Career development vs Career path - what's the difference & why should you care?

It will be the Darwin’s not the Einstein’s that win the day.. (apologies for the references to Charles Darwin, I went on a Wikipedia escapade earlier this week)

There was once a time not that long ago where traditional education taught you a set of skills that allowed you to make a career out of.

You worked the same skills for 20 to 30 years, gained experience and knowledge in that particular role in that particular  industry. If you were lucky and you hung tight long enough without being involved in an office scandal you may have  moved up the ladder towards more pay and in most cases more responsibility.

Is this where you really saw yourself when started this journey?

Career paths were linear. Moving up in your career was like climbing a pre designed ladder travelled by many before you.

Only one way up and many ways to travel down.

If you chose to get off your ladder and change careers, there was no simply jumping onto the next ladder you had to all the way down and a start from the bottom.

Technology and how we interact and use it is now dictating so many aspects of our lives, none more so than the work environment and our careers. The idea of how a career path looks and is to be travelled has changed both for the employer and employee.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence has a major impact now and will continue to do so at an increasing rate on job roles within an organisation. This will disrupt pre existing career development paths and processes and will force us to adapt quickly in order to progress or even survive (you see this is where Darwin comes into it).

The working scenario of business is changing so quickly that just like our ways of learning our conventional ways to career progression and growth are also now outdated.

Linear career paths will become more and more obsolete and will in some industries become extinct, because the skill sets of which were learned 12 months ago are already replaced for the requirement of the new and evolved.

The control and stability of the career ladder is gone and you are now a Galapagos Iguana sliding down a smooth rock into the crashing ocean. (Ok I’ll ease up on the Darwin for a bit)

Employers have to change how they support employees in acquiring new knowledge and skill sets.

The pace of transformation brought by technology is rapid and with it, the skills required must also be acquired at the same rate. One approach of handling this situation is a career development evaluation through skills learned in the workplace.

Disruptions to business and roles will continue while the demand for a skilled and re-skilled workforce will also increase. This situation of which is beyond our control demands a new approach to career development and skill-building.

Here are some ideas for how to start building a new approach:

Creating Experience

Previously, to learn new skills we would have to move to another role or understudy a superior by taking on additional responsibilities. This has proven to not be efficient and often the shift and additional responsibilities can create fatigue.

A new approach is a term known as “Creating experience”. Creating experience means allowing employees on a controlled temporary or part-time basis to learn a new technical skill.

If an employee wants to learn skills in data science, creating an apprenticeship program where employees can go and spend one day or a week doing and learning this new skill set, there is clear benefit here for the employer and employee.

Another method of creating experience is rotation of the workforce

This can be from one project to another or simply a rotation of tasks within a project, this will allow exposure to new skills and knowledge.

Giving employees access to see available career development opportunities within the organisation, this will greatly assist a company in retaining its staff and also provide a feeling of value to employees.

Training Programs

Continued training is essential, but the out-of-date classroom approach must evolve to a on-demand video and online resources. It's no secret we turn to online sources to learn these days, its fast, easy and affordable (if not free). We must take advantage of this platform and cater education to be delivered this way.

Online can cater to all learning style whether it be visual, audible or practice learning.  Imagine one-day super focused courses that are targeted for the industry right then and there, people will have skills that are in demand that it will result in mercenary type roles hired for whatever and whenever needed.

The support of a coach can not be understated to guide and encourage a person and to ensure success. We all need to be accountable for progress and development and sometimes family, friends and are peers is not quite enough to push us through barriers.

Career development in the future will become the survival of the most adaptable not the smartest (Einsteins), be agile and shift with change.

Identify and act, don’t  identify and watch as you are let behind. Workers of the future will need to be highly adaptable and may have to manage three or more different roles at a time.

The idea of a “job for life” will become truly extinct.

There will be continuously evolving areas of work requiring new skills to both learn and manage. Not by 2050 but now people will continually need to update their skills for their current jobs.

Companies won’t think in terms of employees, they will think in terms of specialists. Who do I need? How long do I need them for?

Future work will be focused on complex decisions, creativity, leadership, and high degrees of self-management.

There will be those that survive in the future of work and those that do not. This is the future of work, adapt and be part of it or sit back and read about it as it leaves you behind.

Ready to learn how to create an agile career that can pivot so you can future-proof yourself whilst striving in the fast changing world of work? Join us in the next intake of the AGILE CAREER COURSE >> Live delivery over 5-weeks. For more information, hop over to www.impaccct.com/agilecareercourse