Career Development

Dr. Radhika Kapur

Abstract
Career development is an imperative area for every individual and it is
considered to be a lifelong process; an individual begins his career with education,
after attainment of good education and literacy skills, he looks for employment
opportunities or jobs in order to make his career a success. In this research
manuscript, emphasis has been laid upon the areas of what is career development,
career psychology, career counseling and guidance, development of career
management skills, impartment of skill development through vocational training,
leadership skills, obstacles and issues in career development and career
development in organizations. Skill development is also considered to be a vital
aspect, when a person is skilled and possesses all the capabilities and expertise
then he will be able to enhance his career prospects. It is through ones career, it is
determined what kind of a person an individual is, for example, if a person is a
medical practitioner, he has to be caring, courteous and considerate towards his
patients. In other words, a good development of a career leads to good
development of ones attitude and behavioral traits.

Keywords: Career Development, Counseling, Guidance, Skill

Development, Leadership, Organizations

What is Career Development?

An individual focuses upon the development of his career throughout his

life, it is considered to be the management of progression in learning and work.
The quality of ones career, ones learning and work determines the quality of ones
life; through ones career, it is known what kind of a person an individual will
become, the sense of purpose they have, their attitudes, beliefs, norms and values
and the source of income. Career of an individual determines the kind of social and
economic contribution they will make to the communities which they are a part of.
For example, a person gets himself enrolled in a medical college and becomes a
doctor, he is practicing as a doctor now, therefore, that is his career and he is
making money as well as serving the needs of the community (Watts, n.d.).

Career Psychology

Career psychology is regarding the interaction between individuals and

surroundings and endeavors to illustrate the characteristics of the prototypes of
arrangements held and consequential experiences during an individual’s lifespan.
This sub discipline centers on providing representations and clarifications for
organizational career-related activities such as the assessment of the derivation and
capacity of individual propensity, individuality, significances and career
orientations, motivations, cultural aspects, norms, how individual, social,
opportunity and environmental factors outline instructive and preparation
knowledge, workforce employability, career embededness and mobility,
understandings of career well-being, profession and career contentment, career
organization, early work history, occupational preference, business and service
selection, and career progress after organizational entry, work and family issues,
career levels and retirement planning. Information of organizational procedures
related to human resources psychology and organizational psychology support in
accepting detailed career concerns, subjects and disputes confronted by convinced
groups such as the disabled, women and ethnic minorities (Career Development,
n.d.).

Career Counseling and Guidance

 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) elucidates that the career counseling of youth comprises of four main
components: (a) providing assistance to the individuals to acquire greater self-
awareness in areas such as interests, values, abilities, and personality style, (b)
linking individuals to sources so that they can become more well-informed about
occupations and professions, (c) involving human beings in the decision-making
process so that they can choose a career path that is well suited to their own
interests, values, abilities, requirements and personality style, and (d) supporting
individuals to be dynamic administrators of their career paths including
management of career transitions and balancing various life roles as well as
becoming lifelong learners in the sense of professional development over the
lifetime (Career Development, n.d.). There have been individuals who choose
career counseling as a profession and provide guidance and assistance to
individuals who need counseling regarding the selection of subjects or programs.
When individuals graduate from high school; they are at times confused between
two or more fields or subjects, when they have the required percentage and both
engineering as well as medical college offers them admission, then they seek
career counseling whether they should choose to become an engineer or a medical
doctor. Career counseling and guidance is provided to an individual on the basis of
ones interests, abilities, requirements, values and personality traits.

Development of Career Management Skills

It is vital for an individual to learn how to manage ones career management

skills; as it has been stated that career is a lifelong objective, a career should never
come to a halt and an individual should develop the skills regarding the
management of his career. For example, an individual is an educator and has
chosen the teaching career, therefore, the management of the teaching career
centers upon enhancement of the skills such as having efficient knowledge of the
subject that he is teaching, good communication skills, appropriate behavioral
traits, proper training strategies, regular attendance and efficient formulation of
curriculum and instructional methodologies. In any kind of profession, job or field,
it is essential to develop career management skills, hence the areas that should be
taken into account are: (Career Development Guide, n.d.).

1. One should realize that career management is extremely crucial for ones
successful living, and should become a possessor of ones career
development.
2. Identification of ones career goals and objectives is essential; what one
wants to achieve and what are the possible passageways that would lead to
the achievement of the desired career goals and objectives.
3. Identification of all the areas that would lead to ones professional
development is also regarded to be a vital career management skill; ones
professional development and ones career management goes simultaneously.
4. One should formulate a career development plan; in the plan all the areas,
requirements, capabilities and interests should be stated that the individual
finds best.
5. One should become aware and knowledgeable regarding how to carry out,
contribute and get involved in successful career conversations.

