Career Advancement

Career advancement can benefit the employee and the business owner
By Emily Lugg Everybody defines a part of their success by their career advancement. Nobody wants to be in a dead-end job that has no room for promotions or career advancements. If this is the case, chances are your employees will look elsewhere for a more rewarding position if they can't find it with you.
 

It is part of your job as a business owner to help your employees feel rewarded and possibly even give them some career advancement advice. Some people know they want to advance but may not know how to approach the situation. A few things to consider when pursuing your employees' career advancement:

1. Make yourself accessible for your employees to ask you questions about career advancement.

2. Allow employees to attend conferences and courses that may further their knowledge about your field.

3. Consider hiring a career advancement consultant to help your employees find out more about career advancement.

Make it known to your employees that they can come to you with questions about career advancement

It is important for your employees to know that you are approachable and that they can come to you if they want to know more about career advancement in your business. Often it can be intimidating to come to the boss with exact wants for the future, but if you open your door, you can help your employees feel more comfortable broaching the topic.
Try: Places such as the American Management Association host seminars on effective ways to manage people. Resources such as this may help you recognize good ways to make yourself accessible to your staff. Other organizations such as TrainUp.com offer a number of short classes that can help you hone your management skills.

Encourage your staff to attend conferences and courses to help with their career advancement

Professional organizations around the globe offer conferences and seminars on what is usually a yearly basis. Condensed courses are also often offered at professional and academic facilities that focus on one topic for a few jam-packed days in a row. These are low-committal ways to help your employees better themselves with career advancement training.
Try: Places such as The Center for Professional Advancement can be helpful resources for your employees to take short courses to benefit themselves and, in turn, benefit your company. Depending on your field, The Center for Professional Innovation & Education may be a better fit for your staff.

Hire a career advancement counselor for your employees

In order to show that you are serious about helping your employees advance in your business, give them a resource. If you don't have the time or knowledge to assist them, find someone who can.
Try: You can place a posting on job sites such as CareerBuilder.com or Monster to find someone to help with career advancement. Also consider hiring other members of your human resources staff while you're at it. Doing so will ensure that your employees have knowledgeable resources and allow you to focus on being the business owner.

• Keep in mind that offering opportunities to your employees to better themselves can benefit you as well -- not only because your employees are learning more and looking into career advancement information, but because if they can see that you value them, they are more likely to stay loyal to your business.