In order for us to have a purpose and mission to work towards, I feel we need to have a career roadmap.

For those that are employed, this is especially important in order to not find yourself caught in a rut and feeling unprogressive in the career you are in.

Although there may be other factors that may propel your career forward or hold your career back, when you have a career roadmap you have something to work. It will form a part of your guiding towards the career choices, your conversations around your career as well as what trajectory to take your next step into.

Another amazing aspect of a career road map is that if it so happens that you would consider an industry change, career road mapping gives one perspective and becomes your guideline as to what you are working with, as well as what the gaps are you need to develop to get there to your next step.

For the purpose of this blog post, I will consider an individual who is already employed and would like to make the next move.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

Step 1:

Setup an appointment with Human Resources at your workplace and make it known to them your position interest or occupation interest.

Ask HR what the tasks, abilities, work environment, and anything else that is required to step into this role. Ask them if the role is available within the organization. If not, worry not. There may be opportunities elsewhere. Start looking job advertisements for this role as well as the requirements and experience requirement.

Step 2:  

Job Competency:

Level	Description	Performance Level
1	Basic	Basic knowledge required for the job.
2	Foundational	Minimal knowledge and experience required for the job.
3	Intermediate	Moderate knowledge and experience required for the job.
4	Advanced	High skilled professional with extensive knowledge and experience
5	Expert	Recognized as an expert by peers with extensive experience and skills.

Personal Competency:

Level	Description	Performance Level
1	No Presence	Totally unskilled/unknowledgeable and inexperienced.
2	Partial Presence	Only partially skilled/knowledgeable and experienced
3	Moderate Presence	Moderately skilled/ knowledgeable and experienced
4	Sufficient Presence	Sufficiently skilled/ knowledgeable and experienced
5	High Presence	Highly skilled/ knowledgeable and experienced

Copy & Paste the following table for yourself and using the above tables fill in the second and third columns. The first column should be competencies that are outlined by HR or the guidance you seek: 

Competencies	Recommended Job Proficiency/ Competency	My Current Level of Ability/Personal Competency
Insert in this column: Tasks, Skills, Knowledge, Abilities	What is the recommended proficiency level according to HR? [tasks, abilities, work environment, and anything else]	What is my level of ability or proficiency?
Example: Strategic Thinking	2	1

 

Step 3:

Send the same assessment to your line manager or someone senior you already work with. Ask them to assess you on your current level of ability. Essentially your final table will look like this:

Competencies	Recommended Job Proficiency/ Competency	My Current Level of Ability/Personal Competency	Current Level of Ability – Senior/Independent Assesment
Insert in this column: Tasks, Skills, Knowledge, Abilities	What is the recommended proficiencies according to HR. [tasks, abilities, work environment, and anything else]	What is my level of ability or proficiency?	Level of ability or proficiency?
Example: Strategic Thinking	2	1	1

 

“Success doesn’t just happen. It’s planned for.”

Step 4:

Take at a look at your ratings and look for the following:

• Your lower ratings that need improvement
• The importance of the recommended competency

These will be the areas that you will need to improve. List them and place them according to their importance. So, you will end up with something like this:

Development Needs:	Order
Business Knowledge	6
Customer Relationship Management	4
Sales and Marketing Knowledge	5
Command of the English language	1
Communication and media management	7
Critical Thinking	3
Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships	2
Computer Skills	8

Step 5:

The next step would be to now find out what kind of training you may require in order to bridge these developmental requirements.

Your methods may include one or more of the following:

1. On-the-job-mentoring
2. Guided experience – kind of like mentoring. Get a senior individual to invest in you and guide you.
3. Understudy training – learn from the person you wish to assume a position of
4. Job rotation – within the organization and learn and appreciate viewpoints
5. Project by project assignments
6. Special Assignments when your manager is away or has a task they are unable to handle. Request the credit.
7. Management Development Programs from within the organization or a college
8. Job Expansion – expanding your existing title
9. Attendance in Staff Meetings – be exposed to the prospective role
10. Obtain studying materials and books
11. Formal Education – study a degree, diploma or certificate course

“A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.” H. Stanely Judd

Step 6:

Once you have selected your methods in Step 5. Start mapping out your timelines. Example:

Development Needs:	Order	Method:	Time/ Duration:
Command of the English language	1	–       Obtain studying materials and books –       Start a blog and improve my writing skills –       Start volunteering to draft reports –       Request to be invited to presentations	2 years
Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships	2	–        Understudy training – learn from the person I wish to assume a position of. Ask them if I can job shadow them once a week. Request permission form my line manager. –       Guided experience – kind of like mentoring. Get a senior individual to invest in me and guide me.	1 year
Critical Thinking	3	–        Attendance in Staff Meetings – be exposed to the prospective role –       On-the-job-mentoring	6 Months
Customer Relationship Management	4	–        Understudy training – learn from the person I wish to assume a position of. Ask them if I can job shadow them once a week. Request permission form my line manager. –       Obtain studying materials and books –       Do online research about available resources	1 year
Sales and Marketing Knowledge	5	–       Formal Education – study a certificate course in sale and marketing (check UCT online study)	2 years
Business Knowledge	6	–       Formal Education – study a certificate course in sale and marketing (check UCT online study) –        Understudy training – learn from the person I wish to assume a position of. Ask them if I can job shadow them once a week. Request permission form my line manager.	2,5 years
Communication and media management	7	–       Project by project assignments. Request more communication assignments. –        Understudy training – learn from the person I wish to assume a position of. Ask them if I can job shadow them once a week. Request permission form my line manager.	2 years
Computer Skills	8	–       Find an online course	6 months

Lastly, you would need to determine whether you will run these priorities concurrently or split your progress over a period of time whilst having some overlapping.

Once this first part is all done – Put your plan into action and prosper!

“Planning is a process of choosing among those many options. If we do not choose to plan, then we choose to have others plan for us.” Richard I. Winwood