Career Pathways

I have been thinking a lot about "career pathways" in my field, which is economic development. Clear career ladders or pathways do not exist. This is problematic for people working in the field because they are not sure how to progress from one job level in the field to the next. Many top-out quickly and migrate to other fields. Despite being a fascinating field, professional growth potential of practitioners is restricted by this situation.

Why are there no clear career pathways and ladders? This situation exists because economic development is an "emerging" profession, which means that people working in the field are still trying to define the field's core knowledge base and professional practices. Yes, you guessed it. We have been making it up as we go along. In theater, they call that "improv." All of us know that there is plenty of improv in local economic development. Just look at the economic development scene in Greater Cleveland.

I believe we need a greater "consciousness" of these issues in the field. First, we need a consciousness of what we do, that is the actual work we perform. Second, we need to know more about the impact and implication of what we do on society. How much are we helping and who do we help? Third, we need to take stock of "how" we do things. Are we doing our work in a professional and ethical way. Finally, we need to experiment with new strategies and techniques and learn from our experiments. That takes openness and a willingness to improve upon what we do.

By my estimate, there are at least 25,000 economic development organizations across the country. That is only an educated guess since an actual census of organizations and people working in the field does not exist. The people who work in these organizations deserve more help in understanding how their careers will develop in the future.

Do you have any thoughts of this issue? I'd like to hear them. Thanks.