How does a corporation help its employees develop their careers for the future? At CIBC, Barbara Wilson told Career Buzz listeners (March 26, 2014), about three levels: 1.Make it happen is about “more deliberate” initiatives including succession planning and executive talent management. 2.Help it happen means that key roles, say in retail or wholesale banking or IT, have “well planned out career paths” and support. Also in this level, Barbara spoke about “affinity networks” focusing on diversity including youth, women, aboriginal community, internationally educated professionals, people with disabilities, and others, and provides them with professional and personal development, communities of practice to support internal networking, and tailored coaching.

At the 3.Let it happen level, “career can be employee owned but it doesn’t mean employees are left on their own.” The let it happen level is now one of Barbara’s main areas of focus by making it “more robust and supported with career tools.”

What are the clues that apply to you? Consider which of the three levels of career management that Barbara spoke about, applies to you and learn how to access the support you have internally.  Try this: If you’re in the let it happen level of career management at your organization, reframe your idea about career management along the lines of what Barbara said about CIBC, that it’s a “shared responsibility between employee and manager, supported by the organization.” As such, you can start taking your share of the responsibility by writing your ‘career statement‘ which you can share with your manager. It might sound like this: “Here’s how I’d like to shift my career internally ____ and what I’d like to do more of ___. These are my strengths and accomplishments that support such a move ___. Here’s a story of when I used these strengths ___.”

Need help making your career happen in a more proactive way? Check our individual career programs.

Listen to the whole interview with Sharon Ferriss of CERIC, and Luciano Volpe & Frank Colella of Inspire Toronto.

Before Paul Smith got the job as Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers, or CACEE, he volunteered, first as a regional director, then as board president. When I asked Paul (Career Buzz, March 5, 2014) what advice he had for listeners about volunteering as a way to manage your career for the future, Paul said, “Do it!” He emphasized advantages of career-related volunteering including “opportunities for development, the people you meet, the satisfaction that will come from it.”

“The opportunity to fail,” is another benefit of volunteering that Paul believes people underestimate, especially because, “it’s not life and death.” You learn from failure. “To pick yourself up after you’ve fallen and carry on with something is such as blessing in disguise.” Connecting this to the school-to-work transition Paul said, “so many students are afraid to make that first jump in to a career because what if it’s not the right one?” He advised: “Doing is better than not doing. Trying is better than watching. Fail faster!”

What are the clues that apply to you? Consider volunteering for an association or organization relevant to your field, or to the field you want to get into. You may be able to take a page from Paul Smith’s book. After meaningful volunteer stints, the top job opened up. “When I heard the opportunity was there, I applied for it and I guess they thought well of my application.”   Try this: Find the relevant organizations and associations in your field. Don’t know which ones? Google it! Then find out how to volunteer. Paul Smith emphasized the huge need that associations have for volunteers. Here’s C
ACEE’s volunteer page.

“It was like the field of personal history was waiting to be developed so I could find it,” said personal historian, Stephen Albert (Career Buzz, Feb. 12, 2014). Stephen collects personal stories from his clients, video records them, and provides clients with edited DVDs of their stories. Stephen’s was a beautiful story of the way careers actually happen: he noticed clues, followed them, and then pivoted from other career areas, to welcome the new opportunity of starting Lifetime Memoirs.

Clue 1: “I did graduate work, and I did a lot of interviewing doing research, which played into the work I do now.” Clue 2: Stephen’s son and business partner, Aaron, was a film editor, “and he’s a whiz at doing this stuff.” Clue 3: He’s always had a love of family lore and stories. Then, pivoting, and embracing the clues, Stephen took the inspired action and founded a new company.

What are the clues that apply to you? Do you have a family member, maybe a grandparent, parent, aunt or uncle, who has a story you’d like to record? Consider what Stephen Albert said, when I asked him about timing for getting a loved one’s story. “There’s no such thing as too early. Only too late.” Try this: Next time you hear a friend, colleague or family member complain about their career, try asking them a question using the word, CLUE. For example, “What clues are you noticing that may lead to a new direction?”

Listen to the whole interview with personal historians Eloise Lewis of Lifetales and Stephen Albert ofLifetime Memoirs. Plus, healthy workplaces consultant Sylvia Plester-Silk of On Purpose Consulting.