What is Career Pathing and Why is It Important for You as Well as Your Employees?
Career opportunities are limitless. Employees, especially Millennials, are adventurous to achieve their career goals. They seek to understand other possibilities that direct them to the right destination – towards success.
If you’re a millennial employee or an employer who aims to become successful, it’s time to start your career path plan. An excellent career path doesn’t drive professionals into career development but also making a difference in their careers.
Do you want to besuccessful?
Don’t worry! You’ll learn more about pathing and why it is essential for you and your employees in this article.
Career Pathing
The process wherein both employer and employee chart a course that catapults the employee towards success is career pathing. The employee should first understand the following so that he or she becomes successful in the chosen career path:
- Skills
- Knowledge
- Personal Characteristics
- Experiences
Hence, career pathing requires a company employee to assess his or her career goals, skills, knowledge, experience, and characteristics to make an effective career planning within the organization.
Career Path Plan and Performance Development Planning or PDP
A career path plan or career pathing doesn’t only benefit employee development but is also an important factor in PDP or Performance Development Planning.
What is Performance Development Planning?
In PDP, you and your employee meet to discuss the development planning activities beneficial for the employee. Few things you’ll like about Performance Development Planning are the following:
- Written
- Shared
- Tracked
- Reviewed
Career Development Planning allows the written document shared with the employer or supervisor, tracked by the company, and reviewed quarterly or regularly.
What’s Composes the Career Path?
Career mapping or pathing composes the following that allows an employee to plan effectively and reach career success:
- Desired path and steps
- Experience and development
The career path allows an employee to achieve the following:
- Sense of direction
- Ways towards career progress
- Opportunity to reach career goals
The great thing about a career pathing program is that companies with Career Development Planning support it. That means it’s easy for an employee to develop a career path.
How can an employee develop a career path plan?
Developing a Career Path
As I’ve mentioned earlier, it isn’t difficult to develop a career path. An employee can simply do the following:
- Look at the desired jobs within the company
- The employee, together with the manager or officer from human resources, discusses the career path.
Take Note: An employee needs to undergo lateral moves, transfer, or promotions before achieving success. Before an employee lands his or her preferred job title, they first need to achieve employee development and experiences in the company.
Also, coaching from a supervisor or manager or any assistance also helps an employee obtain the desired job position.
Support for Career Path Planning
Employees are ambitious when it comes to the job opportunities they can do within the company. You, as an employer, can support your employee by giving privileges such as:
- The responsive job application process
- Employee access
- Training classes
- Work development opportunities
- Mentoring
- Job shadowing
- Lateral moves
- Promotions
- Coaching
With these privileges and information, an employee would be happy to achieve training and development easily. In turn, the organization also achieves employee engagement and retention.
Career Path Plan Considerations
Before an employee starts to develop a career pathing, few considerations should be taken note of:
Decide Desired Jobs and Goals
An employee’s career begins in picking the desired jobs available in the company. The jobs should direct the employee towards his or her desired career goals. Mentoring and coaching can help an employee choose the desired jobs that lead to succession planning and success.
Plan by Writing
A written draft about an employee’s career path plan is essential for success. In this way, the employee has a guide about how effectively career pathing can change their career for the better. A written plan also allows an employee to share it with a supervisor and let the company review it.
Lead the Career Plan
Mentors such as supervisors and managers are there to help, but the employee still has the final say incareer pathing. The employee has the right to consider the jobs, applications, and training essential in completing the plan.
Remember: In the end, the employee has full rights over the career path plan. He or she has control of the skills, knowledge, and experiences needed to achieve the career path.
Why is Career Pathing Important for You and Your Employees?
Career pathing takes your employees to the next level of success. Employees seek and want to understand more about the opportunities inside your company. Their ambitious spirit leads them to develop their skills and acquire more experiences so that they could achieve their goals.
An employee’s talents aren’t limited, so they need additional skills and knowledge. One of the excellent ways of doing this is talent management. Employees can do more work opportunities if they have excellent talent management, coaching, and mentoring.
In turn, you, as the employer, have a better connection with your employees through career pathing. For example, the HR professional has no difficulties in assessing the required skills in a project because he or she knows well the employee’s capabilities.
Employers also enhance an employee’s career development and engagement that leads to retention. Employees would feel satisfied working in the company because career pathing allows them to grow, and employers solve the skill gap because of it.
Career pathing benefits you and your employees through accomplished goals that lead to long term success in the future. A career path plan allows you and your employees to reach possibilities that you once thought are impossible to reach.
Conclusion
Career pathing gives employees the freedom to embrace opportunities through charting a course towards success. An effective career path plan gives direction or guide to employees where they need to go in choosing jobs and other opportunities.
Employers feel satisfaction knowing that career pathing has a positive change not only between them and their employees but also to the whole company as well.
Employees are welcome to try career pathing software to maximize their career path plan.
Good luck with your career mapping!
