Companies With Great Corporate Career Development

Programs

With rapidly changing in-demand job skills, companies adopt corporate career development
programs to upskill their employees to stay ahead of the curve. By investing in the professional
growth of their workforce, organisations can cultivate a highly skilled and capable team that
seeks self-improvement.

Employees who are eager to improve themselves and climb the career ladder seek opportunities
for personal and professional growth within the organisation. By providing these opportunities,
companies can retain top talent and create a more engaged and committed workforce.

What are Career Development Programs?

Career Development Programs are designed to help employees grow professionally and advance
their careers. These programs align employees' skills, needs, and career goals with the company's
current and future opportunities.

Typically, career development programs consist of training workshops, mentoring, and

opportunities for job rotation or promotion. Some of the best training programs cover topics such
as leadership development, communication skills, and digital literacy.

What are the 4 Types of Career Development?

 Linear Career Development: This is the traditional and most common type of career
development. It involves progressing upwards within an organisation, by receiving
promotions, increased responsibilities, and higher salaries. The goal is to end up in
increasingly higher positions.
 Expert Career Development: In this type, individuals aim to become experts or
specialists in a particular field or skill. Instead of seeking managerial or leadership roles,
they focus on deepening their knowledge and expertise. This can lead to roles such as
specialist consultants and senior engineers, where they're valued for their capabilities
over an official role.
 Spiral Career Development: This approach involves individuals moving between related
occupations in neighbouring fields, allowing the individual to grow and diversify their
skill set. For example, a graphic designer might move into user experience design and
then into product management, using skills they've picked up from previous jobs.

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  Transitory Career Development: Individuals following this path tend to change careers
entirely every few years. They seek variety and new challenges, often moving between
unrelated fields. For instance, someone might start in sales, then transition to teaching,
and later pursue a career in event planning.
Why Does Your Company Need A Career Development Program?
- Firstly, a career development program boosts employee engagement and commitment to the
organisation. When employees receive guidance and direction in their career progression, they
are more likely to become invested in the company's success. This increases overall productivity
and contributes positively to the workplace environment.
- Secondly, it aids in talent retention, as employees who feel valued and see opportunities for
growth within the organisation are less likely to seek alternative employment. 94% of employees
surveyed by a LinkedIn Workplace Report stated that they'd stay in their jobs longer if given
opportunities for career development. This is particularly important in competitive job markets,
as attracting and retaining skilled employees becomes vital for a company's success.
- Lastly, career development programs help employees to develop new skills that can fill gaps
within the organisation. This lets individuals bring fresh ideas and approaches from their
training, and increase the overall skill level of the team. Such programs not only keep employees
up-to-date with current industry trends but also ensure that companies maintain a competitive
edge in their market.

Examples of Successful Career Development Programs

Learn how to establish and upgrade your organisation’s employee career development programs
from these great case studies:
1. Jollibee
Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) implemented a major career development program to establish
a coaching culture that would empower their team. They used a top-down approach—they
trained their managers first so that they could pass their improved skills to employees under
them.
Involving their leaders was what led to the success of their initiative, and it gave managers the
ability to provide feedback, communicate more effectively, and support their colleagues further.
Satisfaction with the career development program was high, and ground-level employees
reported that their managers were able to support them more effectively after the program.
2. Shopee
Shopee, the popular e-commerce platform, offered a comprehensive career development program
for its employees. They have a specialised team that takes charge of hosting learning initiatives.
They categorised their initiatives into General, Functional, and Leadership paths. These paths
gave employees a myriad of opportunities to develop in different specialisations. This high level

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of adaptability helped employees grow their professional skills, and helped Shopee maintain its
image as an employee-centric organisation with plenty of career development opportunities.
3. IBM
IBM is a well-known multinational technology company that offers diverse career development
programs catering to the various needs of its employees. In 2020, their learning style developed
into a skill-focused system that promoted engagement through a digital platform. This online
platform enabled content tagging, personalised recommendations, and user feedback analysis.
On average, each technical seller spent around 100 hours annually on learning, surpassing the
company-wide target of 40 hours. Using a 'badge' system, employees were able to pursue their
learning goals and go through career development programs, which made them more likely to be
promoted. Those who met the 40-hour learning target had 1.62 times higher odds of promotion in
the next year, compared to those who didn't meet the target. Through this style of career
development program, IBM managed to hit their goals and develop a better working culture.
4. Manulife
Manulife, a leading insurance and financial services provider, launched an IBF-certified training
programme for its financial representatives. Their program had 3 different levels, which aimed to
enhance the skills of financial representatives, allowing them to offer improved and
comprehensive advice to clients. The program consists of an onboarding segment for front-facing
employees, a course on financial planning for high-net-worth individuals, and a leadership cause
for Manulife leaders.
Manulife uses a comprehensive, multi-level training program, which can fit its employees needs
regardless of their career development goals. They prioritised the personal and professional
development goals of their employees, leading to better retention and commitment.
5. P&G
Procter & Gamble (P&G), a multinational consumer goods corporation, avoids gradual
onboarding or rotational programs. Instead, employees are given leadership training and
development from the beginning of their employment. The company adopts a 70/20/10 approach
to development: 70% experience-based learning, 20% learning from colleagues, mentors, and
peers, and 10% from structured courses and materials.
An impressive 99% of P&G's senior leaders have been produced internally, showing the
company's commitment to nurturing and promoting talent from within. New hires are given an
average of 5 different roles within their first 10 years, and they have a record of generating more
senior corporate leaders than any other business. This form of built-in career development allows
employees to receive the guidance that they need. P&G boasts impressive statistics, with their
managers being promotion-ready in an average of 2.5 years, and 11,400 global C-suite
executives having begun their careers there.

