Strategies for Career Development: Promise, Practice and Pretence

Hirsh W, Jackson C with Tamkin P, Kettley P, Jackson C | Report 305 | Institute for Employment Studies | May 1996

Successful career development practice is designed to give an organisation competitive advantage in attracting, retaining and developing the best people.

By looking at policy and practice in the area of career development, this study aims to get behind the 'rhetoric' and to set out an agenda for the future.

The research, conducted with 15 leading employers, involved discussions with employees and line managers as well as with executives and HR professionals. Case study organisations participating in the research included companies from the finance, energy, high technology, manufacturing and service sectors as well as several public sector organisations.