Career

This article is about a person's occupational history. For the board game, see Careers (board game). For the films, see Career (film).

Careers

Career describes an individuals' journey through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define a career and the term is used in a variety of ways.

Definitions and etymology

Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)". In this definition career is understood to relate to a range of aspects of an individual's life, learning and work. Career is also frequently understood to relate only to the working aspects of an individuals life e.g. as in career woman. A third way in which the term career is used is to describe an occupation or a profession that usually involves special training or formal education, and is considered to be a person’s lifework. In this case "a career" is seen as a sequence of related jobs usually pursued within a single industry or sector e.g. "a career in law" or "a career in the building trade".

The etymology of the term comes from the m. French word carriere (16 c.) ("road, racecourse") which, in turn, comes from the Latin word "(via) cararia" (track for wheeled vehicles) which originated from the Latin word carrus" which means "wagon".^{[citation needed]}

Historic changes in careers

For a pre-modernist notion of "career", compare cursus honorum.

By the late 20th century, a wide range of choices (especially in the range of potential professions) and more widespread education had allowed it to become possible to plan (or design) a career: in this respect the careers of the career counselor and of the career advisor have grown up. It is also not uncommon for adults in the late 20th/early 21st centuries to have dual or multiple careers, either sequentially or concurrently. Thus, professional identities have become hyphenated or hybridized to reflect this shift in work ethic. Economist Richard Florida notes this trend generally and more specifically among the "creative class".

Career management

Career management describes the active and purposeful management of a career by an individual. Career management is often seen as being underpinned by a series of attributes, abilities and skills which are usually described as career management skills (CMS). The Blueprint model of career management skills (in US, Canada, Australia, Scotland and England) is an attempt to describe what career management skills comprise of. Another career management framework is the Seven C's of Digital Career Literacy that sets out career management skills specifically relating to the online context.

A key aspect of career management is the ability to research opportunities and then to make career choices. Another is the ability to reflect on their current career and on labour market opportunities and then to make career changes.

Career choice

According to Behling and others, an individuals decision to join a firm may depend on any of the three factors viz. objective factor, subjective factor and critical contact.

• Objective factor theory assumes that the applicants are rational. The choice, therefore, is exercised after an objective assessment of the tangible benefits of the job. The factors helping him choose may be the salary, other benefits, location, opportunities for career advancement etc.
• Subjective factor theory suggests that decision making is dominated by social and psychological factors. The status of the job, reputation of the organization and other similar factors plays an important role.
• Critical contact theory advances the idea that a candidate's observerations during his interaction with the organization plays a vital role in decision making. For example how the recruiter keeps in touch with the candidate, the promptness of response and similar factors are important. This theory is more valid with experienced professionals.

These theories assume that candidates have a free choice of employers and careers. In reality the scarcity of jobs and strong competition for desirable jobs severely skews the decision making process. In many markets employees work particular careers simply because they were forced to accept whatever work was available to them.

Career (occupation) changing

Changing occupation is an important aspect of career and career management. As over the lifecourse both the individual and the labour market will change it is to be expected that many people will change occupations during their life. Data collected by the U.S. Bureaur of Labor Statistics through the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 1979 showed that individuals between the ages of 18 and 38 will hold more than 10 jobs.

A survey conducted by Right Management. suggests the following reasons for career changing.

• The downsizing or the restructuring of an organization (54%).
• New challenges or opportunities that arise (30%).
• Poor or ineffective leadership (25%).
• Having a poor relationship with a manager(s) (22%).
• For the improvement of a better work/life balance (21%).
• Contributions are not being recognized (21%).
• For better compensation and benefits (18%),
• For better alignment with personal and organizational values (17%).
• Personal strengths and capabilities are not a good fit with an organization (16%).
• The financial instability of an organization (13%).
• An organization relocated (12%).

Therefore being able to find and capitalise on new opportunities is an important career management skill. According to an article on Time.com, one out of three people currently employed spends about an hour per day searching for another position.

Career support

There are a range of different educational, counselling and human resource management interventions that can support individuals to develop and manage their careers. Career support can be offered at any point across the lifecourse. Career support is commonly offered while people are in education, when they are transitioning to the labour market, when they are changing career, during periods of unemployment and during transition to retirement. Support may be offered by career professionals, other professionals or by non-professionals such as family and friends. Professional career support is sometimes known as "career guidance" as in the OECD definition of career guidance.

The activities may take place on an individual or group basis, and may be face-to-face or at a distance(including helplines and web-based services). They include career information provision (in print, ICT-based and other forms), assessment and self-assessment tools, counselling interviews, career education programmes (to help individuals develop their self-awareness, opportunity awareness, and career management skills), taster programmes (to sample options before choosing them), work search programmes, and transition services."

However this use of the term "career guidance" can be confusing as the term is also commonly used to describe the activities of Career counselors.

Provision of career support

Career support is offered by a range of different mechanisms. Much career support is informal and provided through personal networks or existing relationships such as management. However where career support exists as a professionalised activity it needs to be organised and resourced. There is a maket for private career support however the bulk of career support that exists as a professionalised activity is provided by the public sector.

Types of career support

Key types of career support include:

• Career information describes information that supports career and learning choices. An important sub-set of career information is labour market information (LMI).

• Career assessments are tests that come in a variety of forms and rely on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Career assessments can help individuals identify and better articulate their unique interests, personality, values, and skills to determine how well they may match with a certain career. Some skills that career assessments could help determine are job-specific skills, transferable skills, and self-management skills. Career Assessments can also provide a window of potential opportunities by helping individuals discover the tasks, experience, education and training that is needed for a career they would want to pursue. Career counselors, executive coaches, educational institutions, career development centers, and outplacement companies often administer career assessments to help individuals focus their search on careers that closely match their unique personal profile.

• Career counseling assesses people's interests, personality, values and skills, and helps them to explore career options and research graduate and professional schools. Career counseling provides one-on-one or group professional assistance in exploration and decision making tasks related to choosing a major/occupation, transitioning into the world of work or further professional training.

• Career education describes a process by which individuals come to learn about themselves, their careers and the world of work. There is a strong tradition of career education in schools, however career education can also occur in a wider range of other contexts including further and higher education and the workplace. A commonly used framework for careers education is DOTS which stands for decision learning (D), opportunity awareness (O), transition learning (T) and self-awareness (S). Often times, higher education is thought of as being too narrow or too researched based and lacking of a deeper understanding of the material to develop the skills necessary for a certain career.

Some research shows adding one year of schooling beyond high school creates an increase of wages 17.8 percent per worker. However, additional years of schooling, beyond 9 or 10 years, have little effect on worker's wages. In summary, better educated, bigger benefits. In 2010, 90% of the U.S. Workforce had a high school diploma, 64% had some college, and 34% had at least a bachelor's degree.

The common problem that people may encounter when trying to achieve an education for a career is the cost. The career that comes with the education must pay well enough to be able to pay off the schooling. The benefits of schooling can differ greatly depending on the degree (or certification) obtained, the programs the school may offer, and the ranking of the school. Sometimes, colleges provide students more with just education to prepare for careers. It's not uncommon for colleges to provide pathways and support straight into the workforce the students may desire.

Much career support is delivered face-to-face, but an increasing amount of career support is delivered online.

External links

• United Nations (2002), Handbook on career counseling