Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Chapter 15 / Blog 11



      Last week’s activity/debate about whether or not everyone should have a college education was very interesting.  It was neat to hear both sides of the argument, and both had valid points.  It also depends on how we define “college.”  I honestly think that sometimes it’s sad that people who don’t have college degrees are looked over for people who do, regardless of experience.  If I were hiring for certain types of jobs, I would tend to prefer those with experience.  But again, it depends on what job.  We just can’t say that college is for everyone, because those who don’t want to be there will not succeed and will end up just wasting time and money. 
      Moving on the Brown’s chapter 15, there was a lot of information presented.  For me, the information I wanted to see was why a business should bother to implement a career development program, considering the costs (starting at $300,000-$400,000), (Brown, 2012).  So, it was interesting to see some of the benefits from programs that have already been implemented by IMB, The Dow Jones & Company, etc.  Employee morale improved and many employees reported making significant changes in their careers or lives.  They also had a higher acceptance of responsibility and ownership of their own career plan and importantly, increased awareness of career opportunities within the company.  I think this a big perk, because I know many people take a job in a company to get “their foot in the door,” but have plans to pursue another position within the company.  On a small scale, one of my friends was in school to be a medical assistant and got a job registering patients at Patient First.  Once she finished her schooling and was certified, she was able to very easily move into a position as a medical assistant, because she was already working for the company. 
      Other benefits included an improvement in communication, more positive views of job changes.  One report even recorded a savings of $2 million within one year!  So overall, both organizational and individual goals are enhanced through the use of a career development program.  When we think of career development, we don’t usually think of the programs within businesses, but rather the programs offered by educational systems.  For those who want to work in industrial/organizational psychology, implementing career development programs for companies may be a large part of the job.  In this way, this chapter is very helpful.  


Brown, D.  (2012).  Career development programming in business organizations. Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development (10th ed., pp. 330-348).  New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

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