Career Development Activities for Employees

Career development activities and opportunities train, motivate and challenge employees for greater productivity in the workplace. For example, an employee might have have an interest in developing interpersonal skills. The ideal environment for your employee is the opportunity to interact with customers. Activities in job rotation, working with a mentor and internships provide similar opportunities for your employees to have individual exposure to many environments for their career development.

Being in one position for a long time can stifle an employee's growth. As a career development strategy, job rotation breaks the monotony by moving an employee, temporarily, into another position to gain exposure to another function. As an activity, have your employees participate in a series of job rotations based on their individual learning needs. Upon completion of the rotation, your employees are capable of applying what was learned to their current position and assisting in new functions within the organization.

Assigning a career development mentor to an employee provides support for career development and professional aspirations. For example, an employee from another country shares with her mentor experiences of work culture in both places for the mentor to help her adjust to the workplace. She looks to her mentor for tips on her resume and cover letters. Other activities you can suggest are role-play job interviews, and “what-if” scenarios of challenges and solutions in the workplace.

An internship program is a career building strategy for employees' development in leadership skills. Under the internship program, your employees develop new experiences and training in interpersonal skills to feel comfortable with assertiveness to handle issues such as conflict resolution. As an activity for practical experience on leadership skills upon completion of the internship, ask your employee to develop a special project for management in leadership for a presentation.

Do your employees have common career development interests and learning objectives for career development such as learning new technology or developing public speaking skills? Why not set up a learning group as a career development activity. A learning group shares knowledge and skills in a supportive environment with no formal training. Ideally, employees meet during lunch hours or early in the morning without interfering with work. By communicating through newsletters or email messages, all of your employees can benefit from the opportunity of learning groups.