The foundation of the VCU HR plan is a university-wide job structure that groups jobs by function using a standard set of job titles. Most titles have three levels (e.g., Accountant 1, Accountant 2, Accountant 3).
Career paths provide opportunities for employees to advance through their careers by gaining competencies and experience to support their current role, as well as aspirational roles within or beyond their current job series or job family. Different career tracks are designed for individual contributors with deep subject matter expertise distinct from those who aspire to a supervisory, management or leadership role.
Managers can support and reward employees as they progress through their career path. This is accomplished through the Talent@VCU career development plan as part of the annual performance review process. Employees work with their managers to create an annual career development plan that addresses personal and career development needs related to the employee’s current position or to prepare the employee for future career interests and aspirations. The plan identifies specific development opportunities to help the employee obtain knowledge, skills, and abilities in the coming year. At the conclusion of the year, during the annual performance review process, the employee and manager discuss progress made against the prior year plan and develop a new career development plan for the year ahead.
Employees can advance through their career path to move up the job series to the next level in their position. Built within VCU's job family structure, all job titles have three levels:
Emerging: The initial phase of the job series. Employees in this phase are developing their skills in the role while building their foundational knowledge.
Core: Individuals often spend the majority of their career within the core of the job series. In this phase, employees are fully proficient in the duties and responsibilities of their positions and possess the foundational knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies to achieve organizational goals.
Expert: The expert phase of the job series is reserved for those individuals who possess unique or exceptional qualifications. These highly advanced and/or specialized skills enable individuals to achieve complex goals and demonstrate mastery of their roles.
For example, a job series might be Accountant 1, 2, and 3; Senior Accountant 1, 2, and 3. Each job title in the series will have a unique market range. Employees may be eligible for salary increases as they achieve milestones in their career path, both across the stages in their job series (emerging, core, expert) and up to the next job title in the series (1, 2, 3).
Q. What is Career Pathing @VCU and why is the university undergoing this project?
A. The Career Pathing @VCU Project is a multi-year project to transform VCU’s job structure into distinct career paths that provide employees with information about their current roles, as well as other related roles. Career paths define skills and abilities necessary for employees to grow in their roles. Another focus of this project was ensuring employees were appropriately slotted into the correct job title and level and that this was done consistently across the university. This project is a component of the Great Place HR Redesign.
Q. What was VCU Human Resources’ role in the project?
A. The project team for this initiative was composed of members of VCU HR. The team engaged hundreds of employee subject matter experts (SMEs) in each job family to provide insight regarding job specific duties, skills, technology, compensation and development. HR provided its expertise in compensation programs and talent development and aligned staff feedback on each job series to complete the finalized pathways.
Q. How was the Career Pathing @VCU structure developed and who provided input?
A. The Career Pathing @VCU structure was based on the current university job structure, where job titles are grouped into job families that share similar functions. Each job title also exists within a job series, which refers to how there are multiple levels of a single job title.
Q. Will Career Pathing @VCU build in flexibility so that as new jobs are created in the future they can be added to the structure?
A. Yes, the new career pathing structure will be flexible enough to grow with the university. As new jobs/job series are created, additional paths will also be developed to ensure that each series has a pathway mapped back to the position’s required education, knowledge and skills.
Q. How will VCU ensure pathways accurately reflect work being done and that slotting and pay grades are consistent across the university?
A. The career pathing validation process incorporates extensive evaluation from employees and VCU managers. This process provides a framework to ensure job skills, knowledge, and abilities accurately reflect the projects/work being done in the position. VCU HR performs regular compensation reviews. The salary ranges for each job title are available in the job summary tool.
Q. How will Career Pathing@VCU help me with my current job?
A. The job structure provides a clear, consistent, and relevant approach to how jobs are organized. This enables visibility into the jobs and salary ranges at the University so employees can determine the direction they would like to take their careers. Most VCU jobs are organized by a job series with 3 base and 3 senior levels. The job summary tool allows employees to access job summary, typical duties, responsibilities, expertise and qualifications for jobs across the university. It includes a comparison tool that enables employees to compare two positions side-by-side and provides a clear description of the skills and qualifications required for a job; this is the foundation for career development.
Q. Where can I find out about VCU positions that interest me?
A. The job summary tool features more than 550 position profiles to help staff inform their future employment and advancement outlooks. Under each profile position, typical duties, expertise, licensure and education are provided. The salary ranges for each level of the job series are also available. Job postings for positions that are currently open can be found on Talent@VCU.
Q. How does Career Pathing@VCU impact performance evaluations and merit processes?
A. The performance evaluation and merit processes stay the same. Career Pathing @VCU provides resources to aid in the creation of new development plans that include career goals that support employees’ growth. The plan identifies specific development opportunities to help the employee obtain knowledge, skills, and abilities in the coming year. At the conclusion of the year, during the annual performance evaluation process, the employee and manager discuss progress made against the prior year plan and develop a new career development plan for the year ahead.
Q. Who do I contact if I have other questions about Career Pathing@VCU?
A. Managers and unit HR professionals and HR associates are equipped to assist with clarification and access to resources. More details on Career Pathing @VCU can be found on our Career Pathing web page.
