Career development

Overview
A career is more than a set of skills and functions -- it's a way of life. A career provides much of your physical and social environment and leads you to strengthen certain individual traits. Career development is the process of using your sharpening skills and changing interests to expand your current job potential.
The number of Americans working or looking for work is projected to reach 155 million by 2008, an increase of 17 million workers from 1998. A young person graduating from college today can expect to have four different jobs within each career path. From 1998 to 2008, the 10 fastest growing occupations are expected to include:

computer engineers
computer support specialists
systems analysts
database administrators
desktop publishing specialists
paralegals and legal assistants
personal care and home health aides
medical assistants
social and human service assistants
physician assistants

Gender differences in career development
For men, the degree of psychological separation from their parents is often a predictor of career success. For women, the reverse is often true. The quality of attachment to their parents (particularly their mothers) is often a stronger predictor of career success. Many young women tend to underestimate their abilities and choose careers for themselves that underutilize their abilities. Over time, many women tend to accept more traditional and less prestigious careers than they aspired to in high school or college.
Men tend to use mentoring and networking in their career development more heavily than women. Women tend to use formal merit-based procedures and a good track record to advance their careers. Women tend to value family roles and responsibilities over career development more than men. Men tend to receive more assignments that call for geographical relocation or overseas travel than women. Often due to family considerations, women tend to be less geographically mobile than men.

Men often become self-sufficient in their work responsibilities and then move toward developing healthy workplace relationships with others. Women tend to develop self-sufficiency within the context of close relationships. Women tend to face more difficulties with being stereotyped and not fitting into the workplace culture than men. As they advance to higher executive levels, women tend to experience increasingly greater difficulties with fitting into the workplace culture and being excluded from informal networks.


Barriers to career development
Multiple demands on your time and a fear of change or failing may impede your career development. Career goals may also be hindered by a reluctance to open your mind to learning and new possibilities or to give up what you already have. You may be uncertain about the available or feasible opportunities within your present organization. Or, you may be locked into a given geographic location for any number of reasons, such as family, friends, parents, children or schools. A lack of knowledge about yourself, lack of planning and personal goal setting, or lack of knowledge and confidence on how to develop your career can all impact your ability to make a healthy career transition.

Characteristics
Career development can have a physical effect on your health. You may notice stress-related physical complaints, such as fatigue or changes in sleeping or eating patterns. Psychologically, you may enjoy the anticipation of something new. You may also procrastinate or feel angry or afraid. Uncertainty, ambivalence and a generalized sense of dissatisfaction may occur. Your work performance may improve or deteriorate. You may have an increased awareness of or interest in other careers.
Sometimes, health factors related to career development can be more than you're able to handle at the time. Symptoms such as decreased energy, anxiety, depression, inability to concentrate and hopelessness may warrant further evaluation by a health care professional.

As with all physical symptoms, consult your medical doctor to rule out a medical condition. If these or any other symptoms cause you distress that doesn't seem to improve, seek additional help and support from a mental health care professional.


Coping strategies
To assess your career, consider your current and future career goals. Develop an ultimate goal, and then think backward. For example: If I would like to eventually do D, I will first have to accomplish C. In order to get C, I will have to prepare with B. To qualify for B, I must satisfy A. Also rank order your values, such as salary, challenge, autonomy, prestige, accomplishment, power, problem-solving, creating or building. Develop a flexible career plan that addresses questions such as:
Where do I want to go?
What do I need to do now?
What long-term planning do I need to do?
What contingency plans should I have if I lose my current job unexpectedly?
Keep in mind your social support system and any barriers you may have to career development and exploration. Economic resources, job history, and current and past work concerns may also play a role. Then, accept responsibility for your professional development and career direction. Think of education and training as an ongoing process. Work in teams and diverse groups as much as possible to help expand your skills and learn from others. Think project rather than job to help reframe your responsibilities in a goal-oriented manner.

Developmental job assignments -- high-profile job assignments that help advance you to the "next level" in your career -- can also be beneficial. For example, you may offer innovative solutions for an operational problem, identify specific ways to save the company money or successfully implement a new project.

Your ability to be mobile can also be beneficial. Geographic mobility is your willingness and ability to relocate. Functional mobility is becoming more of a generalist by developing a wider breadth of skills. Interorganizational mobility involves developing skills that are transferable from one organization or setting to another.

If you choose to look for a new career, you may want to brush up on your communication skills and polish your resume. Recognize and practice naming your transferable skills. Networking -- developing formal and informal networks of people both inside and outside your organization -- is another effective method of career development. Mentoring or being paired with someone more skilled in your field may help you with networking as well as on-the-job training. It's also important to learn how to effectively manage frustration, rejection and discouragement.

Depending on the circumstances, you may want to enlist the help of a career professional. Career development or assessment experts primarily focus on helping clients determine what they want to do with their careers. Job search experts, on the other hand, typically help clients with the job search process. Some job search experts follow a traditional routine, such as helping you sharpen your resume and interviewing skills. Others adhere to a more creative process, such as challenging you to identify the skills you want to use, where you want to use them, and how you would find a job that requires those skills.