careers
EDUCATORS AND SOCIAL ACTIVISTS
DEVELOPED PROGRAMS TO HELP
INDIVIDUALS LEARN THE SKILLS
NEEDED TO FIT INTO THE NEW
WORKFORCE BY ANALYZING THE JOB
AND MATCHING THE INDIVIDUAL.
Photo by Jezper
years, says there are many direct benefits to the organization when
a career development program for employees is implemented.
According to Straby, career development has the ability to help an
organization know what type of talents currently exist, and what
needs to be developed to have the resources available for future
initiatives.
When career development practitioners work with individuals,
says Straby, they teach people how to examine their skills, inter-ests,
values and attitudes, and use this knowledge to plan their
work, education and life choices across their lifespan. Individuals
learn how to constantly re-invent and re-package themselves in or-der
to secure jobs in the progressively complex world of work.
Effective career counselling takes into account the realities of
the workplace. For this reason, career developers and HR profes-sionals
are natural collaborators. Career counselling can further
complement HR’s recruitment, retention, development, engage-ment
and outplacement strategies by:
■■ Helping individuals anticipate and train for the jobs open now
and in the future;
■■ Structure their resumes and interview skills to better suit what
recruiters are looking for; and
■■ Learn the soft skills necessary to perform in an increasingly
team-oriented and complex work environment.
PULLING THE DISCIPLINES TOGETHER
Both disciplines are interested in employee development and en-gagement.
Dr. Deirdre Pickerell, Ph.D., CHRP of Life Strategies
in B.C. has 21 years of experience as a career development spe-cialist
and human resources professional. Pickerell says that HR
can help the “broader employee population” to see a future within
the company by helping individual employees see who they are in
terms of their skills, interests, values and personal style, and how
those relate to what the organization has to offer.
For many individuals in the workplace, this opportunity may
come during their performance review with the opportunity to ex-press
their career aspirations and develop a career path with their
manager. These conversations can be an excellent place to delve
deeper into the employee’s skills, interests, motivations and per-sonal
style. HR specialists, who add career management principles
to their practices, can help facilitate these discussions by coaching
managers on how to help employees explore, plan and execute ca-reer
development strategies within the company.
Pickerell advises that integrating career development practic-es
into employee development can also help employees who are
disengaged and unlikely to be considered for promotion, sec-ondment
or special projects. HR pros know people who are just
“coasting” at work; they are bored, underutilized, disengaged
70 ❚ MAY/JUNE 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL