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Effie Simanikas credits a mentor for helping her get a big promotion.

In this case, her mentor wasn't a person. It was a computer that her employer uses to track employee career development.

A variety of information about Ms. Simanikas - from her background experience to her career goals, aptitude tests to management evaluations of her performance - has been collected in a giant data base by her employer, gas and electricity marketer Direct Energy, a subsidiary of London-based Centrica PLC.

Thanks to that data base, Ms. Simanikas was offered a promotion to a job she hadn't even applied for or knew existed, she says.

How did that happen? When Toronto-based Direct Energy was looking last December for a vice-president of data management and shared services, its search committee turned to the data base to find worthy internal candidates. Ms. Simanikas's skills and experience matched what they were looking for.

It's a major promotion from her previous role as the company's director of information services.

"It's nice to know there's a system that helps you get noticed," she says.

"There's always a risk in a career that you can be doing all you can to get ahead, and no one sees it."

Having electronic eyes watch your growth at work sounds impersonal, but an increasing number of Canadian companies are computerizing the career development of their employees, the experts say.

And if your employer hasn't yet established a talent management data base, there's a good chance it's on the agenda, they add.

Talent management systems have become a hot button this year, says Gerlinde Herrmann, president of the Toronto-based human resources consultancy Herrmann Group Ltd.

With growing competition for talent, companies are eager to automate their talent management to find ways to better identify and develop people within their organizations rather than have to look outside for the skills they need, she says.

That's backed up by a poll from California-based software maker Success Factors last year. It found that 73 per cent of 300 large companies in the United States and Canada identified better talent management as a high priority for this year.

Even though 50 per cent of the companies said they have procedures to identify talent and track employee development, 78 per cent said they don't believe they are as effective as they could be at developing talent across their organizations.

In fact, when it comes to personnel evaluation and development, most companies still focus narrowly on departments rather than thinking company-wide, and managers file away performance reviews in a cabinet that may not be reopened until the next year's review time, Ms. Herrmann says.

But the ability to store large amounts of data, combined with a sharp drop in technology costs, has made it possible to set up corporate-wide data bases that can be reviewed and updated regularly, she says.

Going electronic has also become a necessity as companies grow and their work forces become international.

"We have too many people to track any other way," says Karen Wensley, Toronto-based national human resources manager for Ernst & Young LLP, which has 4,000 employees across Canada and 100,000 worldwide.

Like most talent management data bases, the system E&Y has developed over the past two years compiles profiles of employee skills that are based on results of aptitude tests and work experience. These are linked to management evaluations of progress toward goals that employees set in performance reviews, as well as estimates of their career potential made by their managers.

E &Y has added its own twist, prescribing a series of "competencies" that employees who want to keep moving ahead should try to develop at different stages in their career through training and work experiences, Ms. Wensley says.

For instance, employees are advised to have stints in more than one specialty and get some international experience if they expect to move into management, she explains.

Employees are all expected to participate in the on-line career development program. For privacy, managers and counsellors have access only on a need-to-know basis and employees have access only to their own files, Ms. Wensley notes.

Bruce Power Inc. hopes its newly launched talent management program will enable it to uncover "hidden gems," says Dwight Willett, executive vice-president of corporate services with the Kincardine, Ont.-based company, which has 3,600 employees.

"The people in-house don't always look as glamorous as those on the outside because we've known them for so long, This will give them a chance to star and develop the skills they need to move up," he says.

The company needs to fill as many as 50 senior management positions as well as hundreds of more junior roles each year.

And because the supply of experienced people in the labour market is tight, the company is trying to meet its needs through internal promotions, Mr. Willett says.

Because Bruce Power didn't want to develop a program from scratch, it decided to outsource its talent development to Korn/Ferry International, which has long used computers to evaluate talent in executive recruiting.

People identified with skills and potential will be put in a program that will make sure they get the training and experiences they need to be eligible for advancement, Mr. Willett says.

While specialists from Korn/Ferry will supervise the program, final decisions on promotion will still be made by the company's managers, he notes.

Even if employees don't aspire to management, computerizing the talent process helps them get recognized for their potential, and receive training and experience that can maximize it, says Janice Thomson, Toronto-based executive vice-president for human resources and marketing at Direct Energy.

That can strengthen someone's career position by pointing out their worth to the company, she adds.

"It identifies people who have strong technical skills that we don't want to lose," Ms. Thomson says.

All of the company's 4,700 employees in Canada and the United States are included in the "Map Your Career" data base developed in-house.

It includes not only factual information like someone's work record but also information like an employee's own career goals, management opinion about their potential and areas they should work on.

Employees like Ms. Simanikas can refer to their files in the data base any time they want to assess their progress toward their career goals.

Direct Energy finds through internal surveys that its talent development program makes employees feel more engaged, Ms. Thomson says.

"The feedback we get from employees is that the conversations they are having with their managers are more concrete and specific, which helps them make decisions to advance their careers," Ms. Thomson says.

And it also improves prospects of promotion.

Last year, 27 per cent of Direct Energy's employees received a promotion or a broadened responsibility, Ms. Thomson says. That's substantially up from about 10 per cent of the work force receiving internal promotions five years ago, before the company moved from paper to electronic talent management, she says.

The computerized process has led to other opportunities for Ms. Simanikas. Direct Energy's program previously flagged her as a potential candidate for two other jobs, one in finance last May and another in procurement last fall, she says. But they didn't fit her career goals so she decided not to pursue them.

The human resources position she took has proved to be a good fit.

No matter how active you are at managing your career, a talent management program can open doors wider.

"It gives visibility and opportunities to people who actively manage their career progress as well as those who are good workers and have potential but don't do anything to advance their career," Ms. Simanikas says.

"It can be a great equalizer for career development." Manage your own talent

Talent management programs can open up new opportunities for employees to advance their careers, the pros say. Here are their tips for making the process work for you:

Commit effort. This isn't like the old personnel review locked in a cupboard until the following year. Take the time to make sure information is accurate and up to date and follow up regularly on goals and recommendations.

Broaden your horizons. Set goals on what you would get from your career that you aren't getting now. The Internet is a good source of information about what others with skills and experiences such as yours are doing.

Be pro-active. Don't wait for your manager to suggest opportunities. Point out areas where you think you could be putting your skills to better use.

Ask for training. Your company is motivated to give you the opportunity to develop your skills. Look at areas you need to improve and find courses or experiences that will fill in your skills.

Review progress regularly. Computerized systems can be set up to allow access so that you and your managers can update information on goals and achievements. Access must be protected by passwords and restricted to those who have a need to know essential information.

Maintain face time. Although on-line approaches reduce the need for formal meetings and paperwork, don't neglect the value of face-to-face meetings with managers to build relationships.

Wallace Immen