Why one should plan career?

A career can be defined as all the jobs held by a person during his working life. It consists of a series of properly sequenced role experience leading to an increasing level of responsibility, status, power and rewards. Career is sequence of separate but related work activities that provide continuity, order and meaning in a person’s life.

Career, thus, represents and organized, well timed and positive move taken by a person across time and space. It must be noted that a person’s career is shaped by many factors e.g. education, experience, performance, parents, caste links and some occasional luck. Similarly, while some people like creative personnel and artists may deal independently with shaping their careers, there are others those employed by somebody do not have much scope for their own pursuits and, in turn, career.
 

Career planning is the process of selecting career goals and the paths to achieve individual and organizational goals. The steps involved in the process of career planning are as follows.

Process of Career Planning

1. Individual Needs and Aspirations: The first step in career planning process is counting of individual needs and aspiration. What the individual is really seeking from the organization should be identified by the organization otherwise in lack of it, labour turnover may occur.
2. Organizational Need and Opportunities: The next process in career planning is counting of organizational need and opportunity. What kind of manpower it is seeking and what opportunity for career development, it can provide to the employee should be identified.
3. Personnel Counseling and Assignment: The organization should counsel to the employee or individual. In organization, there is HRM department. The HR staff’s duty is to counsel the individual. Counseling for new hires existing employee in the mid career and in the pre-retirement stage should be done. Counseling are of two types:
1. Formal Counseling is performed by career development center, assessment center, workshop etc.
2. Informal Counseling is performed by HRM staff in organization for those who wish to assess their ability and interest.
4. Personal Planning and Career Information: Organization should make a detail inventory about the people working in the organization. The people working in the organization are currently in which career position of his career should be identified. The information of employees career position should be obtained and how they be advanced should be planned in organization.
5. Individual Development Effort: Individual tries to develop themselves for their development. Organization should back up the individual, to develop individual. Organization can do it through different programmes like training, counseling etc.
6. Formal Training and Development: Organization should provide training and development to develop employee career. But which individual need training should be identified and should make a match in between it.

If these are matched, employee can be placed on career path. So, every career planning process leads to the placement of employee in the career path.

With sound process, employee can be rightly placed on career path, through it employee proceed for career development.