Careers & Skills Development Report

This report examines the career and skills development programs of Google and Cisco, analyzing their training strategies, employee motivation techniques, and impact on employee growth. The research highlights the importance of investing in employee development for both individual and organizational success.

A RESEARCH ON
CAREERS &SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT AMONG
PROSPECTIVE
EMPLOYERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
FINDINGS ......................................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Skills are the capabilities of a person to perform a task in a extra-ordinary way.
Possessing different skills helps an individual in standing out from the rest of crowd. These
capabilities are of utmost significance as these shapes a career of a person. Organisations invests
heavy amounts in skills development of their employees for the growth of business enterprise
along with the professional development of an individual (Hooley and Dodd, 2015). For the
purpose of developing my skills, I chose to look into the skill development and training program
of Google and CISCO. These companies puts their considerable amount of money and time in
developing training programs for skill development of their employees. The motive is to groom
their human power for enhancing their efficiency and productivity. As their skills and dedication
towards Career provide chances to experience more growth in the company. It depends upon the
employees and individual to enhance their skill and knowledge in which sectors and accordingly
training are provided by the companies to commit work.
Google offers several internships programs for the young people who aspires to join the
company in which they provide the necessary trainings to the freshers which would help them to
progress in their career. One of the training provided by Google is Developer Scholarship
Program that provides an opportunity to the graduates to learn about the insights of the coding,
developing of software etc. The organisation offers room to its employee to grow and develop. It
is a famous fact of google that it allows its employees to spend 20 % of their work timings on the
personal projects. This training and development strategy has benefited the company in an
enormous as its popular products gmail and Adsense were developed due to this initiative
(L e a r n i n g a n d d e v e l o p m e n t s t r a t e g i e s o f t h e w o r l d ’ s l e a d i n g c o m p a n i e s .
2 0 1 7 ) .
CISCO on the other hand, has CISCO university, this program facilitates its employees a
flexible development opportunities where they can learn, manage new skills for enhancing their
career development. Another training program of CISCO, is its Leadership series where
employers are given necessary training and are groomed for the next level in the organisation
such as position in senior management etc (Lerman, 2017).
These training and development programs provide useful benefits to the organisations as
well as employees. A survey was conducted by the LinkedIn, in which 94 % of the employees
said that they would prefer to stay longer in an organisation if it invested in their respective
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careers. The professional development training programs has helped the employees in learning
new skills, knowledge, expertise that has increased their proficiency in their work. The overall
job satisfaction increases on the part of employees, making them more passionate about their role
in the company. It also leads to development of soft skills such as communication, leadership,
time management, which helps the employees to collaborate more effectively with others at
workplace (Desimone and Pak, 2017). In addition these benefits, training and development
programs helps companies in the form of reduced employee turnover, establishment of learning
culture where employees are encouraged to grow personally and professionally, thus, providing
them soothing working environment. Efficiency and competency is achieved because of such
programs.
Skills are the major aspect for careers and through this ability one is liable to engaged in
job. Careers defines the journey of the individual which they have to choose to improve their
skills and enhance their capability for future growth (El Mansour and Dean, 2016). By looking at
the benefits of training and development programs in CISCO and Google, I want to develop new
skills as I will gain competitive advantage over my peers and colleagues and it will also provide
me a chance to learn new things which would help me to develop more knowledge (Hancock and
Walsh, 2016). Having those skills required by the employers would help me in getting the desire
role in those chosen companies which would boost my career development. Being a graduate, I
can take the online training programs of the Google which would give core IT skills regarding
the development of effective applications and software.
FINDINGS
The first finding which I came across regarding the skills and careers development to
employee is related to equality among the employees. As in case of Google company, they
mainly develop their employees interests in the organisation through not discriminating the
people and their employees which they recruit them to carry forward their work activities. As per
the research I came across various factors which affecting the skills of the employees and also
stop their career opportunities (Webb and Chaffer, 2016). Employees are discriminated on the
bases of Sex and colour and accordingly the jobs are preferred by the companies. Women are not
selected on such field where the work is dangerous and cause injury to the person. Under the
employment act, it is imposed that all employees are equal in eyes of law and same remuneration
is imposed to all the employees if they are committing same type of work. Google appoint
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employees according to the knowledge and skills which they are having to commit the work. As
if the employees are more knowledge and comfortable towards technology development than he
offers the post in that field if he is capable to bring new amendment in the technologies which
provides benefits to the companies (Gbadamosi and et.al., 2015).
