Question

Exercise 9.2: Who is responsible for your career?

Who is responsible for developing a person’s career? According to a recent survey, there is disagreement about whether it should be the responsibility of an individual or an employer.

“The Real Story Behind Career Development: Who is Responsible?” is a joint research study conducted by EdAssist and the University of Phoenix to explore employees’ and managers’ perceptions of whose responsibility it is to drive career development. The results showed key disparities between the two groups’ perceptions:

• Most workers believe it is employers’ responsibility to teach career development: 74% say employers should provide professional-development training, 71% say they should identify job opportunities and career paths, and 68% say they should provide career- advancement mentoring.

• Most managers believe employees must take responsibility for their career development: 98% say workers should continually update and improve their skills, 85% say they should identify job opportunities and career paths, and 80% say they should be responsible for building their job-hunting and career-planning skills.

  The results of this study demonstrate why many workers and organizations fail at career management – each believes the other should be responsible. “Managers and employees often point the finger at each other when it comes to taking responsibility for poor career development planning,” says Jay Titus, Senior Director of Academic Services at EdAssist, a leading provider of tuition assistance management programs. “There needs to be morehonest conversation between the two sides about what the end goal should be, as well as what learning tools are available within the organization to get there.”

  (adapted from Quast, L. 2014. Who's in charge of career planning? You. Forbes.com accessed on 22-September 2019).

  Questions

• Do you believe such disagreement exits ?

• What is your experience with companies’ career management?

Answer 1