Career Conversations Process

The supervisor emails the team to set expectations and a timeline for the Career Conversation process. Get started with this email template.

Employee independently completes Career Conversations self-reflection and planning sections of the Career Conversations form (Word).

Need help with individual sections of the Career Conversations form? View the Deconstructed Career Conversations Form page.

This step is completed when the employee sends the form to their direct supervisor.

Supervisor reviews the form and enters their own notes in preparation for the Career Conversations meeting.

This step is completed when the supervisor returns the form to the employee and they schedule a meeting.

Employee and supervisor have a live, face-to-face conversation (in-person or on video call) about the employee's plans for development and growth over the next year.

This step is complete when the meeting has adjourned.

Supervisor makes final comments on the form and signs the document.

This step is completed when the supervisor returns the signed form to the employee for review.

Employee uploads completed form into UAccess. 

Supervisor verifies that the employee uploaded a completed and signed Career Conversations form.

This step is completed when the supervisor clicks "Confirm" on the UAccess "Complete Evaluation" popup.

Uploading your completed documents to UAccess has many benefits.

1. It provides a centralized location to store your conversation that:
   • is more secure and accessible than keeping the file on your desktop, in a folder online, or a filing cabinet.
   • ensures you won’t lose or misplace your copy.
   • makes it easier to search through all previous Career Conversations at once.
   • creates a simple way to look back at the goals you set throughout this year, or when you start working on next year’s conversation.
   • is easily referenced as you discuss achievements during career progression discussions.
      
2. Documents stay with your employee profile even if you change positions within the university or your direct supervisor changes.

Uploading Career Conversations to UAccess replaces emailing them to Employee Records.

Yes. Regardless of how your area conducts career feedback, we encourage staff members to upload their completed documentation to the Career Conversations tile on the UAccess Employee Main Homepage.

All employees must upload their own Career Conversations or other career feedback forms to their UAccess account. This process ensures confidentiality and allows employees to ensure the correct materials have been posted to their records.

If you or someone on your team does not have a computer readily available, please work with your department to determine the best method to access one.

There is a Career Conversations dashboard in UAccess Analytics. Employees with HR_BI_MED provisioning or higher can access this report

Use this report to see who in your unit has uploaded their completed Career Conversations documentation and whether their supervisor has approved it. Please note: You will NOT have access to the Career Conversation documents themselves; they are confidential. 

Please review the Accessing the Career Conversations Dashboard in UAccess Analytics (PDF) for guidance.

All university staff should engage in career planning with their supervisors. 

The formal Career Conversations process should be completed with staff who have been in their role for at least six months. That provides enough time for the staff member to understand their position well enough to strategically plan for the future.

Prior to six months, supervisors and their staff should engage in regular feedback about job expectations and success as part of the onboarding process. 

• Before the university had a common date for completing Career Conversations, staff feedback shows that the process felt unclear and that Career Conversations didn't always happen. The April - June window:
• Accommodates both academic and fiscal timelines
• Establishes the expectation for staff members and supervisors for an annual process
• Allows for tools and resources to be developed and shared with you
• Streamlines communications sent to your inbox
• Will enable easier tracking of completion rates

It can be difficult to express disagreement with a supervisor, but honest conversations make for better working relationships. If the supervisor chooses not to change the comments following a conversation, the staff member may document the disagreement on the Career Conversations form.

Career Conversations are not intended to compare staff members to one another, but rather to develop individualized development plans for each person.

Completion of Career Conversations is separate from pay decisions; however, performance issues discussed in the Career Conversations process, such as not meeting goals or addressing areas of needed and expected improvement, are part of the staff member's record. Career Conversations records would be evaluated to determine merit pay or potential disciplinary action.