Successful Career
Posted on May 03, 2024 by Martin Hahn, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
This article discusses the definition and characteristics of a successful career.
The changing nature of careers in the 21st century along with evolving social structures brings with it new ways of looking at career success. Career success may be defined as the positive material and psychological outcomes resulting from one’s work activities and experiences.
From a more traditional perspective, career success has been viewed
primarily in objective terms, which include such factors as total compensation, number of promotions, and other tangible trappings of accomplishment. Although these objective indicators of career success are certainly relevant, because of greater economic uncertainty, career disruptions, the loss of job security, and the shift towards non-permanent work arrangements, the traditional, objective view is not the only or primary way to gauge an individual’s career success.
Indeed, these environmental factors along with the pursuit of protean and boundaryless career orientations combine to have individuals place a greater emphasis on understanding career success from a subjective perspective.
From this subjective side, career success is viewed as a function of individuals’ perception of satisfaction with different facets of their career. In this sense, the individual uses internal psychological and self-generated guides, such as personal growth and continuous learning, as well as more traditional indicators such as money or status, in interpreting and defining career success. In addition, research has shown that such elements as time for self, job challenge, job security, social and developmental relationships, and a balance between one’s career and family life are viewed as important indicators that a person’s career and their “whole lives” are successful. These subjective dimensions get at the individual’s perception of psychological success that goes beyond such external indicators of success as prestige, power, money, and advancement.
From a career management standpoint, employees often see career success strictly in objective terms, especially when they are early in their careers. In this case, the speed of progression up the corporate ladder can become an obsession. This narrower view of success can lead to career goals and actions that are inconsistent with personal values and beliefs. Further, highly successful managers and executives may experience feelings of personal failure, reflecting regret over having sacrificed family relationships and other affiliations in the ambitious pursuit of the objective form of career success.
In contrast, when career success is seen in subjective or personal terms, the focus is on individual satisfaction with the career and how well it has met goals and expectations. The subjective view of
career success can also be expanded to include such dimensions as the balance between one’s work and family/personal lives or the ability to establish close interpersonal relationships. Adopting a broader meaning of career success can take some of the pressure off upwardly striving middle managers and executives, because the focus of career goals and strategies is no longer exclusively on money and advancement, but encompasses various aspects of personal fulfillment.
Looking to the future, if individuals adopt protean and boundaryless philosophies toward their careers and if they accept a broader view of the meaning of career success, they have a much better chance of managing their careers so that they are able to stay true to their beliefs and values.
