Tracing the Timing of “Career” Acquisition in a Contemporary Youth Cohort

Abstract

Contemporary youth typically experience considerable floundering and uncertainty in their transition from school to work. This paper examines patterns of schooling and working during adolescence and the transition to adulthood that hasten or delay an important subjective marker of transition to adulthood: acquiring a job that is recognized as a "career." We use Youth Development Study data, obtained from a prospective longitudinal study of 9(th) graders. Estimation of discrete-time logit models shows that adolescent work patterns during high school, as well as the cumulative investments they make in work and schooling in the years following, significantly influence this milestone. Time-varying predictors, including job characteristics and parenthood, also affect the process of movement into "careers".

Work values and the transition to work life: A longitudinal study

“…For university graduates the pathways from "survival" to "career" jobs are longer and it may take more time for them to find a job that matches their higher education (Mortimer et al, 2008). Thus, especially for university graduates, who seem to have more difficulties in finding well-fit jobs at early stages of their careers, job crafting may allow them to modify their jobs and develop them into career jobs.…”

“…For example, it is possible that working in precarious jobs would diminish the importance of intrinsic work values. However, it is also possible that intrinsic work values would relate to other agentic strategies that could help young adults move from "survival" jobs to "career" jobs (Mortimer, Vuolo, & Staff, 2014;Mortimer, Vuolo, Staff, Wakefield, & Xie, 2008). The relationship between intrinsic work values and job crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) should be further explored.…”

Striving for Educational and Career Goals During the Transition After High School: What is Beneficial?

“…Thus, when they first graduate from high school, youth should avoid investing their motivational resources into work and instead focus on completing their education, especially in a system where careers more and more build on post-secondary education as in the United States rather than specialized vocational training (as e.g., in Germany, Haase et al 2008). Mortimer et al (2008) discuss two potential pathways into subjectively satisfying careers, one via enhancing one's human capital by earning a post-secondary degree, and the other via early investment in work experience. Our findings suggest a cautionary view of the latter pathway.…”

“…However, the lives of young adults are complex. Many youth spend a substantial number of hours per week working in jobs that allow them to have some income of their own, even though typically at low pay and with minimal benefits or promotion prospects (e.g., Kalleberg et al 2000;Mortimer et al 2008). Some young adults work in jobs that pay little but have potential beneficial effects on attaining their long-term career goals (e.g., internships).…”

Part-Time Work of High School Students: Impact on Employability, Employment Outcomes and Career Development

“…Staff and Mortimer (2007) found that young people who had learned to combine work and study during high school were well served by these work-study patterns in later years. Similarly, Mortimer, Vuolo, Staff, Wakefi eld and Xie (2006) found that the most invested (high duration, high intensity) workers who had been previously engaged in adult-like demanding and challenging work moved quickly towards career-like employment. But Mortimer and ZimmerGembeck (2007) emphasised that much more research is needed to fully understand the processes relevant to adolescent work and career development.…”