Doing HR the WRITE way!

Even the most shriveled faces with a cagey conscience will be highly generous with one thing - their advice. No matter how jaded the receiver turns after being subject to hours of trite insights into how best to ward off an upcoming storm of events, people continue to offer their advices. In a highly wretched present world which could only evolve into a dystopian abode going forward, it is imperative that we seek the right people when it comes to something as important as our lives.

I remember distinctly, for it's only been a couple of years, when I passed out of my college I had two job offers with me; I chose the one which promised me a career and not just a job. I did this precisely for the reason that one needs guidance and has to be steered in the right direction by people who have been through the thick and thin of this journey which I was about to begin, and I was being offered this by only one of the organizations.  To keep it simple, I had a career plan and I chose the path where I was assured of wise co-passengers, people who could advise me when I turned astray. I understood that I might fall over, lose my way but somehow being sure of guidance no matter what it may be, will give me hope.

We all have certain hopes and aspirations when we enter the hallowed territories of corporate world, but the sheen of this world captivates us and most of the times we end up losing our way in the middle. We deviate from our courses, we digress from our career plans and eventually despite a pretty lucid and concrete career plan we are left stranded.

It's not enough to have a brief idea of your future path to succeed, in order to reap the benefits of a thoughtful, well developed career plan it's quintessential to have an employer who supports you for a marathon called life and not just a sprint whose starting and finishing points lie within the premises of the organization you work in. We need people who help us, the ones who can show us the light.

           

It all starts at an individual level with you charting a course for yourself but it stays incomplete without the vision of a mentor who will help you sail through.

 The career path encompasses both the employee's coveted destination and the effort, experience, and development he or she will need to make progress on the route. A career path is a great indicator to an employee, it is an instrument for self awareness and enables constant checks on your career goals and milestones. Since the aforementioned process requires a lot of introspection and true evaluation of one's self, there arises a need for someone who can help you understand you and allow your inner calling to come out and take shape of a career path. The Human Resources people are the experts in people management and hence they are the ideal people who can help one to undertake the given task.

The HR people recognize that an organization which lets its employees create a career path would not only prolong its stint with its new employees but would also retain its key employees as the employees see an opportunity and future in that organization. It is one of the primary tasks of the HR department to build career paths for the whole organization and ensure that all departments present in the firm act like cogs in one another's wheels. It is also the role of the HR to help the human resources build a strong career path for themselves and hence they are one of the prime contributors in making employees actuate their long term goals.

                       

The career path of every individual could be broken down into internal and external parts, where the internal path concerns the desires and goals of the individual which align with the organization's objectives and the external path which concerns mostly with the bigger picture of an employee's career. By ensuring this, one not only proves his allegiance towards his employer and justifies his association with him but also assures oneself of being on the right track for achieving one's distant goals.

This is where again the HR department comes into the picture. With a lot of prior experience in personnel management and counseling, the HR people ensure that you are advised straight from the horse's mouth. They can even provision or assign a counselor and mentor at times so as to help employees maintain a distinction between their immediate and long term goals. The counselor could guide the personnel on his current job requirement, whereas the mentor would be someone with whom the employee can discuss his long term goals and desires even though they do not align with the organization in the long run.

Organizations can also connect career paths to employee development by identifying key experiences that employees should acquire as they move along the career path. Developmental opportunities can be provided in the form of trainings, international exposure etc which again fall under the purview of the HR department. These skills can later be developed into competencies that are important for the next stage of the employee's career.

This is how the HR can help one in building a career path for oneself and then later on executing it in the right manner by being present at the forming, norming and performing stage. They prepare you for tomorrow.

In today's diverse, global, and technological world, careers can no longer be perceived as strictly straight line direct movement from one point to another like an airplane but they are more like trekking through a hilly terrain where you climb your way up for a while, halt if need be, move over to a different path and then continue on. At times when you've lost your way you might need a guide who will help you find your passage to your destination. Under the current scenario, there's no better an option other than the HR for the role of the guide.