Corporate History
The history of CDT is the history of how sweeping changes in the business world have affected how employees at every level respond to the shifting relationships between them and their organizations.From Outplacement to Inplacement
In the late 1970's America experienced major downturns in the auto, steel and related industries displacing tens of thousands workers, many in one-company towns.
Seeking to support the displaced labor force, which was unprecedented in an era when only top executives were provided with outplacement help, our visionary founder, Tom Jackson, author of numerous books including his classic "Guerrilla Tactics In The Job Market" created The Career Development Team (CDT), along with his partner, Elly Jackson. They developed the nation's first job-finding workshop program for hourly workers along with a complete process for creating, managing and staffing outplacement centers to support these workers in finding new training opportunities, jobs and careers.
CDT worked in major plant closings during these years with almost all of the steel and auto companies as well as Kodak, Polaroid, General Electric, Firestone, Goodyear, Colgate and many other large corporations both in the United States and in western Europe.
In 1982, AT&T was required to divest all of its local operating companies. Thousands of employees were offered early retirement packages or the option to stay with the company if they could find another job within the Bell System. This signaled our shift away from outplacement into employee development. We created comprehensive programs for AT&T and many of the operating companies as well, serving 25,000 employees during the transition.
The Birth of Employee Responsibility For Their Own Careers
The breakup of the Bell system heralded a sea-change in the fundamental precept of American business: that the corporation would guarantee lifetime employment and manage your career for you. Millions of people now knew they had to manage their own careers, but lacked the knowledge and tools. In answer, we created The Career Challenge™, first for Bell Atlantic (now Verizon), and later for others, training thousands of employees to manage their own careers within their companies. We recognized that our future was in the field of employee development. By 1985, we no longer offered outplacement.
In 1986, ownership of CDT shifted from the Jacksons to Jerry Sturman and Peggy Bier who have led the firm since then, offering The Career Challenge™ and related programs to hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide.
Employee Development In The New Global Economy
In the more than two-and-a-half decades that have followed, we've continued to expand our offerings based on the observation and client feedback that when organizational employees are trained and motivated to manage their own careers, they are able to increase not only their contribution to their companies, but their own satisfaction as well.
In recent years, development as a collaborative effort between the manager and the employee has become more and more important. Our newest programs are focused on providing maximum value to managers as well as supporting employee goals.
Our long tenure in the field has allowed us the opportunity to experience the many shifts in economies, lives of workers, attitudes of management, generational differences and popular management training initiatives. That experience informs us about which principles are of lasting value and how to grow and respond to ever-changing needs and character of the global workplace.
