Welcome
to the second edition of Career Connections - the bi-monthly e-newsletter of the Career Development Association of Australia. For those who are receiving this for the first time, we hope you find it of value in developing the careers of your staff and clients. CDAA partners with organizations to create career development systems, resources, and training interventions, and to raise awareness among our members and their clients about the career opportunities available in your organization or industry. As Australia’s largest association of career professionals we can provide access to key career influencers in a diversity of fields. I would be delighted to speak with you about how we can work together.
Carole Brown, FCDAA
National President
Why Career Development Matters
Career development is the lifelong process of managing learning and work. The quality of this process significantly determines the nature and quality of individuals’ lives: the kind of people they become, the sense of purpose they have, the income at their disposal. It also determines the social and economic contribution they make to their employer and communities of which they are part. Career decisions are becoming more complex and central in people's lives as workplaces become increasingly fluid and constantly exposed to change. Traditional career concepts of ordered progression are no longer valid with both employees and employers less willing to make long-term commitments.
Individuals who want to maintain their employability have to be willing to regularly learn new skills and make a series of choices throughout their lives about learning and work. Hence careers are now increasingly seen not as being ‘chosen’ but as being constructed. People with career management skills are able to move confidently in and out of good jobs, training and education to suit their family commitments and their talents and needs. Organisations that promote a strong career development culture benefit from higher employee satisfaction, enhanced retention and increased productivity. This is also a key factor in attracting quality staff.
Tips from CDAA members to assist your career management programs
Ensuring your training dollars are well spent, by Wanda Hayes, Career Spa, PCDAA, wanda@careerspa.com.au, Mobile: 0412 317 482
A client told me recently that her organisation had slashed its training funding earlier this year, in response to increased pressure on its overall budget. She believes the "savings" achieved through this strategy are literally a false economy. Staff morale was falling rapidly, as was staff commitment to the organisation. Although no formal measures had yet been taken, it's likely that productivity was also falling as a result.
When times are tough, you need your people to be 100% on side: totally committed to achieving your organisation's business and strategic outcomes. Providing opportunities for career development through formal and informal learning is a relatively cost effective way to achieve this, provided your training dollars are carefully allocated. So what can you do to ensure a return on investment for your training dollar?
Here's three quick tips to help you rethink your spending on learning and development.
- Engage your staff regularly in open conversations about your business and strategic goals Understanding your goals will help your staff understand how they fit into the bigger picture, as well as motivating them to contribute. Encourage your staff to identify learning needs that are aligned to and contribute to the achievement of your goals as well as their own. In this way, you can ensure the training they request will be directed towards better outcomes for your business as well as providing opportunities for them to develop their own careers.
- Be creative with regard to how you and your staff think about learning.
Sometimes (often!) the best learning occurs on the job, rather than in a classroom. Instead of using all your training budget to send people on courses, use some of it to create structured and planned opportunities for your staff to shadow each other, coach and/or mentor each other, participate in projects in different work areas, or rotate through new roles. You will improve their awareness of your overall business and increase their skills base, while at the same time building a more flexible workforce.
- Be clear about the capabilities you require.
Having a clear capability framework for your staff gives them an unambiguous frame of reference for their career development planning. Specify simple and straight-forward capability expectations for every role in the organisation, and make the effort to keep these up to date as roles and needs change. Applying such a framework consistently can help you manage your staff's expectations regarding learning and development, as well as providing a means to ensure that all training funding is properly targeted.
Join us at the CDAA National Conference, April 2010: Greening Career Development
 You are invited to participate in Australia’s premier national career development conference to be held in April 2010 in Adelaide. Under the highly relevant and topical theme of Greening Career Development, the conference will bring together over 500 delegates and showcase the latest developments in careers practice, research and policy. Leading Australian and international practitioners will lead discussions and challenge participants to consider the new demands and opportunities for students, career changers and organisations looking to develop their workforce capacity in the context of major environmental and economic change. Find out how you can be involved at: www.onqconferences.com.au/pages/CDAA2010.php
Membership of CDAA
CDAA has established Affiliate Membership to assist in partnering with businesses and organisations that are committed to career development. This increasingly popular membership is an economical means for organizations to gain access to the growing area of career development resources and to be actively involved in the sector. Affiliate membership also provides discounted professional and associate membership fees to individuals.
Details about Affiliate membership of CDAA can be found at: www.cdaa.org.au/content/employer-partners
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