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Career Development and Coaching

Fostering employee development by providing resources, tools and information.
Level 1. Demonstrates introductory understanding, directing people to the appropriate source for further information.

BEHAVIORS

  • Shares knowledge with other employees.
  • Provides advice to others on how to perform work tasks.
  • Defines own career goals and expectations.
  • Identifies conflicts between personal goals and expectations and career goals.
  • Works with others to produce innovative solutions.

QUESTIONS

  • Describe a situation where you realized you were capable of providing coaching advice to a new employee?

Probing Questions

* Was it part of your official role?

* What did you feel you could do to contribute to the individual's development?

* What advice and guidance did you give to him/her?

* How was it received?

* Was the individual better at the job after you helped?

  • How did you determine what your career path should look like?

Probing Questions

* What questions did you ask yourself?

* What factors were critical to identifying and managing your own career?

* How did you gather the information related to each of these factors?

* Whose advice and guidance did you seek out?

* How do you measure career success?

Level 2. Applies the competency in common situations that present limited difficulties, working with a moderate level of guidance.

BEHAVIORS

  • Works with employees to set performance goals and expectations.
  • Provides honest, timely, clear and specific feedback on performance in ways that maintain others’ self-esteem.
  • Coaches staff, transferring accumulated knowledge and expertise.
  • Conducts post-mortems with staff to identify and facilitate the application of lessons learned.
  • Leverages existing career development and coaching tools and resources.
  • Uses appropriate career development assessments, both formal and informal, for the population served.

QUESTIONS

  • Tell me about a time you successfully coached someone to deal with a difficult situation.

Probing Questions

* Why did you become the coach and to whom?

* What difficulty did they face?

* What approach did you take as their coach?

* What specific techniques did you use?

* How did the situation work out?

  • Share an example of a time you helped someone identify and modify a behavior that was impeding his/her performance.

Probing Questions

* What specific behaviour did you identify as being problematic?

* What impacts was the behaviour having on your/ the unit?

* What did you do to help modify the behaviour?

* How did you determine which approach to take?

* How did it work out?

Level 3. Applies the competency in the full range of typical situations, requiring guidance in only the most complex or new situations.

BEHAVIORS

  • Conducts development and career planning dialogues with employees.
  • Identifies high potential individuals to provide them with targeted opportunities for growth.
  • Mentors employees to promote their learning.
  • Conducts post-mortems to identify and facilitate the application of lessons learned.
  • Supports different change management activities (e.g., communications, education, team development), sponsoring and implementing initiatives as needed.
  • Creates new tools and resources for career development and coaching.
  • Uses various computer-based resources and tools, e.g., job banks, online job searches, online career planning and assessment instruments.

QUESTIONS

  • Share an occasion where you were instrumental in building an employee's confidence and skills.

Probing Questions

* How did this situation come about?

* What tools and resources did you utilize to help frame the issues?

* What action did you take to help the individual?

* What skills improvements did you recommend?

* What was the overall effect of your efforts?

  • Describe a time when you took on a mentoring role with another employee.

Probing Questions

* What was the reporting relationship?

* Why did you mentor this individual?

* How did you identify what you could help with?

* What did you do to influence the person you were mentoring?

* What did you gain from the exercise?

Level 4. Applies the competency in new or complex situations and advises others.

BEHAVIORS

  • Establishes budgets for career planning and subsequent development activities.
  • Guides people managers in career development and coaching conversations.
  • Addresses recurring interests or issues resulting from career development exercises.
  • Establishes structures and processes to plan and manage the orderly implementation of change.
  • Creates development goals that balance the needs of the organization with employees' career aspirations.

QUESTIONS

  • Discuss a time you sought out funds for career development activities in your unit?

Probing Questions

* What was the situation?

* How did you identify resource requirements?

* What information did you have/gather to support development needs?

* Who did you solicit for information and support?

* What was the result?

  • Describe a time you identified an organization’s career development needs?

Probing Questions

* Why was this required?

* What tools and methodologies did you use to ascertain the current capacity of the staff?

* What actions did you take to seek out potential opportunities for existing staff?

* How did you align the requirements for the future with the organization's direction?

* What was the result?

Level 5. Develops new approaches and methods in the area. Is recognized as an expert within the organization.

BEHAVIORS

  • Sets clear expectations about investments in developing employees.
  • Establishes organizational guidelines for appropriate career development activities.
  • Develops organizational strategies to connect career development activities and organizational objectives.
  • Creates a system to monitor and evaluate investments in career development.

QUESTIONS

  • Tell us about a scenario where you championed the establishment of career ladders or paths for your organization.

Probing Questions

* Why was this necessary?

* What factors did you consider when looking at the future directions of the organization?

* What did you do to engage employees in this exercise?

* How did you get buy-in from your colleagues?

* How did the efforts pay off as time passed?

  • Describe a time you defended the level of career development investments, either current or proposed.

Probing Questions

* What was the level of investments challenged?

* What information was critical to the business case?

* How did you incorporate the organization's strategic planning materials into the case?

* How did you establish the validity of the resource estimates for career development?

* Were your investments supported in the end?