Self career management: effectiveness of an intervention process

Abstract

Since the 20th century, careers have undergone crucial changes (Arthur & Rouseau, 1996; Parker & Inkson, 1999; Thite, 2001), becoming increasingly “boundaryless” and “protean” (e.g., Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Hall, 1996; Seibert, Kraimer, & Crant, 2001). Due to this dynamic nature of work organizations (King, 2001, p. 65), career management practices are becoming more and more needed at the different career periods of adulthood (Kidd & Killen, 1992; King, 2001; Watts, 1996). Nevertheless, while traditionally the responsibility for career management was equally distributed between organisations and individuals, nowadays, it seems that this accountability lies almost exclusively on the individual (in Sturges, Guest & Davey, 2000). In this context, this study, being part of a larger PhD research, aims to discuss the concept of self career management, derived from Vocational Psychology. In addition, it also intends to present results of the assessment of a self career management intervention efficacy, which was oriented to facilitate that process in workers, at a public university in the northwest of Portugal. The program designated “Personal Career Management Seminar”, invites participants to foster an optimistic vision of their future, to increase their self-knowledge, exploration of advanced training opportunities, employment creation and attainment, as well as, life-career planning and decision-making competencies. For measurement purposes of the intervention impact, it has been used the Career Exploration Survey (CES; Stumpf, Colarelli & Hartman, 1983, EEV, adapt. by Taveira, 1997) to assess the career exploration process, and the Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI; Super, Thompson & Lindeman, 1985; IPC, adapt. by Duarte, 1997), to assess career concerns and valued life-career goals, at a pre and post-test. This measurement plan was administered to 60 research paid workers (38, 63.3% treatment group; 22, 36.7% control group) from both sexes (42, 70% women) with age ranging from 22-48 years old, (Mage=28.12, SDage=5.08), developing their research activities in exact, social and human science domains. In general, the results suggest that at pre-treatment both treatment and control groups are partially equivalent with respect to the assessed dimensions. Furthermore, the outcomes of the post-treatment indicate that this intervention promotes career exploration and reduces the level of career concerns in the experimental group. Main implications for human resources management in work organizations are outlined.