Career management is to the individual as talent management is to the organization. Are you applying this logic to your talent management technology strategy? Are the needs of the employees and managers top-of-mind for the HR subcommittee at your organization in charge of turning the market buzz around integrated talent management into reality? If not, then I urge you to take a read.

Despite the threat of an economic slowdown, the demand for people with exceptional abilities and transferable skills will exceed the supply for years to come, particularly in today's dynamic and increasingly global business environment. The same macroeconomic trends driving the talent shortage are also producing unprecedented career opportunities. Think about it. The retirement of Baby Boomers means job openings. The globalization driving many organizations' top line growth means promotions and lateral assignments overseas for high potentials.

If your employees cannot find or do not feel they are being prepared by the organization to take on such roles, they will likely look elsewhere. A survey conducted by NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies in 2006 showed that New York professionals - while not a global sample, certainly a representative microcosm - expected, on average, to change careers - not jobs - three times in their lifetimes, and only 28 percent expected lifelong careers. Therefore, it is incumbent upon HR professionals and their business partners to create and manage career paths that help employees match their expertise and interests with the needs of the organization. However, the vast majority of these career paths will not resemble the linear tracks of our parents' generation. Gone are the days of checking in climbing a vertical ladder for 30 years to get that gold watch.

There are several reasons for this. For one, organizations have flattened over the past few decades, pushing responsibilities outward rather than simply up the management hierarchy. In addition, today's multi-generational workforce knows they cannot count on defined pensions when they retire. Couple this with longer life spans and work lives, and you have a employees who are more independent-minded than every. In addition, they have at their fingertips technologies that enable self-directed career exploration.

These dynamics should be a consideration to any HR professional or hopefully, team of professionals seeking to integrate their goals, systems, and processes developing a talent management technology strategy. Consider the end user employee who is less interested in automating what (s)he considers to be off-putting processes (e.g., performance reviews) and more about working in an environment that provides the tools that facilitate career management.

Given that more and more organizations these days are looking to help mobilize their key talent internally rather than let their most valuable assets walk out the door, it is incumbent upon employers to provide employees with user-friendly access to information and tools that enable them make well informed decisions to manage their careers. But what does the term, 'career management' actually mean? And what goals for helping the individual employee manage his or her career should an organization investing in new talent management systems (i.e., processes and technologies) have?

Let's start with a context and a working definition of what career management is before answering these questions. Career management within an organization is built on the premise that job security and advancement are based on experience, goal achievement and competencies (i.e., skills, knowledge and behaviors) rather than simply length of service. It entails an individual consciously taking stock of their strengths, interests, life events and development opportunities and applying them to possible future job roles inside the organization.

So what should a 'career management environment' have in order to make the experience a rich one for the employee?

First, it should have a single access point, for instance, some prominent real estate on an employee subportal with a career management brand. There should be a simple front page with instructions on how one can leverage the site to develop themselves. This front page should also provide access to possible career paths within the organization if there are any common ones - or even not-so-common ones with which some employees have found success. Employees should have the ability to search jobs in which they're interested as well.

Employees should also have access to their talent management applications from this page - performance management, learning management, etc. - from the place where they manage their careers as well. For instance, each of the jobs plotted along a career path or found in a search should have access to the following, all of which can be enabled through talent management systems:

• Access to a clearly defined job description - the level within the organization in which it resides, functional responsibilities, competencies needed, etc.

• Sample profiles of people actually in the job, perhaps with contact info for these people or HR representatives who can speak to the position further to see if it aligns with an employee's interests and skill sets.

• Job level (to indicate lateral and upward moves as well as pay scale).

• Links to competency assessments where someone interested can better evaluate their fit.

• Access to training and development opportunities associated with preparing someone for that job role.

• Links to apply for openings with this position description.

Career management is to the individual as talent management is to the organization. Are you applying this logic to your talent management strategy?