I also came across various factors regarding the training development, as once
employees are appointed the major factors is related to providing training to that appropriate
post. The experience person gain knowledge from different sector and also their working
environment are also different in that case it is the duty of the senior manager to trained and
motivate the employees to achieve targets. As training is the important session which companies
spend lot of their earning to motivate their employee towards work. Employees had the least
knowledge about their Woking techniques and there strategies to achieve targets as they are not
familiar with the work premises and also they adapted knowledge and working experience in
some different way (Gledhill and Harwood, 2015). To develop skills and career opportunities,
time management is the first priority which every employees had to adapted and also it depends
upon the training to make employees more familiar with the importance of time.
Mainly, skills are developed if proper training is given regarding the time management.
As every employee's life are not fully dedicated to their company they also have their personal
life. This time management strategy helps the employees to manage their time in systematic
manner so that after office hours they can live their own personal life (Cohen, 2017). As careers
are the boom for every person and Every person want to grow in their life and earn more income.
But it all depends upon the management whether it can be life or time or any other social
activities which they are engaged in.
After having a deep study on their website available it didn't give more appropriate
reviews regarding training session which is given by the mangers to their employees regarding
committing work. As in comparison to GOOGLE company with the CISCO company. The
majorly difference Is related to training activities provided by the leaders. As in case of Goggle
use various innovative techniques to motivate their employees to achieve more targets. They
independently provide work to their employees so that they manage their work independently
and take decision accordingly (Jackson and Wilton, 2017). Through this strategy it helps the
senior managers to know more about there employees skills and strategy towards their work to
achieve goals. As the motivation given by leader are the major part to enhance their employees
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skills and development their knowledge to gather more information and communicates with their
senior mangers.
Google is known for providing exceptional benefits and career development opportunities
to its employees which is the reason why it has so dedicated workforce which has made the
company as one of the big four technology giant of the world. The company focuses on the job
training method where it gives room to its employees to work on their personal project also.
Such initiative has given Google two of its highly successful products, gmail and AdSense. Also,
the company emphasises on entry level training programs for the freshers which is the reason
why it provides online courses to Developers for furnishing their skills. It focuses on providing
in depth training to the especially to the freshers so that their basics can be made strong for
adsorbing the responsibilities and duties of their job role efficiently. The strategies used by the
Google company is highly innovative which has contributed significantly to the personal and
professional development of its employees (Akkermans and et.al., 2015).
In case of CISCO company, they trained that person who are from the specific fields. As
if the person is of IT field than proper training is allotted to them personally to enhance their
work. They are least interested in providing training to the person as, they personally develop the
skills to the employees so that they can use more creative and innovative ideas to develop the
productivity in the company (Brooks and Youngson, 2016). Through this technique they can
motivate the other employees to bring new changes in the work places.
Google company leaders trained their employees by providing training to set their own
goal, so that they can easily manage their work and time at the same moments they are curious to
take decision which are effective to the company structure. These techniques help the leader to
place their employees skills in a better way and they can also manage their own work through
more dedications and understandable manner. They use internal and external training activities to
motivate their employees towards work (Theaker, 2017). As through these activities, employee
are not stressed with their routine work and they also learn new things in their work premises. As
providing leaves and extra remuneration also enhances employees motivation and interest
towards companies. As due to not providing proper training, there is lack of retention of
employees in the company. Usually due to lack of attention in training purpose or not attending
any person personally and not solving their issue might results in lack of motivation towards
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employee which affect the stability of the company and also employees learn wrong things in
their work premises.
CISCO company, managers make different strategy to adapt the interests of their
employee. As they provide more powers to their employees to take decision in important mattes
of the company and also solve the matter personally. With this strategy they know more about
their employee and also they use creative and innovative method to attract the employees interest
(Hafsteinsdóttir, van der Zwaag and Schuurmans, 2017). As learning and gaining knowledge has
no limit and also every age is the right age to gain knowledge. I also found that CISCO company
uses various method to develop the employee's motivation and also appoint a mentor for the
individual person to manage their work personally and also guide them if they are wrong in
committing such work. I have learned from company's website that CISCO aptly utilizes the
power of technology and has set up a online portal within the organisation, where employees are
given free hand to learn new things, share their experience and manage their career development
opportunities (Obschonka and et.al., 2017).
