Taking Control of Your Career

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Taking Control of Your Career

• Sandra Haase Catherine Steele
• Centre for People _at_ Work

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Careers today

• Dramatic transformations in organisations
• New Career Realities
• Careers are boundaryless
• Individuals need to take ownership of careers
• Definition of career changed

3
Work to live or live to work?

• Schein (1990) Internal vs External Career
• Internal subjective, individual-oriented view
• External objective realities and constraints in
  the world of work

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Definition of Career

• Objective career - ordered movement of
  individuals among a patterned sequence of
  positions
• Subjective career - sense that individuals make
  of their careers, their personal histories, and
  skills, attitudes and beliefs that they have
  acquired
• Definition career
• the sequence of employment-related positions,
  roles, activities and experiences encountered by
  a person (Arnold, 1997)

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Career Success

• Objective career success (OCS)
• Perception of an individuals career by other
  people or by society - reflecting shared social
  understandings
• Generally measured on external standards e.g. pay
  or number of promotions
• Subjective career success (SCS)
• Individuals perspective, their internal
  interpretation and evaluation of their careers
• Generally measured on internal standards e.g.
  perception of success with regards to payment,
  job success, life success etc.

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Career Competencies

• Introduction of competency concept to career
  context
• Definition career competencies
• behavioural repertoires and knowledge that are
• instrumental in the delivery of desired career
• related outcomes
• Operationalised Career Competencies Indicator
  (CCI)

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Career Competencies II

• Goal setting and career planning (5)
• Self-knowledge (5)
• Job-performance (5)
• Career-skills (7)
• Knowlege of (office) politics (5)
• Networking and mentoring (8)
• Feedback seeking and self-presentation (8)

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Data collection

• Measures in online questionnaire
• CCI
• OCS income and number of promotions
• SCS career satisfaction, job success and life
  success
• demographics incl. age, gender, education,
  marital status
• Career salience and personality
• Sent to random sample of 1000 police officers in
  collaborating organisation and all employees of
  UW
• 406 responses (269 police, 110 UW) received

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Analysis and outcomes

• Multiple regression analysis showed that CCI
  sub-scales jointly contributed significantly to
  the prediction of SCS and OCS
• For SCS the contribution of the CCI sub-scales
  was even significant over and above the impact of
  demographics, career salience and personality

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Importance of Career Self-Management

• Career competencies not only important for OCS
  but also for SCS
• Ability to manage own career effectively may
• Provide individuals with sense of control
• Prevent them from interpreting situations as
  stressful
• Function as coping strategy and help overcome
  barriers
• Encourage more positive work attitudes and lower
  stress levels

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Career Anchors

• Career anchors describe a constellation of self
• perceived attitudes, values, needs and talents
• that develops over time, and which when
• developed, shapes and guides career choices
• and directions. (Schein, 1975)

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The 8 Career Anchors

• General Management rise to a high level in the
  organisation
• Functional Expertise seek high levels of
  challenge in expertise
• Autonomy want working life to be under your
  control
• Security Stability need to feel economically
  secure stable
• Sense of Service job must fulfil the values you
  hold
• Pure Challenge enjoy overcoming impossible
  barriers
• Creativity want to create a product/service of
  your own
• Lifestyle want work to integrate with other
  areas of your life

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Data Collection 1

• 40 item on line questionnaire to assess career
  anchors
• Sent to various organisations in the UK
• 606 responses
• Participants received personal profile in return
  for completion of questionnaire

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Popularity
Frequency Lifestyle 225 Functional Expertise
96 Sense of Service 87 Security 66 Autonomy
53 Pure Challenge 41 Creativity 25 General
Management 13
Tan Queks (2001) method Lifestyle 222 Sense
of Service 145 Security 107 Functional
Expertise 89 Autonomy 82 Pure Challenge
56 Creativity 39 General Management 14
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Person Job Fit Study

• Matching anchors to jobs
• Measures used
• - Job Satisfaction,
• - Organisational Commitment, - Career
  Salience
• - COI
• 180 WMC employees

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Analysis Outcomes

• Multiple regression analysis found that fit
  between job profile and career anchor profile
  predicts both JS OC
• No moderating effect was found for career
  salience

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But

• Between 1988 and 1998 the male part time
  workforce increased by 138 from 556,000 to
  1,320,000.
• Research suggests a link between the
  traditional view of careers and stress (Cooper,
  2005)
• Most organisations still only operate a vertical
  career progression model (CIPD 2003). Only 26
  of organisations offer career management for all
  staff
• Most common strategic objectives of career
  management are growing future senior management
  or retaining key staff (Hirsh 2005)

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Recommendations

• Be aware that fit between career values and job
  role is likely to impact on performance
• Encourage organisations to take a broader view of
  career management
• Recognise importance of subjective side of career
  and career success
• Support individual career management by helping
  individuals to develop career competencies

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Contact Details

• Sandra s.haase_at_worc.ac.uk
• Catherine c.steele_at_worc.ac.uk