Building a Career Development Roadmap

Dr. Andrew Makar is an IT program manager and is the author of the Microsoft Project Made Easy series. For more project management advice, visit the website TacticalProjectManagement.com.

  Career Development  

In the workplace, a common question is: “How do I get promoted?” As achievers, we all want to know how we’re progressing toward career goals, advancement and greater financial rewards. Human resources will tell you goals, objectives and skill planning will all help you move up the corporate ladder. Human behavior will tell you social skills, networking and communication will help you identify and obtain the opportunities.

Despite the HR tools and human behavior, I have yet to find an all-encompassing, surefire corporate career guide on how to move up in your company. Of course, you need to deliver well, build a strong reputation and establish “fans” of your capabilities. Even if you had a career guide for every project management role, you would still need to put those recommendations into action.

A simple career development matrix is a helpful tool to prepare for future success and put practical steps into action. You may have seen something similar in the form of a skill inventory or a gap matrix. You may have seen something similar in a performance management discussion or a learning and development course:

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