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6. Unilever
Unilever emphasises the importance of ongoing learning, recognising the rapid changes in the
job market due to automation and technological advancements. They believe in equipping their
employees with the skills needed for the future of work.
This commitment is part of their Unilever Compass, which aims to upskill employees with
future-fit skills by 2025. This future-fit initiative is the focal point of the professional
development opportunities they provide. Research performed by them found that participants in
their workshops had a 49% jump in intrinsic motivation, and 25% became more inspired to go
the extra mile for their jobs.

Manpower Allocation: Maximizing Efficiency and

Productivity in Workforce Management

What is Manpower Allocation?

Manpower allocation, also known as workforce allocation or human resource allocation, refers to
the process of efficiently distributing and utilizing human resources to meet the requirements and
goals of an organization. It involves various activities such as identifying manpower needs,
recruitment, training, development, resource allocation, and personnel management to ensure
that employees can perform at their best and contribute to the highest productivity for the
organization.

The BALM Task Allocation Model

BALM* is a four-stage process that you can use to allocate tasks to the team members

who are best placed to complete them successfully. The acronym stands for:

Break down broad team goals into specific, individual tasks.

Analyze the competencies required to perform each task.

List the competencies of each of your team members.

Match individuals to task competencies.

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How to Use the BALM Model

Let's look at the BALM model in more detail, and examine how you can use it to allocate

tasks more effectively. All you need is some sticky notes in different colors and a surface

to stick them onto.

1. Break Down Your Goals Into Individual Tasks

First, identify the specific tasks that will enable you to achieve your goal or complete

your project. Tools such as the Drill Down Technique and Work Breakdown

Structures can help you to clearly set out what's involved.

When you've listed all of the tasks, you can use Eisenhower's Urgent/Important

Principle or an Action Plan to rank them in order of priority.

2. Analyze the Competencies Needed for Each Task

Think about the skills, knowledge and expertise that your team needs to complete each

task, and write these competencies down on sticky notes. It's easier if all of these

competency notes are the same color.

3. List the Competencies of Each Team Member

Consider each of your team members' competencies (creating a Skills Matrix can be

useful here) and write those down on sticky notes, too. Choose a different note color for

each person.

4. Match People to Tasks

Match up your task requirements with your team members' skills by moving your sticky

notes around on a board or table. You may want to consider having a backup person or

"substitute" for the most important tasks, too, in case you lose any key team members.

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Read :

Effective Methods of Recruitment and Selection

What Are Recruitment Methods?

Recruitment methods are the tactics a company uses to find viable candidates and entice

them to apply for jobs. Choosing the right recruitment methods will depend on the skills

you need, the type of candidate you’re looking for, the experience level required, your

budget, your time frame, and the hiring resources you have available.

Most companies use a number of different recruitment methods, shifting their recruiting

strategy over time to meet their evolving staffing needs.

Internal vs. External Methods of Recruitment and Selection

Methods of recruitment and selection can be either internal or external. Internal recruiting

focuses on people who are already company employees, while external recruiting aims to

attract new talent from outside.

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Internal recruitment methods can be dramatically faster than external ones because the

candidates are already within your orbit. You don’t have to start from square one and find

them; you just have to look closely at their skills and match them to your needs. Internal

recruitment can also be less costly and result in employees becoming productive in their

new roles faster than a brand-new hire might.

One downside of internal recruiting is that it can put a damper on diversity and fresh

thinking since you’re not bringing anyone new into the organization.

External recruiting, on the other hand, is more time-consuming because it requires you to

source, screen, and interview multiple people, then complete negotiations and onboarding

once you’ve selected a candidate. The selection process, which we’ll discuss in more

detail below, can be lengthy.

However, external recruitment has the advantage of helping you hire people with

specialized expertise or hard-to-find skills. It’s a good way to infuse the organization

with creative thinking and innovative ideas.