The major training session which I came across is related to interest of providing heavy
task which is to be accomplished make, them in shorten way so that they can achieve more skills
about their employees and also it reduces the work load on the employees which motivate them
to learn before committing such work (Ballantyne and Povah, 2017). As lot of work load reduces
the interests towards the work and they are confused to commit the work in the right way this
reduces the skills and the knowledge of the persona as due to heavy task reduces the new
changes which they bring at the time of committing such work.
I also found various factors which helps in gaining an appropriate career opportunity if
the employees skills are fully refreshed and they are ready to gain more knowledge in the
company working. As graduation is must for the employees, as at time of appointment firstly it is
analysed that there education and graduation are enough to adapt the new learning and the
knowledge which they gained at the time of studies (Jackson, 2015). As to commit work and to
learn are different but the knowledge which they get if they are educated helps them to easily
adjust in any situation and can approaches to more level of success through their skills and
knowledge. If the employees get the appropriate job in which they have interest and also they
have deep knowledge in that sector which helps them to grow more and also the chances of
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success are high. This helps them to refresh their knowledge and also they can adapt more
knowledge at the time of working.
The best training session which is I found that the training given by the senior managers
of the company to their employees are in respect to guide them to keep a mentor which motivate
their employees and helps them to get the work easier. As to focused in life is the best way to
keep a real mentors who motivate them, provide positive energy to engaged their work activities
and also develop their learning skills (Jackson and Wilton, 2016). I am so impressed with the
training activities and also my views are very cleared as if the employees are not guided properly
or the leader which are appointed by the company are not guiding them in good faith, it affects
the reputation of the company internally and externally.
From the research that I did regarding the different perspective of training and
development of Google and CISCO, I learned one thing that google focuses on more technical
trainings and enhancement of technical knowledge of the employees (G o o g l e ’ s H R M :
T r a i n i n g , P e r f o r m a n c e M a n a g e m e n t , 2 0 1 7 ). It also emphases on team training for
establishing and concreting a team work culture in the organisation. This is provided for building
the trust and synchronicity amongst the team members of the company. While CISCO focuses on
developing employees into a great leader. The latter company has formed a leadership series
which is training module for the employees to learn about the leadership qualities and skill
(Coldwell, 2017).
I have analysed that the similarity between Cisco and Google regarding the training and
development programs is their motive. Both the companies aims to achieve greater level of
efficiency by developing their employees' skills and knowledge. The companies invests
considerable amounts in their skill development programs because they understand the value it is
going to add to the organisation (Donelan, 2016). Both the companies offer online training
programs to young graduates who aspires to join their company in the future. Both the
organisations, employs specific job training programs by the way of rotational job process, so
that each employee gets to know every bit of the organisation.
From the research that I undertook for my skill development in the Google and CISCO, I
came to know that companies have largely benefited by organising such skill development
programs for its employees. Highly skilled and experts in the companies are considered as their
competitive advantage in the market. These programs has helped the companies in motivating
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their employees by providing good working environment, higher job satisfaction (Grand and
et.al., 2015). It has helped in reducing the costs of operations in the sense that skilled and
knowledgable employees requires less supervision constantly, thereby the reducing the
requirement of supervisors. Performance of the companies have improved to a significantly by
possessing higher trained and skilled workforce.
CONCLUSION
From the above research, I came to the conclusion that training and development
programs organised by the companies have proved to be of highly importance as it has led to the
improvement in the financial performance of the companies. These programs such as Google's
Developers training programs provides internships to the young graduates who can learn how to
develop the applications and coding correctly and effectively. I analysed that these programs
could be of great use to me as it would help me in furnishing my skills that these companies
demands for the entry level graduates. This would help me in boosting my career development
plan for the future.
From the study, I also analysed that both the companies applies different kind of training
methods for grooming their employees. Like Google is more into on the job training where it
allows its employees to practise their new skills and their creative ideas to their job duties
through which it tries to offer the opportunity of personal development to its workforce
(McCracken, Currie and Harrison, 2016). Such a sense of autonomy has a positive effect on the
employees that assists in boosting their morale and attaining their satisfaction with the job. The
workforce has benefited in the way that they get to enlarge their scope of knowledge which
would further make them more desirable for the company for the higher position. This aspect
fulfils the employees' need of growth and development in the business entity (Savelsbergh,
Havermans and Storm, 2016). At last, I conclude that a person's skills and expertise increases
professionally through the trainings provided by the organisation at work which makes more
competent and highly desirable not even by its own company but by its competitors also.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Akkermans, J. and et.al., 2015. It's all about CareerSKILLS: Effectiveness of a career
development intervention for young employees. Human Resource Management. 54(4).
pp.533-551.
