Career Development Survey Template

Ask employees what they want to develop over the next six months and what support they can access. This career development survey helps people teams plan opportunities beyond a list of requested courses.

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Career growth can mean deeper expertise, a new responsibility, or a different direction. Give employees room to define it. Then ask what stands between that goal and a useful next step.

When to use this career development survey

Use this template to plan employee development opportunities across a team or organization. It explores future interests and access to support, rather than rating job performance or promising promotion. SurveyLegend helps collect those priorities in a consistent format.

If the decision is which work skills need training now, review training priorities .

7 questions for your career development survey

Use these seven questions as a starting point. Every field is optional. Choose one answer where choices are listed and leave irrelevant text fields blank.

Respondent introduction:
Think about the next six months of your working life. Share the development priorities you are comfortable discussing. These answers support planning and do not guarantee a role change or funded opportunity. All questions are optional.

Try the survey

A little feedback. A clearer picture.

Explore this 7-question example at your own pace. Every question is optional.

SurveyLegend demo Question 1 of 7

Career Development Survey

01 What kind of development would you most like to focus on?

Choose one answer, or skip this question.

02 What specific skill or experience would you like to develop?

Share your answer, or skip this question.

03 How clear are the development opportunities currently available to you?

Choose one answer, or skip this question.

04 How easy is it for you to access useful development support?

Choose one answer, or skip this question.

05 Which type of support would be most useful for your next step?

Choose one answer, or skip this question.

06 What is the main barrier to working on your development goal?

Choose one answer, or skip this question.

07 What would be a useful first step over the next six months?

Share your answer, or skip this question.

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How to customize your career development survey

Explain what decisions this survey will inform. Keep performance ratings and promotion decisions in their established processes. Include learning through assignments and relationships as well as formal courses. If you need individual follow-up, offer a separate opt-in conversation route rather than quietly identifying replies.

Before sharing, try the questionnaire with a few intended respondents and clarify anything they interpret differently.

Use a survey welcome page in SurveyLegend to explain which development decisions the responses will inform.

Printable career development survey template

Use this printable career development survey template during a development planning session, with a clear return process for private feedback. It gives people who prefer paper or are less comfortable online another way to respond. Include the same context, questions, and answer choices as the online version. Tell respondents where to return it and who will review it. Paper answers need separate review or manual entry; they are not automatically added to online responses.

Download Career Development Survey Template (PDF)

AI prompt for your career development survey

Find the next development step your employees want support with.

The prompt below includes all seven questions and their response settings. Copy this prompt into an AI assistant to draft the questions. Review the draft, then build and customize the survey in SurveyLegend before sharing.

Copy the prompt into an AI assistant to draft the questions, then build your survey in SurveyLegend.

Already have an account? Sign in to create your career development survey.

How to use the answers

Group priorities by growth direction and support requested, then compare awareness with access. A course may already exist but be difficult to find or impossible to attend during current workloads. Choose a practical response to those barriers and communicate what will change. Do not treat a requested opportunity as a promise of career movement.

SurveyLegend's guide to organizing open-ended feedback can help group learning barriers and requested support before deciding what to change.

A career-development meta-analysis distinguishes the availability of career support from its use. This template applies that distinction by asking about awareness and access, not only which activities employees want.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a performance review?

No. It asks about future development interests and support. Keep evaluation of current performance in a separate process.

If you also need a separate skills review, SurveyLegend's guide to employee knowledge assessments explains approaches for that different task.

Should career development mean promotion?

Not necessarily. Employees may want deeper expertise, different assignments, or transferable skills without changing job level.

What should the team do with the results?

Identify feasible opportunities and access barriers, explain what can be offered, and provide a route for individual development conversations.