Career development template and conversation resources

The template and conversation resources provided on this page can be used to:

• Focus on a team member’s career development
• Set mid- or long-term goals to develop key skills or learnings
• Help define potential paths forward related to the employee’s career goals
• Identify steps and supports to assist an employee in reaching their career goals

Career development conversations should embrace the BC Public Service one employer experience. This may involve a team member needing to change teams or organizations to achieve their career goals.

Download an MS Word version of the Career Development Template (DOCX, 76KB).

On this page

• Preparing for the conversation
• Suggested discussion questions

---

Preparing for the conversation

The following considerations can help guide employees and supervisors prepare for their roles in performance conversations.

Employee

• Reflect on your personal strengths and areas for growth 
• Identify skills you would like to use more or less of in future roles 
• Determine training and learning opportunities you would like to pursue 
• Consider the impact you want to have in your career 

Supervisor

• Reflect on the employee’s strengths and areas for growth 
• Review comments you have made in previous conversations with the employee 
• Consider the employee’s interests. Which of your contacts have overlapping interact areas or interest in mentoring? How might you connect employees with them? 
• Be aware of any rules or restrictions about training or learning for employees. For example, availability of training resources, access to external versus internal courses, etc. 

Suggested discussion questions

To help guide discussions, choose some of the questions below. You can also develop questions of your own. Capture significant outcomes and action items in the comments section of the template. 

Goals

• What are your career goals? What do you think you need to get there?  
• What specific goals would you like to achieve in the next year, two years, longer?  
• How would you define success for your career?  

BC Public Service

• What positions or opportunities are you interested in exploring within the BC Public Service?  
• What do you want your next position to be?   
• How do you see your career in the BC Public Service developing?  
• What positive impact do you want your career to have on the BC Public Service (both short term and long term)?

Strengths and areas for growth

• What strengths can you build on to develop your career in the BC Public Service?  
• In what areas do you want to grow? What can I and/or the organization do to help support this growth?  

Development

• What is one thing I can do to support your career development?  
• What is one thing you can do to support your own career development?  

Closing

• Is there anything else I should know?    
• What specific areas do you intend to work on before we next meet?   
• What feedback or suggestions do you have for me about this career development discussion?