Methods of Recruitment

The Top 9 Recruitment Methods You Should Use Today

1. Employee Referrals

An employee referral program consists of employees referring people they know for a
company’s open roles (typically in exchange for a referral bonus).

In this case, candidates are vetted by your existing staff to ensure that they are already a great fit
in terms of qualifications and company culture.

Employee referrals are also good for employee retention. In a study by ICIMS, 50% of referrals
retained their employment for at least 38 months, compared to 22 months for non-referred hires.

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However, the risk is having a limited pool of candidates, which is not good if you are trying to
build a diverse workforce. In fact, your talent pool may not represent the external workforce
overall.

As far as agility is concerned, referrals can help replace key positions much more quickly.
Mainly because the “cultural fit” of a hire is already somewhat sorted.

2. Job Boards/Job Postings

Posting on online job boards is another standard recruitment method. To find the right candidate,
you need to be strategic with the type of job boards you post ads on.

Job boards speed up your recruitment process because they have a global reach and can result in
instant applications. Popular sites like LinkedIn, Monster and Indeed attract many applicants, so
it can be helpful for organisations that aren’t as well-known.

But, a poorly-designed job board can turn away candidates due to poor UX. Moreover, resume
keyword searches can exclude qualified applicants or discriminate against them.

Cast the widest net possible with Personio Posting Bundles today.

3. Online Advertising

Did you know that most applicants go to Google to look for their next job?

If you want to increase your application and time-to-hire rates fast without the time and effort
committed to SEO and employer branding, paid advertising is the way.

You can place your job ads on Google by paying for them. You select the keywords or phrases
relevant to your company or open role. You write ad copy for your job ad with links to your
career site or the vacancy itself. Similarly, you can also advertise on social media like Facebook
and Linkedin.

Paid advertising can be cost-effective because you only spend money when a candidate
interested in the role clicks on it. And you can also track and measure your job advertisement
results.

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But, if you don’t target the placement of your ads well, you could attract unsuitable job seekers
or get too few applications. Hence it could also be a costly recruitment method.

4. Social Media

According to Randstad, 39% of candidates use social media to find their next job. And with a
reported 84% of companies using social networks to recruit, it makes sense to also do the same.

Posting jobs on your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages can dramatically accelerate your
reach, allowing you to access a virtually unlimited network of candidates.

You can also effectively promote your employer brand by sharing employee reviews and giving
them a glimpse of what it’s like to work for your organisation.

Directly engaging with candidates via likes, comments and DMs can help you establish
relationships with your candidates for your current vacancies and future job opportunities.

On the flip side, social media recruiting is labour intensive. You need a personal touch for it to
be effective, not automated responses. It also requires more time than the conventional resume
collection and screening.

5. Recruitment Agencies

Recruitment agencies are an excellent choice to help you address hard-to-fill roles. They offer
tailored staffing services and have access to an extensive network of potential candidates. It also
keeps your time free to concentrate on your core business operations.

In addition, you can also tap a recruiter to contact a particular talent that works for your
competitor. If you don’t want to make direct contact, a headhunter can do that for you.

Undoubtedly, using a recruiter costs money. Fees usually are around 20% of the placement’s
salary. And some candidates prefer to directly contact the employer than apply via a staffing
firm.

6. Recruitment Events

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Recruitment events can vary, from job fairs to hackathons and school/campus events. They can
be conducted face to face at universities or virtually like Amazon’s Career Day.

Aside from Amazon, Lego organises Brick Factor, where 100 competitors finish building
challenges to win the title of Master Model Builder and gets hired on the spot.

Meanwhile, IBM holds DevelopeWeek. It is the biggest developer expo and tech conference
series globally, with over 8,000 attendees in New York, Chicago, and Austin.

For large organisations or companies that are scaling, it can be effective for quickly attracting a
large mass of new applicants. It is also good in terms of raising employer brand awareness.

However, you could face stiff competition from other companies participating in the same job
fair. Or, you may find yourself spending money on your booth just to stand out. And, since there
are so many potential applicants, you may ultimately struggle to screen all of them.

7. Passive Candidates

A passive candidate has the right skills and qualifications for your open role but is not in the
market for another job. These individuals are generally happy with their current employers and
have positive employment records.

However, you can make them switch with the right timing, role or offer. You can reach out to
passive candidates via social media, referrals, professional organisations or by word of mouth.

You may also be eyeing a competitor’s top performer to work for your company. Since it would
be unethical or hard to contact them directly, you can outsource your passive candidate hiring
with a recruiter or headhunter.

Similar to recruiting via social media, engaging with passive candidates takes time. You need to
nurture them via multiple touchpoints like texts and company emails, and newsletters to build
relationships that will eventually lead them to become your future employees.

8. Professional Networks

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Flexjobs define a professional network as a broad group of colleagues and industry contacts who
can either speak specifically to your work experience and accomplishments or offer a personal
endorsement of you as a potential hire.

