptability in the global job market.
Key Subordinates. Competent, knowledgeable and skilled subordinates play a crucial role in helping mangers achieve good performance. Managers may learn from them too. Through the team work, dedication, and motivation, subordinates help managers and organisation to achieve goals effectively.
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