Why is career development important?

Career development can help you achieve greater happiness and fulfilment. Research shows that people who actively manage their lives and careers generally:

have a strong sense of purpose earn higher incomes - the Australian Productivity Commission estimated that an additional year of schooling increases the workforce participation rate by around 0.5% for males and 4% for females and that for every additional year of education, the earnings of an Australian worker increase by between 5.5% and 11.0%". have high levels of satisfaction due to striving for and achieving personal goals are well-informed, success learners make job and education choices that help them achieve their goals are less stressed, and therefore have less physical and emotional ill-health cope with changes such as moving between jobs, becoming a student, becoming unemployed or retiring are open to new opportunities.

Studies show that young people leaving school early, without career paths, are likely to face long-term disadvantage by having higher levels of unemployment and parttime and casual work, shorter working lives, lowered incomes and the increased probability of finding themselves in jobs with poorer working conditions and fewer opportunities for advancement. They also more often experience poorer physical and mental health, higher rates of crime and less often engage in citizenship activity. According to the OECD (2004) career development contributes to:

Life long learning Social equity Labour market development.

The following principles can help you as you navigate today's ever-changing career landscape: 1. Change is constant - embrace it!

Recognise that the world around you is constantly changing. Be open to change and remain alert to new opportunities. 2. Learning is ongoing

Strive for continuous personal improvement. Stay motivated by learning new skills and developing new talents and be ready for future opportunities.

3.

Focus on the journey

Don't focus on one destination only. Recognise that your career journey will be throughout your lifetime. Appreciate and value each experience along the way - even temporary opportunities may broaden your skills set. 4. Know yourself, believe in yourself and follow your heart

Pursue your passion to find fulfilment. Discover ways to combine your interests with career opportunities. 5. Access your allies

Rely on the support of your family, friends, mentors, colleagues and peers. Career success can be a team effort. Your network (the people and contacts you know, both personal and business) are very useful if you are looking for a new job.

Importance of Career Development

Tweet Although the business environment has been endlessly experiencing negative changes such as economic downsizing and restructuring resulting in fewer hierarchical positions but at the same time the need for improving productivity while keeping a pace with continuously changing technology has also increased. Organizations, therefore, instead of hiring a new individual from the market prefer to promote their already existing employee to a specific position as he or she is already aware of the organizational culture and does not need to be trained. This requires a careful succession planning of employees and developing and preparing them continuously for filling topmost designations in future. The process of organizational career development is important for both employees and employers. There may be several unintended and undesired changes as well as consequences that can change the entire scenario. In such a situation both employees and employers must be ready to keep with the changing environment and act accordingly. Employees continuously need to upgrade their skills and competencies to meet the current demands where as organizations must be ready with those employees who can handle the pressure efficiently and cease the risk of falling prey to the changed scenario. Therefore, understanding the importance of career development is very necessary for both the parties. Business Environment Factors that can Bring Undesired Changes

Economic Downsizing: The biggest of all the factors that has badly affected the careers of millions of individuals is economic downsizing. The jobs are cut from the organizations and the fittest of all employees survive. If

employees continuously learn new and better skills, chances are that economic conditions wont hurt them that badly as compared to other individuals. De-layering: De-layering means reclassification of jobs. This is an organizational change initiative where a company decides to reclassify the jobs more broadly. However, old reporting lines do exist in order to maintain managerial control but some jobs may be removed or cut down during the process. Again, those individuals have to leave the organization who are not competent enough to be shifted to other job with different nature. Cost Reduction Strategies of the Organization: Cost-reduction strategies of the organizations are again very dangerous for those individuals who are not prepared to move on to the next level. If organizations have to cut down their operating costs, the employment of those individuals is at stake who are not employable or who have not performed up to the mark in past. Employees continuously need to upgrade themselves and show their talent in order to remain in the organizations till long. IT Innovations: Continuous changes and upgradation in the technology is also one of the major factors that bring change. Some individuals can keep a pace with the changing technology and are always ready to learn and adopt new IT applications while some show immense resistance which is not acceptable to the organizations. Employees need to keep themselves updated and show willingness to accept changes as and when they occur and mould themselves accordingly.

The business changes affect both organizations and employees. The need is to understand them and find a way to cope with them effectively.