As of 2019, some of the most extensive professional networks in the UK are the Royal College
of Nursing (RCN) with 435,000 members, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
(ACCA) with 208,000 members, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) with
168,000 members.

People register with the appropriate professional association. And usually, these associations
require candidates to have the necessary licences, certifications or qualifications to be accepted.

Once you are connected with the candidates, you can host coffee meetings, phone calls or video
calls to get to know them and proceed with the usual recruiting process.

Just like employee referrals, the downside of the professional network is the limited pool of
applicants, which can hurt your inclusive hiring efforts. You may overlook equally qualified
candidates because they are not part of your professional network or association.

9. Talent Pool Database

To save on recruitment spend and effort, leverage your talent pool for suitable applicants not
hired previously. Search your talent pool for similar experiences and skills when a new vacancy
arises.

To build your talent pool, you need to source candidates across industries and organisations, like
sourcing directly from specific colleges and universities specialising in certain degrees.

Other sourcing resources include alumni associations, LinkedIn contacts, previous employees,
employee referrals and contingent workers. You can also build an internal talent pool database
by identifying current staff showing potential for advancement.

Maintaining a talent pool can be time-consuming. You need additional resources to make sure
candidate data stays up-to-date to reap its benefits like reduced cost and time per hire.

10. Promotions and transfers

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Promotions and transfers occur when an existing employee moves into a lateral or more senior
role in the organization. These recruitment methods capitalize on your internal knowledge base
while reinforcing your company culture. They also demonstrate your commitment to employee
development and can aid in retention.

What Are Selection Methods?

Candidate selection is the method employers use to narrow down the pool of all applicants and
ultimately choose a top candidate from the list of finalists for a job. An efficient selection
process is crucial in making accurate hiring and getting the right person for the job quickly.

Methods of Selection

1. Resume screening

Resume screening is typically the first step in assessing candidates. A hiring manager or recruiter
quickly scans a resume to get an idea of a candidate’s skills and experience to make a yes or no
determination on whether they qualify for a closer look.

2. Phone screening

After narrowing down the initial pile of resumes, a phone screening is used to qualify each
candidate better. It’s usually conducted by someone other than the hiring manager and involves
high-level questions about a candidate’s background and experience. Phone screenings are
sometimes done via video.

3. Interview

Candidates whose phone screening indicates a strong fit will advance to the interview round,
which is the most in-depth part of the selection process. Interviews consist of one or more
conversations, usually in person, with hiring decision-makers. They cover every aspect of a
candidate’s qualifications, including their specific job experience and accomplishments in prior
roles. While interviews have their flaws (like selection bias), they’re generally the best tool
recruiters have for assessing candidates and seeing how they compare against one another.

4. Group interview

A group interview is where more than one candidate is being interviewed at a time. These can
save time and when you’re looking to hire more than one person for a job. They also allow hiring
managers to see how candidates interact with others.

5. Panel interview

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In a panel interview, a candidate speaks with more than one interviewer at a time. Panel
interviews are helpful when you need to involve multiple decision-makers but don’t want to drag
the process out over multiple rounds of interviews. They can help you see how a candidate
handles themself under pressure and also give you the advantage of incorporating questions from
interviewers with different expertise.

6. Skills assessment

There are some jobs where it’s difficult to assess a candidate’s abilities based on an interview
alone. These positions call for a skills assessment, which tests candidates’ technical capabilities.
In addition to giving you an objective comparison of different candidates (i.e., a score on a scale
of 1 to 100), skills assessments can help eliminate bias and encourage candidates from
nontraditional backgrounds.

7. Personality assessment ( Should You Use Personality Tests For Hiring?)

A personality assessment aims to identify a candidate’s characteristics beyond their technical

skills, like their communication style and work preferences. While personality assessments don’t
have “right” or “wrong” answers, they can be helpful for zeroing in on strong candidates for
positions where certain personalities are more likely to succeed, like sales and customer service
roles.

8. Mock assignment / job audition

In a mock assignment or job audition, a candidate completes a task that’s comparable to the work
they’d be doing in the actual job. One of the biggest pitfalls of hiring is that we can’t actually see
how a candidate performs until they’re on the job; mock assignments are the closest a hiring
manager can come to seeing an applicant’s skills firsthand before committing to hiring them.

9. Reference check

Reference checks should happen in the final stages of the hiring process, prior to making an
offer (you’d be surprised how many companies wait to check references until an offer has been
made!). While references aren’t always the easiest or the most reliable tool to help with
candidate selection, they can be invaluable in uncovering glaring red flags, like if a candidate
fabricated their job history.

10. Background check

Background checks are less about helping you select the right candidate and more about
preventing you from choosing the wrong one. Once you’ve honed in on a top choice using other
selection methods, you might choose to use a background check as the final hurdle to clear
before making an offer.

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