process of Career Planning

Career planning is a process to assist the employees to achieve a better match between their career goals and the opportunities available in the organization. The career planning process generally involves the following steps-

1. Identifying Indiviual Needs and Aspirations- It is necessary to identify and communicate the career goals, aspirations and career anchors of every employee because most indiviuals may not have a clear idea about these. Therefore, an analysis of the employee career anchors, aspirations and goals must be done through objectives assessment. This assessment is based on personnel inventory. Personnel inventory will revel the age, qualifications, experience and aptitude of present employees.
2. Analysing Career Opportunities-Once career aspirations and goals of employees are known, there is a need to analyse various career opportunities available to offer under prevailing career paths in the organization. Career paths can be determined for each position. It is also necessary to analyse career demands in terms of knowledge, skills, experience, aptitude etc.
3. Identifying Congruence and Incongruence- At this stage, a mechanism for identifying congruence between employee career aspirations and organizational career system is developed. This helps to identify specific areas where mismatch or incongruence prevails.
4. Action Plans and Periodic Review- Alternative strategies and action plans for dealing with mis-match are formulated and implemented.