Career Mapping
Dimension: Direction · Type: Stage
A structured gap analysis between where you are now and where you want to go, broken down into skills, network, and blockers, with three time-bounded next steps.
Introduced by Adina Forsstrom (UNESCO) at the Career Development as a Psychosocial Hazard session of the UN Inter-Agency Career Week 2026, on 6 May 2026. Adina presented Career Mapping as the structured exercise that turns a vague desire to grow into a small set of concrete steps. Margaret Jones added the three-time-horizon framing (week, month, six months) at the end of the same session.
The framework
A 60 to 90 minute exercise that converts “I want to grow” into a small set of small steps you can take this week, this month, and over the next six months.
When to use it
- When you know you want to grow but cannot articulate what to do next.
- After a difficult moment in your career (rejection, restructuring, a disappointing performance review) that has triggered the need to reset direction.
- As an annual or biannual exercise to make sure your near-term effort is pointing somewhere coherent.
What you need
- Honest description of your current role: not the JD, what you actually do.
- A specific picture of where you want to go: a role, a level, a domain, a duty station, or a way of working.
- A list of the most relevant skills, relationships, and structural conditions in your current world.
- 60 to 90 minutes of uninterrupted time.
Steps
- Describe the current state. Write down what you actually do day to day, not the JD. Include the parts that energise you and the parts that drain you. Note the people you work with most often.
- Describe the desired state. Be specific. “More senior” is not a destination. “A P-4 evaluation specialist role at a mid-sized UN agency, with regular field travel and policy-influence opportunities” is. If you cannot picture it concretely, that is itself the first finding.
- List the gaps along three dimensions.
- Skill gaps. What competencies do you not yet have that the desired state requires? Be specific (M&E, financial management, stakeholder negotiation at ministerial level, donor reporting).
- Network gaps. Who do you need to know that you do not? Roles, not just names. (“People in evaluation functions across at least three agencies”.)
- Blockers. Structural conditions that constrain the move. Hiring freezes. Budget cycles. Geographic restrictions. Family circumstances. Be honest about which are negotiable and which are not.
- Translate each gap into a small step. Not “develop M&E skills” (vague) but “complete the LinkedIn Learning M&E track by end of June; volunteer to support the meta-evaluation working group for one quarter”. Use Micromobility Strategies as the menu of move types.
- Set three time-bounded actions. One you can do this week. One within the next month. One within the next six months. The week-action is the most important; momentum is built on small fast wins.
- Write the actions where you will see them. A note in your task system, your calendar, your bullet journal, a shared doc with a peer or coach. The map without the visible actions is just an exercise.
- Re-do the map every six months. The destination shifts as you learn. The map is a working hypothesis, not a fixed plan.
Template
| Dimension | Current state | Desired state | Gap | First small step (this week) | Next step (this month) | Bigger step (next six months) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role / responsibilities | ||||||
| Skills | ||||||
| Network | ||||||
| Blockers | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Worked example
A G-7 administrative associate has been doing programme work in practice for two years. She wants to move into a P-2 programme role within the next 18 months.
- Current state. G-7, administrative title. Real work includes drafting concept notes, monitoring partner activities, supporting the programme manager on donor reporting. People she works with: two implementing partners, the country-office programme team, occasional regional touchpoints.
- Desired state. P-2 programme officer at a similar agency, ideally in the gender or governance portfolio, willing to relocate.
- Skill gaps. Formal M&E skills (she does light monitoring, not formal evaluation). Donor proposal writing (she supports, does not lead). Regional or HQ-level stakeholder engagement.
- Network gaps. Programme officers at peer agencies. People in the gender or governance portfolios at HQ.
- Blockers. Her current grade and title do not match the work she is doing. The agency has limited internal G-to-P pathways. Family situation makes long-distance moves possible only in a six-month window in 2027.
- This week. Send three messages: to two G-to-P graduates she has heard about (network), and to her manager to schedule a Career Conversation about the role-vs-grade gap.
- This month. Enrol in the LinkedIn Learning M&E track. Volunteer for the country-office gender working group (micromobility, task force).
- Six months. Co-author one donor proposal alongside the programme manager. Apply to the next external G-to-P competition. Attend at least one regional event in the gender portfolio.
The map does not promise a P-2 role. It produces a set of actions whose cumulative effect makes the move plausible.
Pitfalls
- Vague desired state. “Move up”, “grow my skills”, “do more meaningful work” are not destinations. Without specificity, the gaps cannot be named, and without named gaps, the steps stay abstract.
- Skipping the blocker dimension. If you map skills and network but not the structural conditions, you produce a plan the system will quietly veto.
- Treating the map as the work. The map is preparation. The work is the small steps you committed to.
- Mapping alone when the picture is unclear. If you cannot articulate the desired state, the map is the wrong starting tool. Have a Career Conversation with a mentor first to clarify direction.
- Not re-doing it. Conditions change. A map from two years ago is a fossil; you need a current one.
When not to use it
When you are acutely depleted. The map asks for clarity and energy you may not have. Stabilise first, then return to the map when you can think.
How I use it
Personal note pending. Davide to fill.
Related frameworks
- Micromobility Strategies, the menu of move types that fill the steps column.
- Career Conversation Playbook, the structure for the conversations that often follow the map.
- 5i Framework, the broader five-dimension structure when the question is wider than gap analysis.
- BASIC Achievement Bank, the documentation tool that turns the steps into reusable application material.
Notes compiled by Davide Piga. Last updated 2026-05-09.