Career Sustainability: Framing the Past to Adapt in the Present for a Sustainable Future

Abstract

The emerging literature concerning sustainable careers posits that career development is an adaptive and dynamic process of creating person–career fit, in pursuit of a career that is happy, healthy, and productive. Our goal is to advance this literature by delving deeper into the intrapersonal processes involved in constructing career sustainability—which involves meeting one’s needs in the present without sacrificing one’s needs in the future—and clarifying the role of time in this process. We articulate a fundamentally subjective, intrapersonal process of enacting career sustainability that draws upon career construction theory, prospective and adaptive sensemaking, conservation of resources theory, and career adaptability to articulate how individuals reflect, frame, envision, re-frame, and ultimately, adapt to effect and maintain their career sustainability over time. This expansion brings added conceptual depth to earlier sustainable careers models by situating the career firmly within the agency of the career actor and articulating how this process unfolds with specific recognition of the past, present, and future. Educators, career counselors, HR representatives, and community organizations are called upon to promote and support career sustainability and support individuals through this dynamic and adaptive process.

Contextual and Individual Determinants of Sustainable Careers: A Serial Indirect Effect Model through Career Crafting and Person-Career Fit

“…One of the key aspects of the career sustainability framework is the person [5]. As the central agents in their careers, individuals are responsible for how their career develops over time [33,48]. Sustainable career development requires a dynamic alignment with personal values and career preferences over time, thereby providing a sense of meaning to the individual.…”

“…Sustainable career development requires a dynamic alignment with personal values and career preferences over time, thereby providing a sense of meaning to the individual. Hence, sustainable careers undoubtedly involve active career proactivity, self-awareness, and self-management [15,48]. Such career proactivity encompasses balancing different domains of life (e.g., work and family), developing career skills and competencies that can enhance individual employability, or seeking career resources that can help optimize individual effectiveness and well-being [33].…”

“…For example, such training programs may involve discussing proactive strategies about how one can reach career goals by crafting relational boundaries (e.g., exercising proactive networking), crafting task boundaries (e.g., developing a set of career skills and competencies), or crafting a personally meaningful career. In addition, for organizations to comprehensively support sustainable careers, it is essential to empower employees to clarify their sustainability goals and motivate them to ask for customized career arrangements (e.g., flexible work or sabbaticals) [48]. Such an organizational approach may help employees build self-awareness in their career trajectories and enable them to collaboratively construct meaning in their careers, thus crafting more sustainable careers [48].…”

“…In addition, for organizations to comprehensively support sustainable careers, it is essential to empower employees to clarify their sustainability goals and motivate them to ask for customized career arrangements (e.g., flexible work or sabbaticals) [48]. Such an organizational approach may help employees build self-awareness in their career trajectories and enable them to collaboratively construct meaning in their careers, thus crafting more sustainable careers [48].…”

“…Further investigations may focus on how individual initiatives can be integrated with societal and organizational policies and practices; thus, contextual barriers and facilitators for sustainable careers can be better enlightened [1,49]. Furthermore, considering the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals' career sustainability experiences, initiatives, and accessibility, there is an exciting opportunity for future research to illuminate these dynamics through comprehensive, in-depth interviews [48,59]. Moreover, while integrating COR theory with sustainable careers, it is important to consider the trade-offs between personal, professional, and societal goals in the pursuit of sustainable careers and their implications for individuals and organizations.…”