A fundamental human need is learning and growth. If your employer can't show you what jobs would be a natural next step in your career, it means they haven't invested in developing career paths.

Career paths are not difficult to define.

Step 1 - Group jobs by their functional focus. Example: Accounting, Finance, Legal, Sales, Operations, HR, IT, Marketing, Communications, Government Relations, etc.

Step 2 - Define career levels. Many employers have an individual contributor career path and a management or supervisory career path.

Step 3 - Proactively design jobs to ensure that there is a logical path for employees and their managers to use as they develop their skills and capabilities. Of course, make sure these jobs and the work responsibilities being performed are needed by the company.

Step 4: Market price the jobs based on the job descriptions. Assign the pay grades and salary ranges as well as the short and long-term incentive targets.

Step 5: Communicate to your managers and employees what is now available for use to recognize growth and learning aligned to business needs and employee capabilities.

That's it. My team and I do these Job Architecture/Career Path projects all the time. If you have this as an initiative this year, let's talk.

#careerdevelopment #careerpaths #humanresources #compensation #hr #careeropportunities #jobarchitecture #compensation #careerladders #learning #growth