Poll
Question:
Well?
Option 1: Of course! Completely updated and looking good. Doesn't everyone?
Option 2: I do, but it's seriously in need of updating.
Option 3: I know that should, but no, I don't.
Option 4: No need. My career will get where it's going all on its own.
Option 5: A what?
Option 6: I have a plan, but it doesn't involve any HR bull-puckey
I had a very lengthy and instructional conversation with my sister last night. One of the big topics of conversation was on creating a development plan for my career. I had never heard of such a thing, nor did I really understand how it could help when my "career" is mostly non-existent. After a bit of prodding from my sister, I finally began to get what she was talking about. She sent me a few examples and a blank one to work on my own, with the intention of bringing it in to my three-month evaluation at my current position.
For those who don't know what they are: What is a professional development plan? (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-professional-development-plan.htm)
My sister - who is a Director in charge of 275 people - is required to make sure that every one of her people have one of these in their personnel file that is updated at least yearly. That includes the 35 people in her India group. As I said, I'd never heard of it, but I can certainly see the appeal. What are your opinions on this?
FFS, Meri, I have a bad enough day at work as it is. I did not need that vomit on my keyboard.
Not anymore.
Forcing employees to do stuff like this keeps HR people in gainful employment. :D
Quote from: Malthus on September 20, 2012, 03:05:15 PM
Forcing employees to do stuff like this keeps HR people in gainful employment. :D
Does increase the number of workplace shooting sprees though.
Quote from: DGuller on September 20, 2012, 03:02:16 PM
FFS, Meri, I have a bad enough day at work as it is. I did not need that vomit on my keyboard.
:huh: :unsure:
What did I do?
You mentioned "development plan". :x Sorry, gotta go, will elaborate later.
I have one but it's on the back burner while I fight through a backlog of projects. Where my wife works a "development plan" is used for misbehaving or under-performing employees.
Everybody needs to have a plan for their career, if they want to get ahead. Meri, the fact that you and I didn't is probably a big part of why neither of us is where we want to be. I know that it is for me, anyway (though the fact that I still haven't quite figured out where I want to be is another big factor--after all, it's hard to plan how to get to your destination if you don't know what your destination is).
OTOH, an employer forcing people to have a formal, written plan--well, I think Malthus isn't far off the mark there. Especially considering that if people are being honest about it, most of them would include changing employers in that plan at some point.
Yes. Get through the day.
No, I am not a local authority or a blighted inner-city borough in need of regeneration.
Of course not.
I just have my own personal 1-page life timeline that maps out my life for the next 50 years.
A. Go to Stanford
B. Work in Pharma
...
Z. Take take over the world
A wha?
Fuck no.
Never needed such shit. I was winging it from 1996 on anyways.
My life failed so I'm mostly just muddling through.
I careen from one crisis to another, like a carelessly piloted pleasure yacht adrift on the ocean of Life.
It's a pretty good fucking plan, all told.
Career wise - yes. Spiritually - yes. Personal life - no.
Quote from: Jaron on September 20, 2012, 07:39:30 PM
Career wise - yes. Spiritually - yes. Personal life - no.
So how long have you been a Mormon ?
:shutup:
Quote from: Scipio on September 20, 2012, 07:27:02 PM
I careen from one crisis to another, like a carelessly piloted pleasure yacht adrift on the ocean of Life.
It's a pretty good fucking plan, all told.
Not good enough people voting for county judge.
Quote from: garbon on September 20, 2012, 04:53:55 PM
A. Go to Stanford
B. Work in Pharma
...
Z. Take take over the world
?????
PROFIT
My goal is to retire early. Therefore my development plan is actually my financial plan.
Quote from: Monoriu on September 20, 2012, 08:37:19 PM
My goal is to retire early. Therefore my development plan is actually my financial plan.
When? My goal is be able to semi-retire at age 35.
Quote from: Tyr on September 20, 2012, 07:19:57 PM
My life failed so I'm mostly just muddling through.
Get a grip Tyr, FFS, so you are a nobody..........part of the 99.9998765% then ;)
Quote from: Phillip V on September 20, 2012, 08:44:43 PM
Quote from: Monoriu on September 20, 2012, 08:37:19 PM
My goal is to retire early. Therefore my development plan is actually my financial plan.
When? My goal is be able to semi-retire at age 35.
Me too. I better get a job soon. I'm 31.
Who changed my poll?? :mad:
Quote from: DGuller on September 20, 2012, 03:18:44 PM
You mentioned "development plan". :x Sorry, gotta go, will elaborate later.
:hmm:
Quote from: dps on September 20, 2012, 03:21:07 PM
Everybody needs to have a plan for their career, if they want to get ahead. Meri, the fact that you and I didn't is probably a big part of why neither of us is where we want to be. I know that it is for me, anyway (though the fact that I still haven't quite figured out where I want to be is another big factor--after all, it's hard to plan how to get to your destination if you don't know what your destination is).
Absolutely agree. My sister has given me some great suggestions on how to build on even without a definitely solid end-game.
QuoteOTOH, an employer forcing people to have a formal, written plan--well, I think Malthus isn't far off the mark there. Especially considering that if people are being honest about it, most of them would include changing employers in that plan at some point.
The plans that my sister is talking about actually almost cross the line into Personal Dev Plan from Professional Dev Plan. Basically, it's "figure out what you want to do with your career and how to get there". Then, the manager is supposed to check over it and see how the company can help the individual succeed while staying in the company. (It's all about employee retention.) If someone wants to move out of Customer Service and into IT, the manager is tasked with helping the employee get there. My sister's bonus is actually tied partially to retention of her teams.
I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line. In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.
Quote from: DGuller on September 20, 2012, 09:55:48 PM
I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line. In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.
Why?
