Author Description

The key features of effective career discussions at work were explored in a large-scale investigation that included semi-structured interviews with employers from 5 organizations in England, 118 employees who had participated in discussions about their own careers, and 30 employees identified by their employers as excellent givers of career support. The following were among the key findings: (1) sources of career support include managers and informal mentoring relationships; (2) about half of positive discussions occur informally; (3) the most important requirements of givers of career support include an interest in the individual and a commitment to helping, honesty, impartiality, challenging the receiver and offering advice where appropriate, and using interpersonal skills to facilitate the discussion; (4) good career discussions lead to action and provide a motivational shot in the arm; (5) career support is more central to employees than organizations choose to recognize; (6) career support is mainly the job of the line, but this should be the line management as a community rather than just the direct boss; and (7) organizations must encourage individuals to have a range of informal, confidential discussions with people they trust and have opportunities to talk about their careers as a normal part of organizational life. (Contains 17 tables and 14 references.) (MN).