There was time when employment with a reputed firm actually meant life long employment. People ascended the hierarchy with age. The terms like career planning and career development in fact meant timely promotions. Career progression was simply a function of experience in a job. The idea of employees changing companies to carve out a career was almost unheard of. Employees reciprocated the life long employment offer of companies with total commitment for the company. An opening with a good company was considered a life time achievement; thereafter it was simply a matter of time, performance and politically positioning oneself to be at the right place at right time to go up the ladder. There was hardly anything for individuals to think beyond the job they were doing as career very nearly meant the job.

Careers versus jobs
How does one differentiate careers from jobs? A career is a sequence of jobs or positions occupied by an individual during a course of time. Career is the specialization in a profession which continues to progress in spite of changes in jobs. For example, even when an individual has changed his jobs with various consulting firms, he is still pursuing a career in management. In fact the career plans that an individual nurtures determine the kind of jobs he takes up. But why are we trying to distinguish careers from the jobs now?

Transitory jobs - a corporate reality
Today with intense competition every where, coupled with economic changes sweeping the world, companies are aggressively pursuing the strategies for acquisition, divestment, downsizing, outsourcing, and alliances. Strategies such as outsourcing, downsizing, offshore operations and divestment take out the aspect of permanency from the jobs. Pursuing strategies that result in loss of jobs for some is always a distressing experience for the people still with the company and for those who get the axe. It is in context of this corporate reality of transitory jobs, that career planning and development assume more significance. In order to equip people deal with this reality, the corporate focus must shift from life long employment to life long employability. Companies support the individual in planning their careers by providing personalized information on the direction the business is headed towards, setting the career expectation of people in the right perspective and responding to career initiatives of individuals. In other words companies help people by guiding them to pursue a specific career, which has positive outcomes for the company too.

Challenge for HR
Challenge for HR professional in an organization is to match and support career expectation of people in such a way that it also delivers desired objectives of the company. Some ways of doing this is as shown below:

• Mentoring is one way by which organizations create context for directing careers of youngsters
• Encourage people to continuously redesign the work procedures
• Job rotations in line with individual capability and company requirements
• Providing organization wide, team based and individual learning opportunities

Individual's responsibility
On the other hand competition and evolution of new industries which were nonexistent a couple of decades ago are opening a plethora of opportunities for the individuals to choose from. An individual is now faced with new opportunities and threats in the changing business landscape. It is ultimately the responsibility of the individual to decide and make choices to pursue desired career. An organization can at best support an individual’s career aspirations if it falls in line with its business goals. With this view of careers in today’s environment, an individual needs to change the way jobs have traditionally been looked at. A job is not merely a means of earning money, it must be viewed by the individuals as an opportunity for learning, so that when you are doing a job to fulfill you responsibility for the company, you are also strengthening your skills required to develop your career. Some of the ways by which an individual can further his career aspirations are mentioned below:

• Taking a long term view of where one wants to be
• Accept short term trade offs for long term benefits (low pay offer or some lateral move, which are vital for career development and contact building)
• Judicious decision between specialized jobs and isolated jobs
• Assess oneself honestly (through interviews for higher positions, performance in seminars or workshops etc.)
• Keep abreast of changes and capture first mover advantage
• Plan you exit (timing, convenience and dignity)