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Second Career: An Eventual Need in Today’s World

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Handbook of Career Development

Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology ((ICUP))

Abstract

Choosing the “one right career” and working for it may no longer be viable in today’s world. The developmental view of career guidance and counseling acknowledges that growth and change in an individual are ongoing process and that needs alter over time. Career guidance and counseling professionals with a developmental view recognize the significance of attending to the individual’s developmental needs much before addressing the demands of their jobs and occupations. Identification of life goals and making efforts to fulfill them would be essential to ensure overall well-being among adult workers. Thriving in today’s competitive and rapidly changing work environment demands a proactive and preventive approach to career guidance and counseling. It has been observed that along with changes in the nature of work, the work environment is also changing. A rise in the incidence of work-related migration alongside increasing shifts from traditional occupations to modern career pathways is now increasingly visible. Working across time zones to coordinate with colleagues across the globe has become commonplace. Negotiating in today’s work world requires the mastery of an altogether new and different set of interpersonal skills. Further, as individuals progress through life, their own needs change as do their capacities to meet the demands of a work environment that is continually in a state of flux. As a result, most adults could face the prospect of a career transition at one or more points of time in their lives. In view of this, second careers have become an inescapable reality for most individuals today. Career guidance professionals can play a pivotal and enabling role to help individuals make appropriate career choices across their life span. Helping adults stay abreast of the latest developments is an extremely important and indispensable role for any career counselor. Other roles include helping to plan and prepare for multiple career options, encouraging an attitude of lifelong learning, and providing opportunities for self-development to enable adults to lead fulfilling and enriching work lives. Case examples are used to discuss the notion of career shifts, flexibility of decision-making, and implications for career guidance and counseling professionals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SVT College of Home Science, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, India

    Archana Jain

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  1. Archana Jain
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Correspondence to Archana Jain .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Promise Foundation, Bangalore, India

    Gideon Arulmani

  2. Department of Human Development, Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

    Anuradha J. Bakshi

  3. Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Frederick T. L. Leong

  4. National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    A. G. Watts

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Jain, A. (2014). Second Career: An Eventual Need in Today’s World. In: Arulmani, G., Bakshi, A., Leong, F., Watts, A. (eds) Handbook of Career Development. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9460-7_16

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