Career Profiles of the Generation Y in Brazil

Abstract

Generation is presented as an emergent theme in people management in Brazil and other countries. Considering the need for empirical national studies, this research has the objective of identifying the career profiles of Generation Y members in Brazil. Career profile groups the subjects according to the presence of protean and boundaryless career attitudes. This research is descriptive, quantitative and the data collection was made through an electronic survey that was based on scales validated in the U.S.A. and Brazil. The sample is non- probabilistic and was composed by 2.376 respondents. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, cluster analysis and the chi-square were used to analyze the data. The results affirm the validity and reliability of the instrument. Eight career profiles were identified. The predominant profile was the “Protean Career Architect” that has high presence of the career attitudes investigated. The profile with smaller representation was the “Lost” that has low presence of these attitudes. The new careers are a reality for the young Brazilians. Nevertheless, there is a small part of the sample with low career attitudes in several dimensions, indicating that it is a movement and cannot be considered as a fact for all the people studied.