> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.skillsdb.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Career Pathways > Learn how Career Pathways work in SkillsDB — define career structures with levels, sections, and skills to map employee progression and talent development. **Quick Summary:** Career Pathways in SkillsDB let administrators define structured career progressions — complete with levels, skill requirements, and training settings — so employees and managers can track growth and identify skill gaps. # Overview A Career Pathway (called a **Career** in SkillsDB) is a structured definition of a role or job function within your organization. Each career maps out the skills an employee needs, how those skills are organized into sections, and the progression levels a person can move through — for example, from Junior to Senior. Career Pathways serve as the foundation for talent development in SkillsDB. When an employee is assigned to a career, SkillsDB uses the career's structure to drive proficiency tracking, training requirements, and self-assessments. Managers and administrators can see each person's progress against the career benchmark, identify skill gaps, and plan development accordingly. Career Pathways are configured and managed by administrators. Managers can assign employees to careers and view their progress. Employees can view their assigned career overview through their personal dashboard. ### Understanding Career Pathway structure A Career Pathway in SkillsDB is made up of four building blocks: | Component | Description | Example | | ----------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | | **Career** | The top-level job role or function | "Software Engineer", "Product Manager" | | **Level** | Progression steps within the career | "Junior", "Mid-Level", "Senior" | | **Section** | A grouping of related skills within the career | "Backend Development", "Communication" | | **Skill** | An individual competency within a section | "Python", "REST API Design", "Code Review" | Careers can also belong to a **Career Type** — an optional category that helps organize careers across your organization (for example, "Job Role" vs. "Specialty Path"). **Note:** Each career is independent. A skill can appear in multiple careers, and each career defines its own training requirements and proficiency benchmarks for that skill independently. *** ## Prerequisites Before you create and configure Career Pathways, you need: * **Permission level:** Administrator role in SkillsDB * **Setup requirement:** Skills must already exist in your Skills Library before they can be added to a career * **Access:** Navigate to **Library > Careers** from the left sidebar Managers can assign employees to existing careers but cannot create or configure careers. Standard users (employees) can view their assigned career overview but cannot modify career structure or settings. *** ## Creating a Career Administrators create careers from the Careers Library. Each new career starts with a name and optional icon and type, and is then configured with levels, sections, and skills. 1. Navigate to **Library > Careers** from the left sidebar. 2. Select **Create Career** in the top-right area of the page. 3. In the **Add Job Role** modal, enter a **Career Name** (required). 4. Optionally, select a **Career Type** from the dropdown. 5. Optionally, select an **Icon** to visually represent the career. 6. Select **Create**. The career is created and opens in the career details panel, where you can configure levels, sections, skills, and settings. **Tip:** Use Career Types to organize large libraries of careers. For example, separate "Core Job Roles" from "Specialty Paths" or "Development Programs" so admins can filter and manage them more easily. *** ## Configuring Career Settings Each career has configurable settings that control how proficiency, training, assessments, and dashboards behave for employees assigned to that career. Access career settings from the career details panel by selecting **Settings**. #### Proficiency grading **Proficiency grading** enables skill-level scoring within the career. When proficiency grading is enabled, grade columns appear in the skills matrix and employees' proficiency scores are included in search and analytics results. When proficiency grading is disabled, grade columns are hidden and grading data is excluded from all search results and analytics reports. **Important:** Disabling proficiency grading on an existing career will hide all proficiency data across the career. The underlying data is preserved and reappears if proficiency grading is re-enabled. #### Training dates **Training dates** enables training approvals and makes the career's skills visible in the training matrix. When training dates are enabled, employees can request training approval for skills within the career, and those skills appear in **Team > Training > Training Matrix**. When training dates are enabled, you can also set a **Training Timeline** — the expected time for an employee to complete training for all skills in the career. The timeline is configurable in days, months, and years. #### Assessments **Assessments** include the career's skills in manager and self-assessments. This setting is only available when proficiency grading is enabled. If proficiency grading is disabled, assessments are automatically disabled as well. #### User dashboard The **User Dashboard** gives employees a personal career overview at **Profile > Career > Overview**. When enabled, the dashboard displays career-specific metrics and progress indicators. You can choose which components appear on the employee's dashboard: * **Career Description** — displays the career's description * **Training Dates Summary** — shows training completion progress * **Proficiency Summary** — shows overall proficiency across career skills * **Pinned Pages** — shows pages pinned to the career *** ## Managing Career Levels Career levels define the progression stages within a career. Levels are ordered and represent advancement — for example, Level 1 = "Junior", Level 2 = "Mid-Level", Level 3 = "Senior". Administrators manage levels from the career details panel. To add a level: 1. Navigate to **Library > Careers** and select the career. 2. In the career details panel, open the levels management section. 3. Select **Add Level**. 4. Enter a **Level Title** (for example, `Junior`, `Senior`, `Principal`). 