Career paths answers how ready is this employee for the job descriptions above them? For a selected employee it draws target job descriptions from the org-structure vertical tree — the employee's org unit and up to three ancestor units — and ranks them by a fit score modelled on internal mobility. It does not read the reporting hierarchy at all.
The page presents those job descriptions as a ranked shortlist of higher targets, banded by readiness (Ready now / Emerging / Gap / Not ready). The score is a starting point for a development conversation, not a promise of promotion.
Where to find it
/{slug}/app/grow/career-paths → pick a person.
The hard rule: the vertical tree, and above your grade
Target job descriptions must sit in the employee's own org unit or in one of up to three ancestor units, walked upward from OrgUnit.parentId. This is the same org-structure vertical tree succession planning uses — walked upward here instead of downward. Anyone/anything outside that path is excluded regardless of how well it would score. The reporting hierarchy (Level.reportsToId) plays no part; that field only drives the separate, purely structural upward/downward read on the org chart.
On top of the tree gate, a target job description must be genuinely above the employee's grade — its JobDescription.gradeRank must be strictly more senior (a lower rank number) than the employee's current level. Placeholder and archived Job Descriptions are never offered as targets, and when the same higher Job Description is reachable through more than one unit in the tree it is only shown once, at its shallowest distance.
How the score is derived
Each target job description is scored against the employee's current profile, level, job family, sub-sector and Saudi status, and the points blend into a 0–100 score. It mirrors the internal-mobility score, with the reporting-hierarchy factor replaced by an org-proximity factor that looks upward instead of downward:
| Factor | Default weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Same job family | 30 | The higher job description is in your current job family |
| Technical fit | 28 | How well your competencies meet the higher job description's technical requirements |
| General fit | 9 | How well your competencies meet the higher job description's general requirements |
| Same sub-sector | 9 | The higher job description is in your current sub-sector |
| Seniority fit | 12 | How close your level is to the higher job description — one step below fits best |
| Org-unit proximity | 10 | How close the higher job description's org unit sits above yours in the vertical tree |
| Saudi preference | 2 | Small boost when the higher job description prefers Saudis and you are Saudi |
The enabled weights always total 100. An HR admin can retune every weight — or drop a factor entirely — from Score settings in the tab header; the change is saved per workspace and every employee's shortlist recalculates. Career path keeps its own weights, stored separately from succession's — retuning one does not affect the other, even though the factor set looks the same.
The readiness bands
| Band | Default score |
|---|---|
| Ready now | 80–100 |
| Emerging | 60–79 |
| Gap | 40–59 |
| Not ready | below 40 |
Targets are grouped under these bands, highest first. The score thresholds are configurable per workspace from Score settings (in the tab header) — set the minimum score for Ready now, Emerging, and Gap; anything below the Gap threshold is Not ready. The thresholds must stay descending. Like the weights, career path's bands are stored separately from succession's.
When there is nothing to show
- The person is not assigned to a position. A career path is derived from the person's current job description; with no position there is no job description to score from.
- The position is not assigned to an org unit. Career path draws from the org-structure vertical tree — with no org unit there is no tree to walk.
- No higher-grade job description exists in the vertical tree. If the employee's unit and its ancestor units hold no real, non-placeholder Job Description of a more senior grade, there is nothing to rank — including when a nearby job description's grade is unset and so cannot be proven "above."
What you see per target
- The higher job description's title and the org unit it sits in.
- Its fit score and readiness band.
- A score breakdown — every enabled factor, its points, and (for the competency factors) the per-competency detail behind the number.
What this is good for
- Development conversations. Showing an employee the exact higher job descriptions reachable from their real structure, with a score and its reasons, makes the abstract idea of career growth concrete.
- Promotion planning. When a manager is weighing who to develop toward the next level, the ranked targets lay out where an employee is closest to ready, and why.
What this is not
- A reporting-line read. Career paths no longer walks
Level.reportsToId; it is a scored view of the org-structure vertical tree, not the old promotion ladder read off Reports to. - A lateral view. Sideways moves at the same level are a separate lens — see Internal mobility. Career paths is strictly the upward, higher-grade set.
- A promise. A high score does not mean a promotion will happen; that remains a human decision considering many factors the score cannot see.
Visibility
The HR-side career-paths surface is administrative. The employee sees the same scored, upward shortlist for themselves in their portal under Your career options.
Next
Internal mobility — the lateral-move lens, sitting alongside career paths — is covered next.