Ballantyne, I. and Povah, N., 2017. Assessment and development centres. Routledge.
Brooks, R. and Youngson, P. L., 2016. Undergraduate work placements: an analysis of the
effects on career progression. Studies in Higher Education. 41(9). pp.1563-1578.
Cohen, E., 2017. Employee training and development. In CSR for HR. (pp. 153-162). Routledge.
Coldwell, M., 2017. Exploring the influence of professional development on teacher careers: A
path model approach. Teaching and teacher education. 61. pp.189-198.
Desimone, L. M. and Pak, K., 2017. Instructional coaching as high-quality professional
development. Theory Into Practice. 56(1). pp.3-12.
Donelan, H., 2016. Social media for professional development and networking opportunities in
academia. Journal of Further and Higher Education. 40(5). pp.706-729.
El Mansour, B. and Dean, J. C., 2016. Employability skills as perceived by employers and
university faculty in the fields of human resource development (HRD) for entry level
graduate jobs. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies. 4(01). p.39.
Gbadamosi, G. and et.al., 2015. Employability and students’ part‐time work in the UK: does self‐
efficacy and career aspiration matter?. British Educational Research Journal. 41(6).
pp.1086-1107.
Gledhill, A. and Harwood, C., 2015. A holistic perspective on career development in UK female
soccer players: A negative case analysis. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 21. pp.65-77.
Grand, A. and et.al., 2015. Mapping public engagement with research in a UK university. PloS
one. 10(4). p.e0121874.
Hafsteinsdóttir, T. B., van der Zwaag, A. M. and Schuurmans, M. J., 2017. Leadership mentoring
in nursing research, career development and scholarly productivity: A systematic
review. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 75. pp.21-34.
Hancock, S. and Walsh, E., 2016. Beyond knowledge and skills: rethinking the development of
professional identity during the STEM doctorate. Studies in Higher Education. 41(1).
pp.37-50.
Hooley, T. and Dodd, V., 2015. The economic benefits of career guidance.
Jackson, D. and Wilton, N., 2017. Perceived employability among undergraduates and the
importance of career self-management, work experience and individual
characteristics. Higher Education Research & Development. 36(4). pp.747-762.
Jackson, D., 2015. Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and
best practice. Studies in Higher Education. 40(2). pp.350-367.
Jackson, D. and Wilton, N., 2016. Developing career management competencies among
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undergraduates and the role of work-integrated learning. Teaching in Higher
Education. 21(3). pp.266-286.
Lerman, R. I., 2017. Skill Development in Middle-Level Occupations. The Oxford Handbook of
Skills and Training. p.180.
McCracken, M., Currie, D. and Harrison, J., 2016. Understanding graduate recruitment,
development and retention for the enhancement of talent management: sharpening ‘the
edge’of graduate talent. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 27(22). pp.2727-2752.
Obschonka, M. and et.al., 2017. Entrepreneurship as a twenty-first century skill: entrepreneurial
alertness and intention in the transition to adulthood. Small Business Economics. 48(3).
pp.487-501.
Savelsbergh, C. M., Havermans, L.A. and Storm, P., 2016. Development paths of project
managers: What and how do project managers learn from their experiences?. International
Journal of Project Management. 34(4). pp.559-569.
Theaker, A., 2017. The PR industry and careers in it. In The Public Relations Strategic Toolkit.
(pp. 28-43). Routledge.
Webb, J. and Chaffer, C., 2016. The expectation performance gap in accounting education: A
review of generic skills development in UK accounting degrees. Accounting
Education. 25(4). pp.349-367.
Online
L e a r n i n g a n d d e v e l o p m e n t s t r a t e g i e s o f t h e w o r l d ’ s l e a d i n g c o m p a n i e s .
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w o r l d % E 2 % 8 0 % 9 9 s - l e a d i n g - c o m p a n i e s >
G o o g l e ’ s H R M : T r a i n i n g , P e r f o r m a n c e M a n a g e m e n t . 2 0 1 7 . [ O n l i n e ] .
A v a i l a b l e t h r o u g h < h t t p : / / p a n m o r e . c o m / g o o g l e - h r m - t r a i n i n g -
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