Impartment of Skill Development through Vocational Training

Skill development through vocational training in India is offered by the
Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGET) under the Ministry of
Labor and Employment. The DGET is an organization for development and
coordination at the national level for the programs relating to vocational training.
Vocational training is imparted through various schemes and they have been
categorized as follows: (NSDC, n.d.)
1. Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) – ITI/ITC training
2. Apprenticeship Training Scheme
3. Craftsmen Instructor Training Scheme
4. Advance Vocational Training Scheme
5. Women Training
6. Research and Staff Training
7. Instructional Material Development
8. Hi-Tech Training
9. North Eastern States
10.Modular Employable Skills (MES)
11.Centre of Excellence and World Bank Assistance
12.Up gradation of ITIs through Public Private Partnership (PPP)
Leadership Skills
Motivating People – The individuals employed within the company are the
primary reason for its success and the source of its competitive advantage.

The performance of the individuals is dependent upon two factors which are their
abilities and motivation. There have been particular ways through which
motivation takes place, first is the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which comprises
of physiological needs, safety needs, social and belongingness needs, esteem needs
and self-actualization needs. Second are the ERG theory, existence needs,
relatedness needs and growth needs. Third is the two-factor theory, job satisfaction
and dissatisfaction are not opposite ends of the same continuum but are
independent states and different factors affect satisfaction and dissatisfaction
(Kouqing, 2009).
 There have been motivating practices, finding meaningful individual
rewards, if an employee is performing well within the organization, than in order to
motivate him to perform even more better in future, it is essential to reward him,
hence rewarding is one of the main motivating factors for leaders. Another factor is
redesigning jobs, job enlargement, it means adding to the job additional tasks with
similar complexity to the current tasks, require the use of different skills, another is
job enrichment, which means adding complexity to the job, increasing
responsibility. Another motivating factor is making provision of constructive
feedback, the employees should be provided with feedback regarding their
performance and negativities should also be stated in a positive manner to avoid
detrimental outcome. In order to motivate individuals, it is important to clarify
expectations and goals of the organizational structure with them (Kouqing, 2009).

Communication – This is one of the most crucial leadership skills, there

have been various aspects of communication that is downward, upward and

horizontal and it can be formal and informal. There always arise barriers to
effective communication; organizational barriers can be information overload,
noise, time pressure and information distortion, cross-cultural barriers etc.
Individual barriers comprise of differing perceptions, poor listening skills,
consideration of self-interest, etc. There has been an appropriate procedure to carry
out the communication process in an organized manner. The steps are as follows:
An idea is encoded, and then it is transmitted from the sender to the receiver, then
the receiver receives the idea, decodes it and then acts. There have been important
ways to improve ones communication skills, one should be a good listener, know
the audience, in other words the communicator should know well who he is
communicating with, selection of a proper communication medium is vital,
encourage feedback and there should be regulation of information flow and timing
(Kouqing, 2009).

Decision Making – Another most important leadership skill is making

effectual decisions. An appropriate procedure has to be followed when
making

decisions, first is defining the problem, second is identifying criteria, third is

gather and evaluate data, fourth is list and evaluate alternatives, fifth is select best
alternative and sixth is implement it and follow up. For the purpose of effective
decision making, there are certain group decision making techniques which have to
be taken into account and these are as follows: Brainstorming – It is a process in
which a large number of ideas are generated while the evaluation of the ideas is
suspended. Nominal group technique – In this case, the discussion is structured and
the final solution to the problem is decided by the silent vote. Delphi Technique –
This is a new technique which promises to help the decision maker with concise
directly relevant information. The goal of the Delphi technique is to predict the
future and to evaluate alternative courses of action; the researchers and the
respondents are actually accomplices to the prediction enterprise. In other words
the decision making participants are surveyed regarding their opinions or best
judgments. Dialectical Decision Making – There is usage of debate between highly
different set of recommendations and assumptions to encourage complete
discussion (Kouqing, 2009).

Obstacles and Issues in Career Development

In ones career development, an individual has to encounter many issues and

face obstacles, for example, there have been many cases of individuals who are
extremely bright and have scored such good grades that they have even secured
admission in topmost academic institutions but they do not have the funds to pay
their tuition fee, hence are not able to advance their educational career prospects
due to financial problems. The economy and labor markets do undergo continuous
changes with the advancement of technology and there has been a growing
recognition of skills and capabilities in higher order functions and jobs. With the
emergence of innovative methods, infrastructural techniques, technological
equipment, economic changes and more opportunities, no jobs are considered to be
secure and employees are required to continuously develop their skills, knowledge
and expertise to retain their jobs. Individuals with disabilities tend to have lower
skills levels than the average population and are therefore more susceptible to
economic change. They are over-represented in entry level jobs and often undergo
problems in making headway into the more skilled jobs that are being created
within a knowledge based economy; habitually, the individual’s career path may
involve a sideways move rather than getting promoted to a more skilled job
(Career Development and Progression, 2009). Financial problems, disabilities,
impairments, low communication skills, lack of reliability, decision making,
problem solving and leadership skills may prove to be barriers towards the course
of ones career development.

