![\"Super](\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Super-career-cycle-game-board.jpg\")
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I recently wrote about<\/a>\u00a0how our choice of careers can be largely determined by culture and genetics. What about our path within that career choice? Are we predestined to perform a certain way based on a prescribed career stage?<\/span><\/p>\n I consider these questions in light of the changes in Australian politics this week<\/a>. At least one person has had to unexpectedly reassess her career options and both Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd are entering into new potential stages in their careers. In doing so they are sharing in what is experienced by the wider working population on a regular basis.<\/p>\n Viewing careers in stages aligns with a perspective that much of life happens in cycles.\u00a0 We wake and sleep according to the cycle of the sun, profits rise and fall based on seasons, business outcomes are measured by \u201cmonth-end\u201d and \u201cfinancial years\u201d, and markets follow life-cycles of projects, products and organisations.<\/p>\n Career theorist Donald Super\u00a0articulated a similar cycle to our careers in his life-span and life-cycle approach<\/a> to career development.\u00a0 Super identified five stages and the types of tasks typically associated with each stage:<\/p>\n Others such as Daniel Levinson<\/a> generalized these stages to age ranges:<\/p>\n These age brackets do not necessarily fit comfortably onto Super\u2019s stages, and in society we do not have agreement on what we mean by a \u201ccareer stage\u201d. I recently took an online survey that asked me to select my own career stage out of the following options:<\/p>\n Apart from the fact that multiple options were not accommodated (e.g., I am mature stage, full time, and re-entry), the question highlights that many view career stages as what they are doing right now as compared to where we are in a wider cycle.<\/p>\n Research has confirmed that cycles exist, but they can often be in the form of \u201cmini-cycles\u201d. For example, Julia Gillard may now be re-entering into Exploration, a stage she forced Kevin Rudd into only a few years prior.\u00a0 Kerr Inkson highlights the mini-cycle concept in his book Understanding Careers<\/a> in a depiction I am sure Gillard, Rudd and the Australian population would prefer not to have as a reality:<\/p>\n \u201cA 40-year career may not be 40 years of experience but one year of experience 40 times over\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A challenge in any model or metaphor is that of generalization.\u00a0 The only thing we all have in common is that we belong to the same species.\u00a0 Apart from that binding factor, there are some significant characteristics that alter how we fit any prescribed model<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to nationality and geographic location, two factors that significantly impact the career cycle are gender and market changes.<\/p>\n Early research on careers was conducted by men using male participants. There are significant differences in career cycles between men and women. In addition to challenges females face in career progression, women also often experience conflict between split careers as primary carers and professionals.\u00a0 This can result in women experiencing a revitalized growth and exploration stages<\/a>\u00a0in their 40s and 50s when children leave home.<\/p>\n This distinction is important, as seen by the media highlight of Julia Gillard<\/a> as Australia\u2019s first female prime minister.<\/p>\n Globalisation, changing industries, and changing technologies have a disruptive impact on careers.\u00a0 Just as the electric light largely did away with the candlestick maker, entire industries can expect to be eliminated through new technologies such as additive manufacturing, mobility, and on-demand digital content.<\/p>\n We navigate these changes<\/a> to the best of our ability. Those riding the wave of technology attempt to plan and react accordingly, but certain disruptions can prompt a re-engagement with growth and exploration stages. A technology stream becoming obsolete can cause a career re-assessment as surely as a political leadership spill.<\/p>\n All caveats aside, there are certain things research has shown about career stages.<\/p>\n There are many stereotypes about age and career performance. These stereotypes have repeatedly been disproven over the years. A 1989 study<\/a>\u00a0of 535 sales people in the US assessed career decisions and job attitudes against career stages. The research showed that people later in their career were less likely to leave, had fewer promotion aspirations but had higher performance and greater job involvement.<\/p>\n Times change and my previous comments on generalising apply, but your age and stage do not necessarily dictate your performance.<\/p>\n We all have a self-image, our own perception of who we are. We choose our career in part based on this self-image<\/a>. As we progress through our career stages, we make career choices based on the extent that we feel those choices reinforce this self-image.<\/p>\n Want a better career? Maintaining a positive self-image plays a role.<\/p>\n How effective we are at progressing within each stage is defined as our \u201ccareer maturity\u201d. This is an unfolding process<\/a>, not a single point-in-time event.<\/p>\n Our career maturity is measured in our ability across five dimensions:<\/p>\n Participants\u00a0who anticipated career change<\/a>\u00a0planfully and realistically, even when their jobs appeared to be secure, cited better experiences of the transition and perceived themselves to be coping better than did participants who ignored signs of change or reacted unrealistically soon after job loss. Plan and be prepared, even when things are going well.<\/p>\n Negative career thoughts have been linked to<\/a>\u00a0depression, increased job avoidance behavior and low job satisfaction, and decreased employment seeking status. Further, negative career thoughts have demonstrated relationships to career indecision, career indecisiveness, sense of coherence, and emotional intelligence within a career decision-making context. \u00a0Staying positive is a powerful tools in any career development process.<\/p>\nCareers as cycles<\/h2>\n
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Caveats to the cycle<\/h2>\n
Gender<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Market changes<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Five things to consider in your career stage<\/h2>\n
1. Career stage and performance<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Levinson](\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Levinson-life-stages-783x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n2. Your self-image defines your career<\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. Develop career maturity<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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4. Stay positive!<\/strong><\/h3>\n
5. Acknowledge the mid-life career change (aka crisis)<\/strong><\/h3>\n