Week 12 - Career Development

Question 1

Theory of Vocational Personality Types (Holland)

Answer 1

RIASEC model - realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional
Areas of personal interest indicate job suitability

Question 2

Life-Span Development Theory to Career Development (Super)

Answer 2

Career stages involve developing realistic, stable self-concept
Stages
- Exploration
- Establishment
- Maintenance
- Disengagement
Critiques - rigid, does not account for different paths, assumes linear path

Question 3

Social Cognitive Career Theory

Answer 3

Based on SCT - people learn by observing, self-efficacy affects motivation

Personal inputs + contextual affordances > learning experiences > self-efficacy/outcome expectations > goals, actions, outcomes

Question 4

Life Design & Career Construction Theory (Savickas)

Answer 4

This emphasises career adaptability (an individual’s readiness and resources for dealing with vocational development tasks)
Career adaptability
- Career concern (indifference)
- Career control (indecision)
- Curiosity (unrealism)
- Career confidence (inhibition)

Question 5

What is career success?

Answer 5

Objective measures - salary, prestige, educational attainment, promotions
Subjective measures - job/life/career satisfaction
Choices in measurement - what motivates you? how will you measure success?

Question 6

Predictors of career satisfaction

Answer 6

Human capital - career planning, hours worked, political skills, education level
Organisational sponsorship - supervisor support, career sponsorship, training and skill development

Question 7

Predictors of career success

Answer 7

Salary - education level, political skills, work experience, cog. ability, age
Satisfaction - locus of control, supervisor support, career sponsorship, training opportunities, proactivity

Objective and subjective success moderately correlated but conceptually distinct

Question 8

How to achieve career success

Answer 8

Content mobility - merit-based success (hard work and improvement)
Sponsored mobility - political explanation (getting sponsorship)

Preliminary support for both (small to moderate effects)

Question 9

Job mobility

Answer 9

2.1 million people left a job in 2023 (8%) - younger workers more mobile than older workers
Duration in current job - 1-4 years (39%), <1 year (19%), 5-9 years (18%), 10-19 years (16%), 20+ years (10%)
Retrenchment - 2023 had rate of 1.7% (very low)

Question 10

Workplace exit

Answer 10

Average retirement - 56.9 years (younger for F)
Top 3 reasons - enough money, ill-health, redundancy (women more likely for family reasons)
Reasons for early retirement - family, work situation, satisfaction

Question 11

Why is workplace exit timing important?

Answer 11

Pension still main income for most retirees
162 000 back to work (wrong timing - finances, boredom, opportunity)
Older people likely to be turned down (ageism)
Accumulation of resources (financial, health, emotional, cog.) predicts retirement adjustment

Question 12

Dynamic Model of Retirement Resources

Answer 12

Retirement adjustment predicted by 6 buckets (health, wealth, social, cog., emotion control, goal setting)
Experimental study found that online modules aren’t enough for good retirement learning/planning (extra advice is required - holistic)