Career Development in Organizations

In order to accomplish success, organizations need to introduce an all-

inclusive endeavor involving both the employer and the employee; the first and the
foremost step is to develop a system that connects the interests of the organization
and the individual, formulation of goals and objectives that may fall into the best
requirements of both the employers and the employees and jointly implementing
these. The steps that have been stated below indicate that career development has
been a vital aspect of the organization, the achievement of the desired goals and
objectives is dependent upon ones career development and thereby enhancing
engagement and retention (Career Development, 2009).

1. Senior leaders have to make career development a priority - Career

development requires a disciplined, widespread arrangement in which
organizations classify their long-term objectives and the expertise required
to meet those objectives, and then assist employees to increase the dexterity
required to accomplish these objectives through activities such as training,
career development, mentoring, guidance, counseling, internal preparation,
shadowing and project work.
2. Line managers need better training and the tools and skills for supporting
career development – Through the means of training, the administrators are
able to develop the proficiency in having discussions with their employees
regarding the development of their career within the organization. The
employees need to feel safe within the working environmental conditions
and not vulnerable; training, skills enhancement and appropriate tools are
considered to be the key aspects in leading to career development.
3. Better self-assessment is of crucial importance – Employees need to
understand the skills they already possess and what they should develop in
order to achieve organizational goals. Proper self-assessment strategies will
enable the employees to remain employed, make appropriate decisions,
determine their strengths and weaknesses and get easily adapted to changes;
this in turn will help them to formulate means to retain their strengths and
improve upon their weaknesses.
4. For high potentials, the best approach combines individualized coaching and
group sessions – When coaching is provided to a large group of employees,
then it becomes difficult to pay personalized attention and some kinds of
 flaws and inconsistencies are observed in the employees potential; among
the organizations, individualized coaching and group sessions were
encouraged in order to help the employees enhance their potentials such as
networking, communication skills and so forth.
5. Companies can do more to measure return on investment – Employers
cannot efficiently determine whether their efforts have been successful
regarding the career development strategies without the effective
measurement of ROI. They include measurements such as: decreased
recruitment and on-boarding costs, amplify production, reduced recruitment
time for projects, prior recognition of candidates for major roles, superior
value of career development plans, increase in internally filled roles,
advanced engagement levels, and decreased absenteeism.
Discussion and Summary
Career development is a lifelong procedure; an individual commences his
career with the attainment of good educational qualifications, on completion
of education, he has to select an appropriate employment opportunity or job or a
relevant source of income in order to earn his living. There have been numerous
career opportunities and there has been emergence of abundant areas such as law,
business management, hotel management, medical, nursing, education, teaching,
architecture, journalism, arts, engineering, mathematics, technology, and science.
An individual starts his career by getting enrolled into an institution and a program
of his choice, in accordance with his needs and abilities. A bright individual who
has secured good grades in high school sometimes gets confused regarding which
field he should select, in that case, he seeks advice and help from a career
counselor, who assesses his needs, abilities, strengths and weaknesses and then
guides him accordingly towards the right path.
 Other individuals such as parents, relatives, friends, career counselors are
there to guide, counsel, help and lead the individual towards the right direction, but
it is entirely up to the individual to decide what he wants to achieve, what he wants
to become, what are his requirements and what kinds of strengths and abilities does
he possess. It is vital for the individual to develop career management skills, in
order to make a successful career, it is essential for the individual to develop his
skills and one of the skills development procedure takes place through vocational
training; vocational training is imparted through various schemes and these have
been research and staff training, women training, instructional material
development, advance vocational training scheme, Hi-tech training, apprenticeship,
craftsmen training schemes and so forth. In any kind of an organization, company
or an institution, it is necessary to develop certain leadership skills in order to
accomplish career development in a successful manner, the main leadership skills
are motivating people, having efficient communication and abilities to make
appropriate decisions.
In ones development of career prospects, an individual normally encounters
various kinds of impediments, these can be financial problems, low abilities levels,
and skills; sometimes in underdeveloped regions or areas, an individual is not able
to acquire basic education due to number of problems such as family issues,
financial problems, large distances, lack of appropriate means of transportation and
so forth. When an individual is not well educated, he will certainly face obstacles
in the development of his career prospects, and continues to work as a laborer or
get engaged in some kind of a minority job, this is still prevalent in rural as well as
urban parts of India. Within the organizations, career development is considered to
be an imperative concept and there have been certain points that highlight the
significance of career development, such as considering career development as the
main priority, having better training, tools and skills, better self-assessment,
individualized coaching and group sessions and measurement of return on
investment. Finally, it can be stated that career development should be considered
as the main priority and all the individuals should be geared towards improvement
of their abilities, skills and expertise in such a manner that could lead to effective
career development.
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