Career theories are usually based on circumstances such as social, economical and environmental. The modern concept of career is a product of the industrial age. Traditionally, organizations would structure people’s career paths and lives. During these times, work was concentrated in employment, learning was concentrated in education and education gave way to employment. Career counseling was a concept introduced to the education systems to help individuals transit from one sector (education) to another. Continuous improvement in career was viewed as a lifelong process. Donald Super in 1953 shed light on this idea and proposed a theory. Holland in 1956 expanded on the psychology of personality in relation to career development and career choice. These two theories in particular and multiple others have included psychological and social aspects to the understanding of the career choices that people make. Career theories look at the complexity of career choice, adjustment and development.
Donald Super’s theory is one of the most well-known career development theories. He worked on this from 1953 to 1996. His theory focuses on the creation of career development queries during a person’s life. Super draws attention to how people go through many stages in life trying to develop a vocational identity. In developing a vocational identity one is constantly exploring, making career choices, entering occupations, changing career fields and adjusting to work. Super’s stages work around universal life stages that most people go through in our societies. Super defined these stages by age but later acknowledged that these stages are not necessarily age-related. He stressed on the point that people go through these stages to develop a self-concept which is translated into occupational terms. This self-concept is usually modified, clarified and formed with time. Individuals may go through certain stages multiple times or may find themselves deposited in a certain stage for a very long period of time. In one of his many works on career theories, Super defined the concept of vocational maturity, which may not support the importance of chronological age but the time perspective is given importance as Super states “It has always seemed important to maintain three time perspectives: the past, from which one has come; the present, in which one currently functions; and the future, toward which one is moving. All three are of indisputable importance, for the past shapes the present and the present is the basis for the future. But if I were forced to declare a preference in orientation to time, it would be for the future – even after more than fifty years of work experience.”
Donald Super created a developmental model which emphasized how personal experiences interact with occupational preferences in creating one’s self-concept. Many theorists before him simply looked at personality and occupation and focused on a trait matching approach. One of Super’s greatest contributions to career development was his emphasis on the importance of developing a self-concept, as well as his recognition that this self-concept can change with new experiences over time. Before this, career development was mostly seen as a singular choice; however, Super viewed career development as a lifelong activity. This might not seem groundbreaking today, but it was a marked change from the way theorists thought when Super began formulating his theoretical concepts in the 1950’s. In addition to recognizing that people change over their lifetime, he also identified different areas or “life-spaces” that help make a person who they are. The six main life-spaces that make up who we are include: parent/homemaker, worker, citizen, leisurite, student, and child. So many of these roles imply that other people are involved in our lives and thus impact who we are. There are many other spaces in one’s life – other than work – and Super believed that these inhabited social spaces didn’t constitute a distraction but were an integral part of the rainbow of our lives.
Super’s self-concept is the belief that our identities and by extension our career identities are a product of how we see ourselves. Our vocational choices put this concept into practice in the real world. Super’s stages are as follows:
- Growth-early childhood (4-14) where the child learns while growing;
- Exploration- late adolescence (15-24) newly acquired independence leading to the acceptance of new ideas and concepts but uncertainty about one’s abilities;
- Establishment (25-44) – during this stage people prove their competence to their surrounding relationships, start to question commitments and make serious career choices in terms of leaving initial career, as the biological clock is ticking people want to settle down, sometimes with a sense of dissatisfaction;
- Maintenance (45-65) – this stage could be a real turning point for certain people as they might feel tired of what they are doing. Some people question initial commitments and contemplate whether this is all life has to offer. They may begin to find something new to learn and enhance their personal growth. Certain people prefer sticking to what they are supposed to be and continue to maintain their reputation. Some mentor others when they feel established and settled. This stage is a period of calm and inner development for some people. Some people realize that time is finite and may start giving relationships more importance hence start disengaging from work;
- Lastly, Disengagement (65+) – this stage deals with preparing for retirement. Energies begin to die out and people direct their interests elsewhere like part-time employment or volunteer opportunities. Many people in this stage choose to travel more or spend time with family and friends.
Super’s theory of career development underlines life-long learning as well as change and growth. He brings the concept that persons frequently learn and adapt over the course of a lifetime; therefore he recommended that a career development plan should be developed to provide accommodation to the individual during a variety of stages of learning that happen during the person’s life span
Super’s theory has been regarded as being systematic, clear, well organized, and applicable as well practically supported. Adults may feel different concerns at a given time regardless of career stage. With regard to cross-cultural applicability and universality. It offers a broad structure to illustrate and give details the procedure of professional development that could show career interventions as well as research. The fresh anchoring of the assumption on developmental contextualizes takes into deliberation the mutual influence among the individual and his social ecology, include one’s society similarly the conceptualization of job preferences as well as growth like a process of individual as well as career construction recognizes the effects of subjective cultural principles and viewpoint in shaping professional self-concepts and preferences.
Some experts criticized Super’s theory as questionable. Super’s concept of recycling through phases can also be questioned. The order of the stages is changing with exploration often taking place after establishment. Establishment itself is being reduced due to people settling down much later in life. Maintenance has drastically fallen due to establishment being pushed into later years, low employment security and decreasing loyalty to organizations which is proven by the frequency with which people switch jobs/organizations.