career development- definitions, characteristics, objectives, theories of career development, importance of career development, principles of career development, stages of career development, factors affecting career development,

1. CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Definitions, Characteristics, Objectives, Importance, Principles, Theories, Stages, Factors
influencing CD
Prepared by:
MOHAMED HUDAIF T
Dept of Social Work
Pondicherry university

2. • Career development is the interaction of psychological,
sociological, economical, physical and chance factors that shape
sequence of jobs, occupations/profession or career that a person
may engage in throughout a lifetime.
• It involves a person’s past, present, and future works roles.
• it is linked with a person’s family life, self-concept, and all aspect
of the person’s environmental and cultural condition.
• Career development is an ongoing and formalized effort that
focuses on developing enriched and more capable employees.
Career Development

3. Definition:
"Career development is a process in which personnel experience,
concept and publicly observable aspect of career interact to
precipitate each successive stage of occupational statuses".
- Mansfield

4. "Career development is a process of planning the series of
possible jobs one may hold in an organization over time and
development strategies designed to provide necessary job skills
the opportunities arise".
- Middlemist, Hill and Greer

5. “Career development is an ongoing process that occurs over the
life span; includes home, school, and community
- Pietrofesa and Spleta

6. “career development is self-development over the life span
through the integration of the roles, settings, and events of a
person’s life”.
- Gysbers and Moore

7. Characteristics of CD
• It is an ongoing process,
• It develops and shares transferability of skills and competencies,
• It aligns individual goals with organizational goals for increased
satisfaction of employees,
• It helps individual to develops skills and competencies required
to fulfil present and future leadership roles within an
organization ,
• It strengthen professional work culture in the organization.

8. Objectives of CD
 To understand career development from a developmental and
multicultural perspective
 To devise intervention strategies for developing, engaging,
rewarding and retaining talented personnel
 To be able to discuss and apply models of career counselling
that is appropriate for use in an organization

9.  To understand the use of assessment procedures in career
development intervention
 To understand how to use technology in career development
intervention
 To facilitate understanding of personal, social, economic, and
other factors related to the world of work for employees
throughout their organizational lifespan

10.  To plan, design, and implement life-long career development
programmes
 To locate, identify, evaluate and disseminate career and
educational information to employees, in line with
organizational needs and opportunities
 To evaluate the career development programme and use the
results to effect organizational and employee improvements.

11.  To identify developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive
strategies for addressing the career development needs of
employees

12. Importance of CD
• It helps in developing skills and competencies of employees for
initiating, expanding and managing an organization effectively
with focus on real life business situations and business practices.
• It develop in developing entrepreneurship spirit and potential
amongst the employees in order to make them successful
innovators.
• To facilitate the acquisition of requisite skills, knowledge and
competencies for organizational excellence.

13. • To develop and create a pool of talented people to successfully
execute the business strategies of the organization.
• To devise and implement a talent management system in the
organization
• To facilitate succession planning and development to ensure
long-term growth and success of the organization.

14. Principles of CD
• Dissemination of current information about the organization and
future trends helps employees create more realistic career
development goals;
• Focus on skill development by providing learning opportunities;
• Opportunities for promotion and/ or lateral moves contribute to
the employee’s career satisfaction;

15. • A greater sense of responsibility for managing one’s own career
contributes to self-confidence;
• Career planning and development clarifies the match between
organizational and individual employee goals;
• Its cost-effective to use current employee talent to provide
career development opportunities within the organization;

16. • Career development increases employee motivation, equality
and productivity;
• Organizational attention to career development helps to attract
top professionals and retain valued employees;
• Supporting career development and growth of employees is
the founding philosophy of human resources development

17. Theories of CD
Theories of CD
Structural theory
Trait and factor theory
Vocational personalities
and environment theory
Socioeconomic theory
Developmental theory
Super’s theory
Social learning theory
Decision making theory
Cognitive theory

18. Structural theory
The structural theory focus on individual
characteristics and occupational tasks.
1) Traits and Factor theory
2) Vocational personalities and Environment
theory
3) Socioeconomic theory

19. Trait and Factor theory
The theory began with the persons who
proposed that a choice of a vocation depended
up on an accurate knowledge of self, thorough
knowledge of job specification, and the ability to
make a proper march between the two.

20. There are 3 broad factors in this theory.
• Clear understanding of self, aptitude, abilities, interests,
ambitions, resources and limitations.
• Thorough knowledge of the requirement and conditions of
success, advantages and disadvantages, compensation,
opportunities, and prospects in different line of work
• True reasoning on the relations of these two groups of acts.

21. Major assumptions:-
• Individuals and job traits can be matched
• Those close matches are positively correlated with
job success and satisfaction.

22. Vocational Personalities and Environment Theory
 The theory propounded by John Holland
 According to the profounder, people can function and
develop best and find job satisfaction in work environments
that are compatible with their personalities.
Objectives of the theory:
• To organize the voluminous data about people in different
jobs and the data about different work environment
• To suggest how people make career choices
• To explain how job satisfaction and vocational achievement
occur.

23. The theory says that:
People tend to choose a career that is reflects their
personality. Because people tend to be attracted to certain
jobs, the environment then reflects the personality of the
person.
The theory emphasize on the accuracy of the self knowledge and
career information necessary for career decision-making.

24. Types of personality and work environment
1. Realistic
2. Investigative
3. Artistic
4. Social
5. Enterprising
6. conventional
Here, closer the match between personality and job, the greater
will be the satisfaction.