5. Select **Save**. To reorder levels, drag and drop them into the desired position. The sort order determines how levels appear to managers and employees throughout SkillsDB. **Important:** If you delete a level that has employees assigned to it or benchmarks configured, SkillsDB will warn you before proceeding. Deleting a level with active assignments removes all assignment and benchmark data for that level. This action cannot be undone. *** ## Managing Sections and Skills Sections organize skills within a career into logical groupings. Each skill in a career belongs to exactly one section. Administrators add sections and then add skills to each section. #### Adding a section 1. Navigate to **Library > Careers** and select the career. 2. In the career details panel, select **Add Section**. 3. Enter a **Section Title** (for example, `Technical Skills`, `Leadership`, `Communication`). 4. Select **Save**. #### Adding skills to a career Skills are added from your organization's Skills Library into a career section. 1. In the career details panel, select the section you want to add a skill to. 2. Select **Add Skill**. 3. Search for and select the skill from the Skills Library. 4. Configure the following skill-level settings as needed: * **Training Required** — whether employees must complete a training approval for this skill * **Evidence requirements** — whether text field evidence or file attachments are required for training * **Training Expiration** — how long a training approval remains valid (configurable in days, months, and years) 5. Select **Save**. Skills can be reordered within a section by dragging them into the desired position. **Note:** Training expiration settings configured at the skill level override the career-level training timeline for that specific skill. Use skill-level expiration for skills that require more or less frequent recertification than the career default. *** ## Assigning Employees to a Career Once a career is configured with levels and skills, administrators and managers can assign employees to it. Each assignment optionally includes a level, which determines which proficiency benchmarks and training requirements apply to the employee. 1. Navigate to **Library > Careers** and select the career. 2. In the career details panel, select **Assign**. 3. In the **Assign Employees** drawer, search for and select the employees to assign. 4. Optionally, select a **Level** from the dropdown to assign the employee at a specific level. 5. Select **Assign**. The assigned employees now appear in the career's people list. Their skills profile, training matrix, and assessments will reflect the career's configuration. To reassign an employee to a different level within the same career, select the employee's current assignment and choose the option to reassign them to a new level. To remove an employee from a career, select the employee in the people list and choose **Unassign**. **Tip:** Assign employees to a specific level from the start. Employees assigned without a level will have incomplete benchmark tracking, since proficiency targets are defined at the level. *** ## Managing Career Types Career types are optional categories that help organize careers in the Careers Library. For example, an organization might use career types such as "Job Role", "Specialty Path", or "Development Program" to distinguish between different kinds of career structures. Administrators manage career types from the Careers Library by selecting **Manage Types**. To create a career type: 1. Navigate to **Library > Careers** from the left sidebar. 2. Select **Manage Types** from the top of the page. 3. In the **Manage Career Types** drawer, select **+ New**. 4. Enter a **Name** and optional **Description** for the career type. 5. Select **Save**. Once created, career types are available in the **Career Type** dropdown when creating or editing a career. Career types can also be used as filters in the Careers Library table to narrow the career list by type. ### Deleting a career Administrators can delete a career from the career details panel. If the career has dependencies — such as assigned employees, sections, skills, or levels — SkillsDB will report those dependencies and require confirmation before proceeding. **Important:** Deleting a career with active employee assignments will unassign all employees from the career. All sections, skills, and levels within the career are permanently removed. This action cannot be undone. Export any relevant data before deleting. *** # Common Questions No. Only administrators can create, configure, and delete Career Pathways. Managers can assign employees to existing careers and view employee progress within those careers, but cannot modify the career structure, settings, levels, sections, or skills. Yes. A skill from the Skills Library can be added to multiple careers. Each career defines its own training requirements, expiration timelines, and proficiency benchmarks for that skill independently. Changing a skill's configuration within one career does not affect the same skill in another career. If a career is deleted, all employees are unassigned from the career and all associated assessment, proficiency, and training data is permanently removed. This action is irreversible. Before deleting a career, export the skills matrix or review the career's people list to preserve any data you need. Yes. An employee can be assigned to multiple careers simultaneously. Each career assignment is tracked independently, with separate proficiency, training, and assessment records per career. No. Career levels do not trigger automatic progression. Employees do not automatically advance from one level to the next — managers or administrators manually reassign an employee to a higher level when appropriate. If you want to automate level advancement, see [Promotion Workflows](/core-concepts/promotion-workflows). A career level determines which benchmarks (target proficiency scores) apply to an employee. Employees assigned to "Junior" are measured against junior-level benchmarks for each skill, while employees assigned to "Senior" are measured against senior-level benchmarks. Levels also control visibility and requirements within assessments and the training matrix. Yes. Toggling off proficiency grading, training dates, assessments, or the user dashboard hides the corresponding features but preserves the underlying data. Re-enabling a setting restores full visibility and functionality without requiring reconfiguration. Navigate to **Library > Careers** and select the career. The career details panel shows a list of all assigned employees. You can also navigate to the **Skills Matrix** from the career details panel to see all employees' proficiency scores across every skill in the career. *** # Related Articles View and analyze employee proficiency across all skills in a career Track training completion and approvals for career skills Automate career level advancement and role transitions *** # Need Help? If you run into any issues or have questions, reach out to your organization's SkillsDB administrator or contact [SkillsDB Support](https://www.skillsdb.com/support).