It is not uncommon for people to work three or four jobs before finally settling down and developing a career. Gone are the days of people working one job during their career. People stay with a company for a period of two to five years before moving on to another challenge.

In today’s world, work is about more than a simple paycheck every two weeks. Employees want balance between their work and their personal lives. This can be done with career growth and development, which is what we will be talking about here.

Develop a Plan

Job candidates must develop a plan for their career or they will find themselves switching jobs quite often. Some candidates enjoy the constant movement because it helps them learn something new and meet new people on a regular basis. But, in order to be successful today, candidates must have a career development plan in place. This should include where they see themselves in five, ten and fifteen years. It should also have attainable goals along the way. Temporary assignments can help support long term career planning because it enables individuals to learn the skills needed to grow in their career and stay focused on their goals.

Look for Career Growth

An excellent way to plan for career growth is to look for these opportunities when applying for jobs within your industry. This can be done when interviewing for a job. Ask the interviewer what type of career paths are available for the position you have applied and how the company values the development of its employees. If the answers are shaky or missing information, it is quite possible that the company does not have a strong development program in place for employees.

Obstacles Must be Removed

In order for a candidate to successfully develop a career, any and all obstacles must be removed. One of the biggest obstacles to career growth is the lack of a development program at the office. Some candidates will need to leave their current employer in order to grow their career. Others might be able to convince their employer to develop a career growth program and will have the luxury of staying with their employer. Or an individual may ask for workforce training opportunities with temporary assignments that turn into more perm ones.

Are Resources Available?

Developing a career takes a lot of research, energy and dedication on the part of the employee. The employee will need a host of resources to develop their career. Are these resources available at the office? One such resource could be a mentor at work. A mentor must be someone who genuinely wants to see others succeed and who has taken the same path that the candidate wants to take in their career. The mentor will meet with the candidate routinely, set timeframes for achieving goals and solve issues along the way.

Career growth and development are very important in the business world today. If a candidate does not have a plan in place, he or she might find themselves moving from one job to the other quite often.