25. Socioeconomic theory
 The theory gives detailed explanation and description of how
one’s culture, family background, social and economic
conditions and other factors outside an individual’s control
strongly influence one’s identity, values, and overall human
and career development.
 It also known as chance theory and accident theory.
 Through this theory, the employee can choose the best
opportunity and career development path

26. Development theories
The development theories are focus on human development across
life span.
Theories:-
• Super’s theory
• Social learning theory
• Decision-making theory
• Cognitive theory

27. Super’s theory
• The theory propounded by Donald Super.
• The theory speaks about the occupational maturity.
• People seeks career satisfaction through work role in which they
can express themselves and implement and develop their self-
concept.
• Career maturity is manifested in the successful accomplishment
of age and stage developmental tasks across the life span.
• Self-concept is an underlying factor in this theory.
• Self-concept develops through physical and mental growth,
observation of work, identification with co-workers, general
environment, and general experiences.

28. Stage Age Characteristics
Growth Birth – 14
Form self concept, develop capacity, attitudes, interests, and needs,
form a general understanding of the world of work.
Exploratory 15 – 24
“Try out” through classes, work experience, hobbies. Collect relevant
information. Tentative choice and related skill development.
Establishment 25 – 44 Entry skill building and stabilization through work experiences
Maintenance 45 – 64 Continual adjustment process to improve position.
Decline 65+ Reduced output, prepare for retirement.
Super’s contribution is the formalization of stages and
developmental tasks over the life span

29. Social learning theory
• The theory developed by Krumboltz.
• The theory says that people choose their career based on
what they have learned from the society.
• There will be certain behaviours as models and motivating
factors.
• He developed this theory based on social learning, or
environmental conditions and events, genetic influence
and experiences.

30. Decision-making theories
• Some of the theories hypothesize that there are critical points
in people’s lives when choices are made that greatly influence
their career development. Such as educational choices, entry
level job positions, changing jobs.
• Other theories concerned with ongoing choices across the life
span.
• The decision made are influenced by person’s awareness of the
choices that are available to him and his knowledge of how to
evaluate them.

31. Cognitive theories
• Cognitive theories suggest ways to help clients build or refine a
hierarchy of thinking skills and decision making skills that
influence career development.
• The theories build around how individuals process, integrate
and react to information.
• The way in which individuals process information are
determined by their cognitive structure.

32. Stages of CD
Stage 1 - ASSESSMENT:
In this stage, you are getting ready for your life’s work. This stage is
characterized by unawareness, in that you are not sure what your
values, strengths, and weaknesses are. You start to feel as though you
want to know more about yourself and make a conscious effort to get
in touch with who you really are.
Key characteristics:
• Taking assessment instruments
• Working with a career counsellor or career coach

33. Stage 2 – Investigation:
Here you are researching what work exists in the world. This stage
is characterized by feelings of confusion, in that you are not sure
what career options exist for you. You may feel overwhelmed with
all of the jobs and opportunities that exist as you begin the
process of researching the modern world of work. But if you
approach this stage with a positive frame of mind, you will find
that you will learn about many possibilities you may have never
considered.

34. Key characteristics:
• Researching the world of work
• Conducting informational interviews with people in your
chosen field

35. Stage 3 – Preparation:
In this stage, you are still getting ready to do your life’s work. This
stage is characterized by feelings of excitement, as you think of
how wonderful it will be to perform meaningful work. However,
there is still much work to be done, and to be successful, you
have to prepare.
Key characteristics:
• Gaining knowledge and experience
• Setting goals and adopting a success-oriented mind-set

36. Stage 4 – Commitment:
In this stage, you will feel confident that you have figured out what
you are meant to do. Sometimes people have known all along
what they were meant to do but could not commit to the process
of making it happen, for whatever reason. At this stage, more than
ever, you must focus your energy and keep your eye on the target.
Key characteristics:
• Conducting a job search
• Negotiating and accepting a job offer

37. Stage 5 – Retention:
Here, you will feel comfortable in your career field, as you will now
have figured out how things work in your industry. You will want to
remain committed to your career by continually updating your skill
set and staying current with industry standards.
Key characteristics:
• Providing first-class customer-service skills
• Building a professional network

38. Stage 6 – Transition:
This stage is characterized by feelings of discomfort in that you
are unsure of what you will be doing next (and/or if you will be
happy). In this stage, you will learn to make conscious changes in
your career direction.
Key characteristics:
• Making career changes
• Developing resiliency

39. Factors Influencing CD
• Personal Characteristics:
When the person in the process of choosing a career, he
should do a thorough self assessment. It will allow him
to learn what his personality type, interests, aptitudes and
work-related values are. These traits, taken in combination, play
a major role in career development and will help him to find
careers, as well as workplaces, that are suitable for him.

40. • Socio-Economic Factors:
Socio-economic factors can be a barrier to career
development. They can significantly influence the person’s
ability to pursue a career that is otherwise a good match for
him. For example, the person’s financial situation may
keep him from getting the necessary
there are ways of overcoming barriers such as limited financial
resources, namely student loans, financial aid and scholarships.

41. • Physical and Mental Abilities:
Some persons are better suited to some careers than others
due to their physical and mental abilities, and limitations. For
example, a person may want to become a doctor but
the intellectual ability to get into medical school. He should,
if possible, find a related occupation that makes the best use
his strengths while accommodating his limitations.

42. • Chance Factors:
Chance factors are life events over which the person has
little or no control. They can influence what careers he can
choose and how he progress in them. An example would
be an individual not being able to advance in his career
because he is a caregiver for a relative.

43. THANK YOU…