Given the relevance of the need to manage parallel careers to attract and retain people in organizations, this paper provides insight into this phenomenon from an organizational perspective. The parallel career concept, introduced by Alboher (2007) and recently addressed by Schuiling (2012), has previously been examined only from the perspective of the parallel career holder (PC holder). The paper provides insight from both individual and organizational perspectives on the phenomenon of parallel careers and considers how it can function as an important tool for attracting and retaining people by contributing to human development. This paper employs a qualitative approach that includes 30 semi-structured one-on-one interviews. The organizational perspective arises from the 15 interviews with human resources (HR) executives from different companies. The individual viewpoint originates from the interviews with 15 executives who are also PC holders. An inductive content analysis approach was used to examine Brazilian companies and the Brazilian office of multinationals. Companies that are concerned about having the best talent on their teams can benefit from a deeper understanding of parallel careers, which can be used to attract, develop, and retain talent. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

<p>Alboher (2007) fue el primero en hablar del concepto de carreras en paralelo, que no es otra cosa que realizar estudios de más de una carrera a la vez. Más recientemente, Shuiling (2012) y Azevedo (2014) hicieron contribuciones al respecto. Los dos primeros comentaron desde la perspectiva de la persona que realiza los estudios en paralelo, también conocida como “PC holder” en inglés, mientras que el último, presenta las consecuencias que generan en las compañías el tener a personas que estudiaron dos carreras de forma simultánea en su fuerza laboral. El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo cuantificar el número de personas que estudiaron dos carreras a la vez en Brasil, considerando una población de estudiantes de postgrado en las escuelas locales de negocios. La investigación mide el porcentaje de los llamados PC holders toda vez que identifica sus perfiles demográficos y hace una valoración de las razones que los llevaron a estudiar dos carreras al mismo tiempo, por medio de un enfoque cuantitativo y descriptivo que abarca a 456 personas. La investigación se limitó a estudiantes brasileros de escuelas nacionales. Dado que 27% de los profesionales mejor educados tienen carreras en paralelo, los gerentes deberían tomar esta cifra en consideración a la hora de diseñar las políticas y políticas de atracción y retención. Al analizar este tema, las organizaciones se harán mucho más atractivas no solo hacia posibles candidatos, sino hacia sus propios empleados.</p>

Parallel career tracks have become more prevalent today, especially in Brazil, where more than a quarter of all postgrads have one. Despite its growing popularity, little research has tapped into this new career phenomenon. This study examines whether having a parallel career track leads to negative work outcomes related to sustainable careers, such as higher absenteeism and lower engagement, in comparison to a single career track. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data were gathered from 380 and 102 Brazilian professionals respectively, who filled out an online survey. A normal and a repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance were used to examine whether work outcomes differed between those with parallel career tracks versus single career tracks. The findings indicate that parallel career tracks do not have different effects on individual sustainable employability outcomes when compared to single career tracks, including employability, engagement, absenteeism, presenteeism, and burnout. Therefore, organizations can face this new career trend without reluctance as it does not harm individual work outcomes related to sustainable careers. This study contributes significantly to improving the understanding of this new career format by examining the impact of parallel career tracks on individual work outcomes through a longitudinal design.