I had an interview Friday, one that was rather unexpected. It’s for a brand new career development program, effecting a vast number of employees in many disparate departments. 

The opportunity came about through networking; if I hadn’t sat at a certain table, and had a friendly chat with someone, I would have never known about the opportunity.  I wasn’t chatting to promote myself, just chatting.  And what was originally intended to be an informational interview to me was actually a job interview, although I’m sure it’s the first of a series.

I’m very excited about the prospect.  Imagine an organization dedicated to improving the skillsets and work experience of their workforce to the point of having an intentional plan to keep people within the greater organization, yet allowing them to move throughout the organization, advancing themselves.  Retain all that knowledge and experience, and being able to apply it on other areas?  Talk about forward thinking.  The organization is aware of the shrinking workforce and the potential impact of losing the knowledge of experienced staff and wants to proactively avoid that by developing staff, and enabling them to more readily move up within the organization and change roles in other business units than the one they are currently in.  This would also mean should budget slashes occur, they could transition people into other areas more readily than otherwise.

On top of all this, there is an intention to use project management methodologies.  I practically swooned, and not just because it was warm in the office.

I started brainstorming during the interview.  We could leverage already available, free resources for some basic career training.  We could implement a mentor program, to help people wanting to move into new careers learn the inside scoop through those already doing it. We could have brown bag lunches with outstanding employees speaking about their fields and positions.  I’m still brainstorming, and researching. 

Wouldn’t it be great to work for an organization that shows such appreciation of it’s employees?  It’s an ambitious idea, and a very good one. What a way to steward your resources.