What is involved in the direction phase of career development? How can skills inventories and career paths aid in the process?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: This is where the employee determines the type of career he/she wants and realizes the steps that must be taken to realize their goals. Skills inventories are company-maintained records with information such as employees' abilities, skills, knowledge, and education. The company can use this comprehensive, centralized HR information system to get an overall picture of its workforce's training and development needs, as well as to identify existing talent in one department that may be more productively employed in another. Skills inventories can prove valuable for employees as well. Feedback regarding how they stack up against other employees can encourage them to improve their skills or seek out other positions that better match their current skill levels. Career paths provide valuable information regarding the possible directions and career opportunities available in an organization. A career path presents the steps in a possible career and a plausible timetable for accomplishing them. Just as a variety of paths may lead to the same job, so may starting from the same job lead to very different outcomes.