Career Development Program for 30-Year-Old Population Essay

Plan for Developing the Program

At the age of thirty, it might be a challenging task for the individual to decide to change one’s career and face particular risks and concerns regarding a new occupation. However, it is crucial to set the right priorities and focus for the following 20-30 years in order to find the purpose and work that one will enjoy and benefit from at such an age. A career development program (CDP) plays a fundamental role in helping employees to attain their goals and formulating an adequate course on how to best achieve these targets (Litano and Major, 2016) ). Therefore, planning for developing the program entails certain steps needed prior to design an effective career development program:

• Identifying employees’ needs and priorities to implement an adequate initiative and promoting a coherent organizational culture;
• Defining the short-term and long-term goals and preparing milestones for each of them;
• Analyzing employee feedback to build a program that aligns with their objectives;
• Determining and examining the resources and support provided by the organization for an individual to attain the career growth goals;
• Selecting effective career development strategies;
• Creating an organizational chart of each position and define the main roles;
• Designing an action plan for employees.

Program Organizational Structure

The main categories of the program:

• self-awareness;
• selecting the right topic and securing funding;
• providing adequate support;
• collaborating with others;
• managing oneself, including career and demands.

The organizational structure of a career development program implies the critical steps required for effective program implementation and successful professional outcomes for the employees. According to Rubio, Robinson, Gabrilove, and Meagher (2017), a proper career development program encompasses essential elements that are “beneficial for junior investigators” as they expand in one’s professional path (p. 84). Each of the main categories involves the particular educational needs regarding specific academic domains. As such, every element of the organizational structure provides essential constituents that serve as an incorporated effort developed to ensure the success of employees’ career development.

First, it is important to lead towards applying validated tools to identify candidates who are a good fit for a specific position in a particular work environment. Additionally, one should choose a proper topic, resources, and securing funding based on the primary needs and interests of the employees. Second, adequate support is the main catalyst for the successful outcomes of the CDP. Third, coherent collaboration and teamwork are crucial to building multidisciplinary and lead employees to pursue their goals and priorities. When changing career, 30-year-old individuals might feel the pressure of the time, both personally and professionally. Therefore, they must learn promptly to manage their time and investigate the ways to deliver work most efficiently. The CDP can be enhanced by personal development opportunities, including leadership skill development, mentoring, or coaching programs.

Plan for Implementation of the Program

Following the planning and development of the organizational structure of CDP, it is crucial to formulate the steps of effective implementation of the program. As Tang (2018) states, the primary reason behind every career development program implies its accessibility and effectiveness. It is now essential to carry out the plan and track the progress by collecting regular feedback from employees to improve the details and deliver increased levels of effectiveness.

• Identifying employees ready to address the career change in their 30s and face the new challenges;
• Building a talent framework;
• Planning the meeting with employee;
• Personalizing the plan to each individual worker;
• Guiding the employees in certain direction by offering tools and resources, including CD software;
• Incorporating support from Human Resources department and managers;
• Ensuring the ongoing communication, development, evaluation, and plan reassessment.

Administrative and Staffing Needs

Essential staffing needs:

• Equity
• Esteem
• Autonomy
• Security
• Power
• Connection
• Reward
• Resources
• Loyalty
• Self-development
• Vision and Purpose

Administrative needs:

• Communication
• Technology
• Organizational culture
• Planning and problem-solving
• Employee flexibility
• Ensuring organizational support
• Successful holding the business
• Designing the adequate CDPs for each employee to advance their career and expand opportunities.

In case when employee regards such a development program as a significant advancement opportunity, he or she is accountable for selling the organization on the idea. Both personnel and administration have their unique responsibilities and needs, and, thus, collaborative teamwork is a key to successful CDP implementation. One must examine the staffing and administrative needs to incorporate them into the program and make sure that it meets these critical demands and aligns with the organizational objectives (Semwal and Dhyani, 2017). The well-qualified HR personnel selects proper vendors and prevents low-quality development capacities. HR obtains the experience that the employee requires. Hence, well-thought-of staff planning enables efficient department operation. With this said, by identifying and planning the administrative and staffing needs in advance, the organization will most likely achieve the target results faster and more effectively.

Process for Program Evaluation

Evaluation process:

• Identifying the purpose and extent of the evaluation;
• Delineating evaluation questions and design.
• Developing a data collection action plan;
• Gathering and analyzing data;
• Written report of findings;
• Applying the results for program reinforcement.

Assessing programs success:

• Comparing the initial skills and their development throughout the CDP;
• Examining changes in employee behavior;
• Allocate new resources;
• Recording the level of success in accomplished objectives;
• Fulfilling the accountability needs;
• Incorporating the information from different evaluations to anticipate the further effects of such programs.

The study conducted by Danhauer, Tooze, Barrett, Blalock, Shively, Voytko, and Crandall (2019) serves as a crucial asset in developing the CDP and investigating the evaluation models for such programs. More specifically, it is useful to gather the data from surveys before and after implementing a program in order to measure work-related competencies and knowledge, employee self-esteem, and personal views of the current work environment. Therefore, one can evaluate the overall influence of the career development program and its applicability for a successful career change. Summing up, the career development program is a valuable asset in one’s professional path to fully exploit the potential and work-oriented skills, particularly during the challenging switch of occupation for 30-year-old individuals.

References

Danhauer, S. C., Tooze, J. A., Barrett, N. A., Blalock, J. S., Shively, C. A., Voytko, M. L., & Crandall, S. J. (2019). Development of an innovative career development program for early-career women faculty. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 8, 216495611986298. Web.

Litano, M. L., & Major, D. A. (2016). Facilitating a whole-life approach to career development. Journal of Career Development, 43(1), 52–65. Web.

Rubio, D., Robinson, G., Gabrilove, J., & Meagher, E. (2017). Creating effective career development programs. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 1(2), 83–87. Web.

Semwal, M., & Dhyani, A. (2017). Impact of employees training and career development on their engagement: A study using OCM and UWES measurement scales. NICE Journal of Business, 12(1), 86–101.

Tang, M. (2018). Career development and counseling: Theory and practice in a multicultural world. SAGE Publications.