Article Critique - Book Report/Review Example

Career Development Career Development Introduction Wagner highlights how the increasing economic challenges in the modern society compel individuals to undergo a self - evaluation. Moreover, the economic challenges compel one to define a career path. Unlike in the past, people are facing more pressure on how to improve their skills and competencies to register a remarkable career progression. In the modern society, many people are seeking new opportunities and want to explore new career paths.

Some people have chosen to pursue multiple career paths in order to make the best of the available opportunities. Unlike in the past, career paths are becoming more nonlinear compared to the linear progression that many people adopted in the past. With such changes in the career sector, Wagner emphasizes the need for adopting a proactive approach to the personal management of one’s career path. He highlights that it is important to carry out a realistic assessment of one’s career accomplishments and highlight the outstanding weaknesses.

After the evaluation, an individual is in a position to undertake a self-development plan.Body According to Wagner (2010), carrying out career assessment is a critical step that each must undertake. It is important to update one’s resume and provide supporting documents for all the career accomplishments. The article highlights important aspects such as attaching performance reviews from different supervisors, which have the capacity to indicate the individual’s strengths and weaknesses. From a personal point of view, learning that performance reviews should be included as evidence of career accomplishment was a new thing I learned from the article.

Additionally, I also learned that correspondent’s reports, letters, and notes from clients can serve as evidence that an individual has made remarkable progress in his or her career (Beausaert, Segers, & Grohnert, 2015). Most importantly, I learned the value of honesty when providing documentation to support my career accomplishments. The value of the personal interactions, core workers, and friends is highlighted in the article as they may help in giving an individual an honest assessment of both his strengths and weaknesses.

Wagner (2010) also emphasizes development planning as the second critical step that an individual must take while defining his or her career path. To develop an effective development plan, an individual must identify career goals and personal preferences that are most significant. Identifying such preferences will help an individual identify the skill and knowledge that need to be obtained. In many cases, the identification of career goals and personal preferences can help an individual identify new skills that may present a competitive edge in one’s career.

Such skills are the ones to be pursued if the individual needs to excel in new paths (Beausaert, Segers, & Grohnert, 2015). From Wagner’s advice, it is evident that I need to set new career goals and begin learning new competencies. I intend to develop exemplary communication skills, as they are likely to give me a competitive edge.Conclusion The article outlines critical steps that an individual can take in the development of a career plan. As mentioned above, individuals are facing more pressure to develop remarkable career paths because of the evident economic challenges and increased competition in the job market.

There is a salient need for every individual to undertake a critical self-assessment and develop a career plan with specific goals. It is possible for an individual to customize personal learning and development if they intend to personalize their career. It is time for individuals to recognize that career management is a personal responsibility and be willing to take up the challenge of venturing into new career paths. ReferenceBeausaert, S., Segers, M., & Grohnert, T. (2015). Personal development plan, career development, and training. In K. Kraiger, J.

Passmore, N. R. dos Santos, S. Malvezzi, K. Kraiger, J. Passmore, . S. Malvezzi (Eds.) , The Wiley Blackwell handbook of the psychology of training, development, and performance improvement (pp. 336-353). Wiley-Blackwell.Wagner, J. (2010). Personalize Your Career Development Plan. Strategic Finance, 91 (9), 17-18.