Managing Careers

I. II.

General Overview: Changing Concepts of Careers Employer and employee roles in managing careers Managing Careers in Different Career stages (special emphasis on mentoring)

III.

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Managing Your Career: General

Career development and opportunities for growth are often given as the most important reason why employees join and remain with employers.

However, several changes in organizations have made career development difficult:

Decrease in mobility (Waking up from the American Dream): Wal-Martization (e.g., changes in hiring practices): > of the labor force stuck in low-end jobs! Change in the Psychological Contract for workers
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Managing Your Career: General

Traditional Newer Conceptualizations

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Managing Careers: Responsibilities

(Noe, et al., 2006)

Organization

Provide support (e.g., information)

Provide assessments (+/-, interests & values)

Employee

Ultimately responsible for managing careers

Identify opportunities and needs to improve

Communicate performance evaluation, where employee fits in long-range company plans, changes in industry, profession, etc. Commit to help employee achieve goals. Identify resources (e.g., courses, work experiences, etc.)
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Identify what needs are realistic to develop

Identify goals and how you want them achieved. Construct time table for achievement
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Managing Careers: Development Stages

1. 2.

(Kulik, 2004)

Growth: an individual develops a sense of self and exploration of interests. Exploration: begins as an individual develops preference for a career and ends with training and placement in chosen occupation Establishment: Maintenance: begins with self-reflection and can lead to (a) being re-energized; (b) changing careers; or (c) reduction in investment in ones career (less self-focused) Disengagement: an individual looks ahead at what to do at the end of his or her career
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3.

4.

5.

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Career Concepts
What

does it mean to have a successful career?

Where

do you learn about what makes for a successful career?

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4 Career Concepts

(Lewellyn, 2002)

Linear. To the person motivated by the linear concept, success only comes from moving up the corporate ladder. While prevalent in the United States, this proves to be a difficult concept to yield continuing success. Movement up the organizational pyramid provides fewer positions into which to advance. Many who carry the linear concept are frustrated. Many leave positions of influence when they become "topped out." The "delayering" of organizational levels of the 1990s left many linears disillusioned. For many, it is an emotionally brutal concept.

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4 Career Concepts

(Lewellyn, 2002)

Expert. Success for the person motivated by the expert concept is being known as the best among his or her peers. This includes the craft worker who yearns to be the best welder at Amalgamated Inc. It is also the trial lawyer garnering community recognition for a highprofile case, the surgeon with national recognition for an innovative procedure or the accountant with the most knowledge in the department of accounting rules. Those who carry the expert concept may have been told in their youth to "grow up to be good at something." Their parents or grandparents may have been influenced by the Great Depression, during which the employees who kept their jobs were often the ones with the best skills.

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4 Career Concepts

(Lewellyn, 2002)

Spiral. Success is being able to move from one position to a related but often broader position, usually every five to 10 years. Broadening is the key. A spiral's parents may have taught him to be "well rounded." New positions are a natural extension of the prior work. This is the engineer who migrates into project management and then to capital budgeting and eventually to corporate budgeting functions. Spirals amass a vast amount of knowledge and experience. Many spirals in mid-career feel a strong desire to share the massive knowledge with others. This leads some spirals to leave large companies to become consultants or teachers.

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4 Career Concepts

(Lewellyn, 2002)

Roamer. Success to the roamer is being able to change jobs often. Movement is more frequent than spirals, perhaps every two to three years, and the succeeding jobs are often unrelated to past professional experiences. A roamer may move from funeral director to draftsman. These are often people from the extremes of economic backgrounds who don't value security. They either were raised in an upper-economic stratum and presume money will always be there or were in a poorer economic environment and know they can survive on very little. Roamers can play key roles in companies that are expanding, both geographically and into new markets. They make good startup people. Roamers tend to value work with high people involvement.

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4 Career Concepts

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Managing Careers: Growth Stage

What do most organizations do to manage this stage?

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Managing Careers: Exploration Stage

Exploration Stage: employees value the opportunity to experiment and may be interested in training opportunities or exposure to different jobs (e.g., internships)

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Managing Careers: Establishment Stage

Establishment Stage: Employees seek out ever greater challenges and achievements.
1.

Promotions. As an HR manager, need to decide:

(Dessler, 2005)

Are promotions based on competency or seniority? How should you measure competence? Is the process formal or informal?

Drawbacks.

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Managing Careers: Establishment Stage

2.

Lateral and downward moves. Assignments to other functional areas or locations. [Need to communicate importance of transfer e.g., $$$] Externship programs. Assignments to another organization for a short period of time. [Most popular in the consulting industry] Dual career tracks: one management and one nonmanagement (e.g., technical, sales).

3.

4.

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Managing Careers: Maintenance Stage

Maintenance Stage: Employees are becoming less self-focused and are motivated to share knowledge and/or to reappraise their careers
1.

Sabbaticals: unpaid or paid leave that allows employees to pursue other interests

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Managing Careers: Maintenance Stage

2.

Mentoring opportunities

Benefit protgs: career & psychological support, better pay, faster promotion, and greater career satisfaction Mentor benefits: job fulfillment More on mentoring in Special Topics

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Mentoring: Traditional Concerns

Seeking a Mentor Age differential: Age of Mentor: mid-life (40 +) Gender of protg: same as mentor Power of Mentor: high Organizational Position: high Self-Confidence: high
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Mentoring: Traditional Concerns

What Mentors Seek in Protgs:

Age:
Gender: women protgs likely to feel overprotected, greater social distance, & general discomfort in male-mentor relationship than males Power Needs: mentors are one way for new person to gain power -- need to make informal political alliances Performance: mentors seek protgs that are good performers & have had the ability to demonstrate the extraordinary Social Skills: mentors like protgs who know other officers socially, are highly visible, and can appear socially similar to high status members

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New Models of Mentoring

Build a board of advisors

External: Recruiters, HR Officers, Competitors, College Friends Internal:

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New Models of Mentoring

Group Mentoring (a.k.a. mentoring or coaching circles) (Workforce Management, 2004)

Various models exist. Can be formalized as a mentor and multiple protgs. Can be a more informal gathering of individuals of different ranks who get together and discuss issues (e.g., Chubbs Partnership for Women) Benefits include learning for peers as well as mentors; can be more cost effective; and allows an organization to increase its mentoring pool
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New Models of Mentoring

Matchmaking Technology

Employees input characteristics they are seeking and receive a list of people who match their criteria Advantages: can be especially helpful for big companies and those that are geographically dispersed; does not require prior relationship; often provides several options; does not require as high a level of third-party involvement; often saves $$ Disadvantages: mentors may not be trained or may be inappropriate; protgs may not know what they need; lacks human touch and expertise
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Managing Careers: Disengagement Stage

Disengagement Stage: Employees are trying to disengage psychologically. Organizations may use incentives to ease (and possibly speed up) the transition. May be especially helpful for plateued workers.
1.

Early retirement may involve adding years (age and tenure) to allow employees to get more benefits from retiring, earlier than they might otherwise. Dont make this too attractive!

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Concepts, Cont.
1.

(if time)

What does your career concept tell you about how you are likely to experience the career development stages (e.g., how frustrating or fulfilling will they be)?

2.

How could a mentor best help you succeed with your chosen career concept? Discuss your answers with people of different career concepts
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3.

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Wrap-Up

While there has been a shift in responsibility in career management towards the individual, organizations must still play a role Career management will vary by your concept and your career stage Mentoring is critical for your own career as well as your organization (e.g., some estimate that most companies will lose half of their senior management teams by 2010)
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Questions?

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