Quote from: merithyn on September 20, 2012, 09:56:35 PM
Quote from: DGuller on September 20, 2012, 09:55:48 PM
I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line. In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.
Why?
Because they're one of those classic generic forms that fit virtually no one.
My plan is/was to get a nice government job at State, USAID, or similar.
Instead I'm wrapping up my third year teaching English in Asia and probably going to start my fourth, though at least I'm in a leadership role now.
If I'm lucky, I'll get a grad school scholarship and finally get out of teaching in fall 2013.
Quote from: dps on September 20, 2012, 03:21:07 PM
Everybody needs to have a plan for their career, if they want to get ahead. Meri, the fact that you and I didn't is probably a big part of why neither of us is where we want to be. I know that it is for me, anyway (though the fact that I still haven't quite figured out where I want to be is another big factor--after all, it's hard to plan how to get to your destination if you don't know what your destination is).
It's the process that is most important, not necessarily that the milestones and endpoints in the plan perfectly happen.
The key is to know who you are and to have productive plans and goals. It will all change along the way, but that should be because you are doing productive activities that lead you to good people and opportunities that you weren't aware of before.
Do not hold yourself back with silly ideas like "finding my passion" and "this specific job is who I am".
Well said, Phil.
It's interesting. I was seriously bummed about my job until I had that talk with my sister. Now, I have an agenda when I go in. It makes a huge difference in how I view my work, and my place in the company. Even if I only end up here through the end of June, I have every intention of making a positive contribution so that I can use that to get a better job next time.
Christ, I sound like an advertisement for HR! I just know that I need to feel like what I do makes a difference, and having some goals at all is one way to help me get there.
Quote from: merithyn on September 20, 2012, 09:55:14 PM
The plans that my sister is talking about actually almost cross the line into Personal Dev Plan from Professional Dev Plan. Basically, it's "figure out what you want to do with your career and how to get there". Then, the manager is supposed to check over it and see how the company can help the individual succeed while staying in the company. (It's all about employee retention.) If someone wants to move out of Customer Service and into IT, the manager is tasked with helping the employee get there. My sister's bonus is actually tied partially to retention of her teams.
My problem is that at this point, if I actually had a plan, it would be something along the lines of, "Save up enough money to take enough college classes to get a teaching certificate, then get a teaching job so I could have a decent income AND summers off". Somehow, I don't think that my employer would have a lot of incentive to help me reach that goal.
Lolololololno.
I'll be in the same position as Max in 2 years, minus the wife and stepkids and living in a foreign land which used units of measurement I found incomprehensible.
It used to form part of my annual review. With a combination of people not staying long at any company and an ongoing pay freeze, annual reviews, and indeed having any sort of career plan, fell into disuse. They were generally a miserable review of your shortcomings over your plan from last year, highlighting where you had failed to exceeded expectation so could languish in the same role and salary band. Skill gaps were intended to identify training requirements that were never met, other than "learn from your peers." Now my career plan is "Don't get fired; get a better paying job."
Quote from: DGuller on September 20, 2012, 09:55:48 PM
I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line. In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.
well me too, except that it doesnt take that much energy for me to change a few sentences from the previous year's dev. plan :P
I expected a mostly negative view of them, this being Languish and all, but I'm still surprised that so few see the benefit of them. I wonder if it's because of how it was presented to the individual.
If it's an HR thing used to measure your shortcomings, I can totally see the problem. Mine, on the other hand, will be entirely self-started and self-maintained. As far as I know, they don't even use them at my company. So, for me, it's kind of a: How can I make an impact today, tomorrow, and next month, and how can I use that impact to propel me to where I want to be regardless of where we end up? But again, it's self-dictated, which seems to make the difference.
Didn't knew about this and I certainly can see the use of it on a personal level (although it slightly smells of "self-help" stuff).
About the company ones: we don't have one, but I would like to see it... GOAL: getting out of here as soon as possible. if impossible, whatever I do, don't quit it and let them fire me so I can get a few months benefits. :D
I don't have a clearly defined plan. Basically it goes 1) get my designation 2) transfer my designation to the equivalent australian designation 3) move to Australia 4)?
I'll figure out 4 later lol
Quote from: merithyn on September 20, 2012, 09:48:39 PM
Who changed my poll?? :mad:
:blush:
I added that last bullet to separate the vomit-inducing, big company development plan from having a personal career plan. I have not had the former in over five months, but I have had the latter for about five years.
The former gets such a reaction because an HR-produced development plan is rarely what it says it is. At best, its a means of guiding the hot shots or chosen ones while placating the masses with the illusion of progress and something to work towards. At worst, its another item for the folder when the company wants to fire or lay off someone.
Working for a really big company I both have a company and a personal development plan.
The former outlines the kind of trainings and projects I should do over the next three years to develop both my professional and leadership skills.
The latter isn't very concrete. But at least my company paid for a two day training session in a nice four star hotel in the Black Forest recently to define it. :yeah:
Quote from: Baron von Schtinkenbutt on September 21, 2012, 09:05:46 AM
Quote from: merithyn on September 20, 2012, 09:48:39 PM
Who changed my poll?? :mad:
:blush:
I added that last bullet to separate the vomit-inducing, big company development plan from having a personal career plan. I have not had the former in over five months, but I have had the latter for about five years.
The former gets such a reaction because an HR-produced development plan is rarely what it says it is. At best, its a means of guiding the hot shots or chosen ones while placating the masses with the illusion of progress and something to work towards. At worst, its another item for the folder when the company wants to fire or lay off someone.
Mostly, though, it's neither--it's just formalism. There's a policy that says that everyone has to have a development plan on file, so everyone has a development plan on file. Whether that plan has any actual relation to the employee's goals and ambitions doesn't matter, as long as it's on file. I bet a lot of them don't even get glanced at, much less actually read.