Understanding the details of career development can unlock an unlimited pathway to success and change your future for the better. The Theoretical Perspectives on Careers include Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice and Social Cognitive Career Theory. Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice is a model that shows personalities can flourish in career environments they ‘fit’ in. Essentially one’s personality may help determine what type of job would best fit them, and they should aim for based on who they are as a person.
Holland’s Theory suggests that Conventional individuals are the ‘organizers.’ Particularly these people like working in an office setting and prefer working with data that involves spreadsheets through an Excel program or accounting data. Organizers are prone to ensuring tasks are followed through and tend to prefer structure in their environment. Realistic individuals are the ‘Doers,’ and these individuals prefer to work with tools and machines. The Doers typically also tend to prefer to work independently or working outdoors.
Investigative people are considered the ‘thinkers’ in this model, and these people are focused on analyzing and investigating information. These individuals focus on seeking out additional information to fully understand, and sometimes this can involve extensive research. Artistic individuals are the ‘creators’ in Holland’s Theory, and in particular, these individuals have a creative mindset and use their imagination as an expression. Social individuals are also considered the ‘Helpers,’ and these people like to help others. They like to inform, teach, and develop. These individuals also are compassionate about the welfare of others and are highly skilled with words.
One way to view this Theory is to see it as a career quiz; anyone can go through and mark off personality job-like traits they do not really find an interest in doing. This will help any individual determine what is the best job to seek in the future to save yourself some time and to ensure you are successful in your next job. Holland’s main purpose behind this Theory was for people to use their personality traits to assist in job placement. He believed that if people were aware of their personality type or the combination types, people would be happier workers. His research shows that personalities seek out and flourish in careers that they best fit. This perspective can help one narrow down their job options to ensure they land an appropriate job that best suits their needs.
Social Cognitive Career Theory is relatively new that explains three interrelated aspects of career development. The first part of this theory is how basic academic and career interests develop. The second is how educational and career choices are made, and the last one is how academic and career success are obtained. This theory incorporates a variety of other factors, such as abilities, interests, values, and environmental factors. Social cognitive Career Theory is based on Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory and an influential theory of cognitive and motivational processes. This study, in particular, has moved to other categories of study, such as health behavior, organizational development, and academic performance.
Other variables linked to this theory include self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and goals. These variables serve as the building blocks for Social Cognitive Career Theory. Personal goals can be defined as an individual’s intentions to engage in a specific activity. One example of this is someone’s goal of achieving a degree from Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. There may be a need to achieve a certain level of performance. Someone may want to achieve an ‘A’ as a grade for a course or perhaps even all courses.
There are two categories of goals, performance goals, and choice goals. The positive aspect of setting goals is that it helps people stay organized, and this, in return, helps guide their behavior for positive feedback. Social cognitive theory leans toward the idea that goals are linked to outcome expectations and self-efficacy. It has been seen that people tend to set goals for themselves that are consistent with their views of personal capabilities and expectations of the outcomes.
Outcome expectations refer to outcomes or consequences of performing particular behavior. An example of this is someone may continue to do something because they see that their actions are leading to positive outcomes. Self-efficacy beliefs are from four sources of information: vicarious experiences, social persuasion, personal performance accomplishments, and emotional and psychological states.
In social models and reinforcing messages that someone is exposed to and the physiological states that an individual may experience while engaging in a specific task. An example of this would be the anxiety someone may feel if they are placed in an emergency situation. This all can impact one’s self-efficacy when it comes to performance domains. The Social Cognitive Theory explains how positive reinforcement and overall experience can have a major impact on how they proceed in the future when it comes to career choices.
Social Context of Careers, Customized Careers, and Two-Career Relationships are important sub-categories of social context. Individuals who would generally be expected to follow traditional career choices would be following unconventional patterns of the workforce known as a Customize Career. A Customized Careers can be described as unconventional patterns of workforce engagement by those who would follow traditional career choices. There are three dimensions to this sub-category, and they include work time (your scheduled hours), the timing of entry, and the type of employment relationship.
Employment relationship refers to whether or not you have long-term employment with your employer or if you are a contractor on contracting work. Generally, a Customized Career usually doesn’t refer to a full-time position, but more so, the individual has a reduced work schedule. Timing refers to the pace at which the person has work engagement across the span of the individual working career. There are several factors that contribute to how someone may proceed with their career development, and having the skills necessary gives people the ability to make work arrangements that suit them best. Most of these theories always revert back to making choices that ultimately lead an individual to a happy and successful career choice where they can thrive.
Two-Career Relationships are also known as dual-career families, where both partners are making an earning in the family. Two-Career relationships appear to be a common thing in today’s busy life. However, two-earner families are far more prevalent in the United States today. A two-family earner income is where both partners are employed, either full-time or part-time, usually in positions where further education or training is not required.
Partners in two-career families differ in that both parties are typically in positions that require a degree or further education. One important factor to note is that these jobs require a high level of commitment and provide the individual with a sense of accomplishment and skills. One takeaway from this understanding of career relationships is you can use these categories to sort through your career choices based on what kind of lifestyle you and your spouse may be going for. Compared to the qualifications for jobs years ago, in today’s world, a lot of positions require additional and extensive education, but there are still a variety of options available for those who are not looking to invest in additional education and/or certification.
The Evolution and Development of Careers, Obsolescence of Knowledge and Skills is when an individual lacks the required knowledge or skills to keep the worker current on all required information and knowledge they may need to know in their job position. Obsolescence is a matter of degree, while ‘knowledge’ workers tend to just need to stay up to date on knowledge. This can be a huge problem for workers, and it can impact whether or not one is successful in their career based on their current understanding and what they know.
Although we have this concern that an individual may not be up to date on the necessary information, there is also the possibility that the person may not even be using the information and tools they have readily available to them because they just do not want to. Issues such as these may lead to ineffectiveness, but it is not the result of obsolescence. When one chooses not to utilize the skills and knowledge in front of them, there is also the possibility that this occurs because of the lack of supervision the individual may be under. When someone is not managed, there is the risk they will not follow through with their required tasks because of the lack of supervision.
Obsolescence has been connected to job performance and its effectiveness. There are other factors that may contribute to why one may not be up-to-date on current information to function successfully in their job position. The information on this topic can be used to understand the importance of staying current with information for your job. Not only can you successfully complete your daily task, but you prove yourself in that position, and perhaps it can lead to bigger and better things in the future for the current company you are working for. Not only do employees have a job to do, but we can help ensure the success of a business by everyone staying current and doing what they are supposed to be doing. When there is a disconnection in the chain link, you will ultimately notice the different later-on down the road.
There are different pathways that can alter your success depending on what your end goal is. The best way to ensure a successful future in your career of choice is to make sure that you are in the right position that suits your personality. There are several links to show that when someone is happy in their current job position, they are able to then thrive throughout. With this being said, one should use the information discussed throughout a Career Development course as a guide to help them determine what is the best job position. While you may not want to follow the theories listed in this course as a guideline for your future, you can utilize the information as a reference to do further research on your own.
A few key factors to note are that it is important to have a strong and straightforward resume. The idea is to show your credentials and prove why you are right for this job. We know that a resume can help you land your dream job, but in a course such as this, you learn how to narrow down your key resume points to ensure the employer knows your skills and to avoid a bunch of unnecessary information from being added to your resume. This information is a step-by-step guide to help your end up in the job of your dreams while finding the right fit based on your personality traits.
