While the notion of predictable career “stages” such as those proposed by Super (1957) and Levinson (1978) is somewhat outdated today due to the increased complexity of our VUCA world (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014), examples of how pervasive career stage models can be in Aotearoa are easy to spot.
For example, the New Zealand GCHQ website details the six job 'families' into which work is divided - service delivery and engagement; analysis; collection; information engineering; information and security; and leadership - and the career 'levels' into which jobs are categorised: 1 Entry; 2 Practitioner; 3 Expert; 4 Professional Lead; and 5 Principal (New Zealand Intelligence Community, 2016. p. 8 as illustrated, 2023). These stages are formalised into a “Career Pathways Framework Overview” booklet available for download (New Zealand Intelligence Community, 2016, 2023).
While the idea of numbered “stages” seems pretty straightforwardly traditional and hierarchical, an apparent purpose of the brochure is to show how an employee can have a rewarding career in the field without remaining siloed into one 'job family' or limited to only progressing 'up' the numbered ladder (New Zealand Intelligence Community, 2016). The brochure states: “A career pathway is not just about upwards movement, but can also involve horizontal and even downward career movements, as part of a planned approach to develop specific competence or achieve certain career objectives” (New Zealand Intelligence Community, 2016, p. 2). Some employee case studies are included; for example, one in which an employee who has been working in the Analyst job family, makes the case for transferring into an IT-oriented role, noting that she has developed competence as an Analyst through her work experience while now being ready to draw on her tertiary studies in IT (New Zealand Intelligence Community, 2016, p. 11).
Inkson et al. note that “career stages theories are nowadays rarely at the center of research studies” (2015, p. 97). At their worst, career stages can promote a simplistic, teleological and androcentric approach towards what a successful life looks like (Arthur et al., 1999; Ornstein & Isabella, 1990; Smart & Peterson, 1994, as cited in Inkson et al., 2015, p. 97-99). That said, I agree with Inkson et. al. (2015) that stages remain an “intuitively appealing” (p. 89) metaphor in helping people think through their careers.
In an organisation like the New Zealand Intelligence Communities - where it is easy to see significant time and effort being invested in developing and training employees - the organisation's desire to offer a compelling, maybe even motivational metaphor is visible in the use of stage models.
Hopefully, despite how dated they are, their use allows prospective employees to see a long-term and satisfying future at the organisation.
Felicity
References:
Arthur, M. B., Inkson, K., & Pringle, J.K. (1999). The New Careers: Individual Action and Economic Change. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Bennett, N., & Lemoine, G. J. (2014). What VUCA Really Means for You. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/01/what-vuca-really-means-for-you
Inkson, K., Dries, N., & Arnold, J. (2015). Understanding Careers (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Levinson, D. J. with Darrow, C., Klein, E., Levinson, M. & McKee, B. (1978). The Seasons of a Mans Life. Knopf.
New Zealand Intelligence Community Te Rōpū Pārongo Tārehu o Aotearoa. (2023). Careers. https://beyondordinary.nzic.govt.nz/careers/
New Zealand Intelligence Community Te Rōpū Pārongo Tārehu o Aotearoa. (2016). Career Pathways Framework Overview. https://beyondordinary.nzic.govt.nz/assets/Beyond-Ordinary-shared/Careers-pathways-booklet.pdf
Ornstein, S.,& Isabella, L. (1990). Age vs Stage Models of Career Attitudes of Women: A Partial Replication and Extension. Journal of Vocational Behavior 36(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(90)90011-P
Smart, R., & Peterson, C. (1994). Stability versus Transition in Women's Career Development: A test of Levinson's Theory. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45(3), 241-260. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1994.1034
Super, D. E. (1957). The Psychology of Careers: An introduction to vocational development. Harper & Bros.
* Felicity Palmer kindly prepared the material for this post
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