5 Steps to Building an Internal Career Path to Retain Talent

Oct 30, 2024 Read time: 6 minutes

Key Takeaways

Building clear, personalized career paths aligns employee aspirations with organizational goals — boosting engagement, retention, and long-term growth.
Continuous learning, transparent communication, and regular feedback empower employees to take ownership of their development and thrive in evolving roles.
With data-driven insights and AI-powered tools like UKG Talent Marketplace, organizations can create people-centered career development strategies that drive success.

The term “career development” has evolved from just a buzzword to a key component of employee retention and engagement for organizations. A well-defined career path motivates employees while aligning their unique aspirations with the greater goals of the organization. When companies invest in creating clear internal career paths, they can significantly reduce turnover and improve employee morale.

Let’s explore five actionable steps that talent leaders can take to build effective career paths that benefit both employees and organizations:

1. Assessing current skills and future goals

The first step in creating an effective career path is to assess how skilled and experienced your people are today and help them shape their vision for the future.

Conducting skill assessments

Begin by conducting comprehensive skill assessments across teams. This will help leaders visualize the strengths, areas for improvement, and potential across the workforce to lay the groundwork for tailored career development plans. Leverage data from current roles and previous work history as well as tools like self-assessments, peer reviews, and manager evaluations to provide valuable insights into an employee's skill set.

Encouraging goal setting

Encourage collaborative goal planning between leaders and their people to create a roadmap that aligns individual aspirations with the organization’s strategic direction. Setting dynamic short-term and long-term goals not only focuses day-to-day efforts on elevating their performance but fosters a sense of ownership over their career path and sparks conversations that help employees share aspirations and what inspires them to do their best work.

2. Creating personalized development plans

Once you have a clear understanding of employee skills and goals, the next step is to create tailored development plans.

Designing individualized development plans

Effective development plans should include a combination of self-paced learning, guided training, mentorship, and job shadowing opportunities tailored to each employee’s career goals, skill set, and work environment. Identify key competencies needed across various roles and departments to create a path that prepares people for success from day one. For example, pairing new hires or entry-level employees with seasoned mentors can accelerate training and foster a culture of belonging while developing those mentors into the leaders of tomorrow.

Identifying milestones and opportunities

In addition to individualized plans and actionable goals, it is important to outline key milestones and potential job possibilities. Empower people to visualize unique career paths while choosing the best journey to fit their lifestyle. For example, if someone is early in their career and would like to gain diverse work experiences, they may choose a flexible journey with more milestones and job opportunities along the way. If there is an experienced leader looking to pivot industries and achieve another leadership role soon, they may choose a more direct route to their desired position.

Building a culture of collaboration and trust among teams is crucial for engaging and motivating individuals who have identified their dream job but recognize significant skill gaps that stand in the way of achieving their vision.

3. Offering continuous learning opportunities

In a successful work environment, ongoing learning and skill development is essential for both employee and organizational growth.

Providing access to training

Invest in ongoing training programs, workshops, and certifications to keep employees engaged and equipped with the latest industry knowledge. Make learning a year-round initiative aligning to career paths, instead of just a set of standard courses to renew each year. Offer on-demand learning tools that are dynamic and immersive enough to serve employees in the flow of work. Allow flexible workers to quickly complete digestible learning sprints to prepare for short-term work assignments such as gigs or volunteer opportunities. By making learning a priority, organizations can cultivate a culture of innovation and adaptability.

Encouraging cross-departmental training

Keep employees motivated and engaged by ensuring each learning experience is relevant to their evolving interests and goals. An impactful learning strategy should go beyond training people for their current roles to offer skill-building opportunities to reach the next milestones in their career path.

Consider implementing cross-departmental training programs to transform role-based workers into well-rounded professionals. Empowering employees to explore work assignments or gigs outside of their team not only broadens career possibilities but also fosters collaboration and understanding across different functions, creating a more cohesive workforce culture.

4. Establishing clear communication channels

Effective communication is the backbone of any successful career pathing strategy. It fosters an environment where employees feel valued, heard, and engaged in their own growth.

Equipping managers

Ensure managers are equipped with scalable career development tools that facilitate ongoing planning and dialog about career paths. Expand beyond the yearly performance review to infuse meaningful career conversations and feedback loops into regular one-on-one meetings—providing the opportunity to discuss career aspirations, development goals, and progress. Leadership may not always be a one-to-one relationship when it comes to career development. Some employees can benefit from mentorship programs to accelerate onboarding and succession or advocate for their growth within an organization.

Creating transparency

Build trust in leadership by establishing clear criteria for promotions and career advancement. Transparency around these pathways can reduce uncertainty while encouraging a culture where people feel safe to express their career ambitions, even if they lead to opportunities outside of their current roles. By creating a safe environment for exploration rather than restriction, organizations can empower employees to pursue their interests, ultimately leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates.

5. Tracking progress and providing feedback

Regularly tracking progress and offering constructive feedback are vital to the success of career development initiatives.

Regular check-ins

Schedule regular check-ins that serve as touchpoints for assessing progress and recalibrating goals as needed. These meetings should be seen as collaborative discussions rather than formal evaluations, which often creates anxiety and discourages transparent feedback. Inspire leaders and mentors to adopt a coaching mindset during check-ins, focusing on understanding employees’ aspirations, challenges, and achievements while leveraging AI-powered talent solutions to provide tailored feedback that reflects the employee’s unique growth and career path. Over time, this practice not only builds rapport between managers and their teams but also reinforces a culture of continuous improvement and support.

Using data to inform decisions

Not only can you leverage talent data to drive meaningful check-in conversations and performance reviews, but AI-powered insights can also help to make informed decisions regarding promotions and development opportunities. Analyzing performance metrics and engagement surveys can help identify trends and areas for improvement, ensuring that your strategies remain effective. For example, if data reveals that a specific group consistently excels in certain competencies, organizations can develop targeted training programs to further enhance those skills and prepare for succession. By continuously refining approaches based on data-driven insights, companies can enhance their career development programs, making them more relevant and effective, ultimately leading to improved retention rates.

In summary

Investing in internal career paths is not just a retention strategy; it is a commitment to long-term growth and loyalty within the workforce. Illuminating the best path forward for every employee requires organizations to understand that employees are individuals first—with unique aspirations, skill sets, and preferences. As people-centered workforces prioritize building internal career paths, they position their organization as a leader in talent development, paving the way for a brighter future.

Ready to elevate your talent management strategy, boost retention, and fuel innovation within your organization? Discover how UKG is revolutionizing the approach to internal career paths with UKG Talent Marketplace, designed to serve diverse workforces by expanding opportunity and delivering a way to visualize the evolving journey and needs of every person, their employment, and their work. Visit UKG Talent Management to learn more.