How do people make career choices?

Posted on April 15, 2024 by Martin Hahn, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

The traditional career theories that dominated the field during the 20th century held that the process of career decision making was straightforward. People simply needed to develop good self-awareness, learn about the job opportunities around them, and apply true reasoning to find the perfect match.

Considerable theoretical and empirical work has gone into the field since this claim was made in 1909 and, while his model still resonates in some ways, the different elements of it are now understood and interpreted in a more complex and sophisticated way. There are myriad, diverse career theories that can help us to understand the processes. Some focus on one or other specific aspect of the process, some acknowledge the wide range of factors at play and others claim that one particular factor dominates. Looking at the theoretical landscape as a whole, there seem to be four different elements that are generally considered crucial to the process.

1 Identity.

The notion that people need a good understanding of themselves has never wavered, but this is now understood as the more holistic and multi-dimensional concept of ‘identity’. Rather than the more traditional understanding of self-awareness as a combination of skills, values, personality and interests, identity is far broader. Identity incorporates past, present and future (where I come from, who I am now and who I want to be in the future), and combines a wide range of elements including lifestyle, broad questions such as life purpose and demographic factors such as sexuality, gender, race and class.

2 Understanding of the environment.

Awareness of the world of work still matters, but this is now seen as a more complex set of interactions as people also need to understand how they can influence the environment around them and how the environment influences them. This includes the impact of politics, the media and one’s family, as well as the labor market and the career opportunities available and the role that chance plays in our lives. We now embrace the idea that perceptions of reality are more important than reality itself, and so how people see themselves and their perceptions of jobs are more relevant than what things are ‘actually’ like.

3 Decision making and research skills.

Decision making is seen as an important aspect of the process but, in conjunction with the value placed on rational logic, we now understand that gut instinct is invariably influential and often helpful in our decisions. Alongside decision making, another skill that is increasingly important is that of research. Google provides us with all the information we could ever need at the touch of a button, but this explosion of information brings its own challenges. Finding the right information and interpreting it in such a way that it is meaningful for a particular context is a complex skill that needs to be honed.

4 Personal attributes.

Finally, there is another set of factors whose influence is significant. Research has shown that we are not all equally equipped to make good career choices or all equally able to put our plans into action. Those with higher levels of confidence, resilience, optimism and the ability to set goals have a distinct advantage in their career development and, while we may have different levels of these skills naturally, they can be enhanced through specific tailored interventions.

These then are the four aspects of career development that are consistently highlighted in current career literature. In general, if people are clear about and comfortable with their identities, if they have a good understanding of their environment, if they are good decision makers and researchers, and if they have a strong battalion of the right personal characteristics, their path to a good career decision is likely to be fairly straightforward. Unfortunately, not many of us are so blessed.