What is career capital?

Career capital on an individual scale is the learning and experience which we can "walk out the door" with when we transition between education institutions, organisations, and the interests in our private lives. When we work for an organisation, our career capital can be drawn on as a knowledge bank, and is a key source of value to the organisation: and a key negotiation point for us (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1996; Lamb, 2007). Career capital is not just what we do; it is also what we know; and know how to do; when to do; and why we should do it. Our career capital skills aid cross-fertilisation between roles, departments, external organisations, and across industries.

There are considered to be three ways of "knowing" (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1996; Lamb, 2007). They are - as previously mentioned - knowing-why (i.e. our motivation, our personal attachment to career, our values, and our work identity); again, knowing-how (our role-specific skills, our tacit and explicit knowledge, and our expertise); as well as knowing-whom (our professional networks, our relationships, our reputation, and our social connections).

But career capital not only relates to individuals: organisations and industries also have career capital - also known as human and structural capital - which accumulates over time (Lamb, 2007), rather like nacre being laid down in an oyster. But while we could also consider the DeFillippi and Arthur (1996) model, it is more 'usual' to use Bourdieu's capital dimensions for organisations (cited by Lamb, 2007). They are economic capital (financial and liquid resources); social capital (relationships and connections that strengthen other capital areas); cultural capital (educational and accumulated learning); and symbolic capital (industry recognition, stakeholder and public renown).

Our career capital evolves as we shift focus, and accumulate new skills, achieve mastery in some areas and begin to explore new fields. As we develop as professionals, our career capital becomes more recognisable - and financially valuable - to both ourselves and the organisations we contribute to. But our overall value will vary: expertise is dependent on industry and context (Inkson et al, 2015; Lamb, 2007)... and economic demand. 

With the shift from traditional career progression within a single organisation to portfolio careers (read more on this here), the responsibility for personal and professional development has fallen more on the individual (Inkson et al, 2015). Organisations have reduced the development and training they are prepared to invest in people because staff members may move on before the organisation gains value from the investment. Career capital is important for our personal career development and organisational competitive advantage (Lamb, 2007). I am sure we have all heard the old saw: "what happens if I train this person and they leave?" with "what happens if I keep this untrained person and they stay?" Both are a cost to the business, but industry stagnation and loss of morale - both risks with low career development investment - is likely a greater cost. 

It is our career capital which grows when we build our networks, share our knowledge, accept new challenges, learn to trust our abilities, develop mastery, and gain respect from our industry peers... and ourselves.

Sam

References:

DeFillippi, R., & Arthur, M. (1996). Boundaryless contexts and careers: A competency-based perspective. In M. B. Arthur, & D. M. Rousseau (Eds.), The Boundaryless Bareer: A new employment principle for a new organizational era (pp. 116–131). Oxford University Press.

Inkson, K., Dries, N., & Arnold, J. (2015). Chapter 10: Careers as Resources. In Understanding Careers. SAGE Publications.

Lamb. M. (2007). The components of career capital for knowledge workers in the global economy. [Master's Thesis: University of Pretoria]. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=1a69404ad618a99e87e3c7117d0e5b68ca820306