During the Recession it is typical to think that concern about one’s career development is reserved for the unemployed and under-employed among us. Much of my blogging in recent months has been directed toward those cohorts. However, it is important to also focus on the individual career development needs of the 90+% of Americans who are fully employed.

Addressing career development in the context of employee inclusion in companies and organizations raises a set of different issues and benchmarks that need to be examined and rated. To look at the intersection of individual career development and the organizations within which most employees work is a task that is larger than can be adequately handled in a single blog. But it is my goal to begin such an exploration with this piece.

It is still a core belief of mine that each person is responsible for his or her own career development. So, what exactly is meant by career development, a term I’ve already used five times in this piece?

A definition depends on perspective. From an organizational viewpoint career development is seen as the procedures necessary to advance employee value to meet organizational strategic demands. From the view of a worker, career development involves the integration of cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and contextual factors that determine employment decisions, work values, and life role such that a profound satisfaction with what one does is achieved.

My primary and professional concern is with the worker who needs to cultivate the elements that comprise their professional growth. Let us begin a look at how this is done with your current employment.

There are some basics that you ought to expect from the place you work beside it being a safe place to derive an income. Perhaps the biggest is knowing that there is a built in fair meritocracy. If you as a dedicated employee have a clear and open opportunity to advance within the organization based on your talent, ability, and drive, then this place of work may have value.

Of course, most companies do have some form of internal promotion. The thing to know though, is how much of it is based on true merit vs. political maneuvering or an inadequate performance review system. In the public sector, be especially careful. My primary career was with public school systems where internal promotion is almost non-existent. There, the overriding value is egalitarianism. As great as equality is, it may not be consistent with individual ideas of progression.

Therefore, study the core operating value of your employer. Ask yourself if you can work within that system. If the clash of purposes between yourself and the organization is too much, then go elsewhere.

Finding that it is acceptable, however, means you should conduct an examination of how organizational strategy is expressed through the way they treat their employees. Acceptable contact points should be found between the organization’s definition of employee career development and your own definition.

For example, does your company institute a performance management structure that encourages managers to promote behaviors and competencies that meet both the organizational needs and your professional growth?

Other contact points that should be appraised, and which I will delve into in greater detail in future blogs, include company policies concerning onboarding, succession planning, innovation, being a learning organization, and employee freedom in how production quotas are set, among others.

In closing, I recommend first talking to your Human Resources people. Have they tried to establish an employee career development program? If they have, then they have found a link between organizational strategy and necessary knowledge and skills for the present and future.

See how your professional improvement plans fit their needs. If they match company perceived shortages, then Bingo! You may have something there. More on this later.

So, how are you handling the tough employment times? I encourage you to think about which profile fits you.

Type 1

You are out of work, desperately wanting to go back in, north of forty years-old, and the only job search techniques that you know are from when you were nineteen years-old. That means that you are checking the newspaper classifieds and, in an attempt, to keep up with the times, you are also checking a couple of online job boards. 

Your family and friends know that you are out of work and are kind enough to “keep their eyes open for you”. You have talked to the state employment security office to start receiving unemployment compensation and thought that it might be a promising idea to speak with one of the employment/vocational counselors who works there. The information that you receive from the counselor is helpful, but the number of things that you are told you should now be doing seems overwhelming to do on your own. 

You have sent out some resumes and cover letters to places that you heard were hiring, but you have not heard back yet from anyone. You also left a couple of voice mails with the hiring managers, but you have not received any replies.

This stretch of unemployment is lasting longer than you thought it would. You are getting depressed, feeling unappreciated, and getting scared that your future is in serious jeopardy.

Type 2

You know that finding a job in a deep Recession is bigger than you can handle alone. You know that you need a plan, but figuring out what that plan should be, which really increases your chances of getting happily hired, is as hard to put together as getting a job has been.

You decide that the time has come to hire a career coach. What had before seemed like an extravagant expense now seems worth it, even though paying for anything right now is hard. So, you find a coach, your own career consultant, who actively listens to your situation, employment history, and gets a skilled reading as to your personality. 

All the while, this trained ear is listening for information that will help determine an appropriate match between the client and the workforce and whether you are ready to advance by jumping industries or hoping to grow within the industry you have worked in historically. After some time, your global big-picture direction seems clearer, so you work together at developing your professional brand.

This effort shines a light on your strengths and makes it very apparent to anyone paying attention, like potential employers, what the value is that you have to offer. You take your brand into a strategized job search consisting of exposure and research. Time is spent targeting your efforts toward those openings and opportunities that exist from which you can benefit. Even though the first couple of interviews do not go well, you process and dissect your performances with your consultant and mutually determine a more effective approach.

Competition is stiff, but you find some solace in that you are approaching this challenge with smarts and well-directed energy. You enjoy having a trusted colleague to work with you as you try to make the best of a tough situation and time in your life.

Which profile most closely describes you? Not the one you want? Get in touch. Let’s talk.