Abstract
This study explores the career challenges individuals are facing and the type of managing strategies proposed on a public arena in Swedish media. The study investigates advice columns published between 2011 and 2015. Qualitative content analysis was used followed by an analysis based on the theoretical framework of career as a social and professional representation. The results uncovered several dilemmas of career navigation. These dilemmas were classified into five categories: 1) need for recognition, 2) how to advance, 3) how to understand the labor market, 4) experiences of injustice and of being controlled, and 5) uncertainty in current/forthcoming role. In all categories the social representation of career as a game of exchange is evident. The study identified four different support strategies in the answers given: 1) a strengthening strategy; 2) an enduring strategy; 3) a compensating strategy, and 4) a balancing strategy. These strategies relate to four different orientations: 1) individual-oriented, 2) market-oriented, 3) organizational-oriented, and 4) mutual-oriented. Moreover, four work-life contextually related representations were identified as underlying the answers given: 1) career-recognition as a cost issue, career-navigating as 2) a risky (power)game, as 3) understanding the rules of the game, and 4) as personal marketing and/or strategic communication. Based upon the results, a bridging guidance approach is suggested that manages to address a perspective of exchange and through increased awareness manages to build bridges between different knowledge bases about career to support learning in career navigation. Abstrakt Denna studie undersoker karriarfragor och utmaningar som individer star infor samt vilken typ av hanteringsstrategier som foreslas pa en offentlig arena i svensk media. Studien undersoker radgivningskolumner publicerade mellan 2011 och 2015. Kvalitativ innehallsanalys genomfordes foljt av en analys baserad pa det teoretiska ramverket karriar som social och professionell representation. Resultaten blottlade ett antal dilemman avseende karriarnavigering. Dessa dilemman klassificerades i fem kategorier: 1) behov av erkannande, 2) hur avancera/ga vidare, 3) hur forsta arbetsmarknaden, 4) upplevelser av orattvisa och kontroll, och 5) osakerhet i nuvarande/kommande roll. I samtliga kategorier framtrader den sociala representationen om karriar som ett utbytesspel. Studien identifierade fyra olika stodstrategier i kolumnernas svar: 1) starkande strategi, 2) uthardande strategi, 3) kompenserande strategi, och 4) balanserande strategi. Dessa strategier relaterar till fyra olika orienteringar: 1) individorienterad, 2) marknadsorienterad, 3) organisationsorienterad och 4) omsesidig orientering. Vidare identifierades fyra arbetslivsrelaterade kontextbundna representationer om karriar som underliggande de givna svaren; 1) karriar-erkannande som kostnadsfraga, karriar-navigering som 2) ett riskabelt (makt) spel, 3) som forstaelse av spelets regler, och 4) som personlig marknadsforing/strategisk kommunikation. Baserat pa studiens resultat foreslas en overbryggande vagledningsstrategi som formar hantera ett utbytesperspektiv pa karriar och genom okad medvetenhet bygga broar mellan olika kunskapsbaser om karriar for att stodja larande i karriarnavigering. Nyckelord: karriarnavigering; stodstrategier; radgivningskolumner; sociala representationer; overbryggande vagledning
Highlights
Given the identified career struggles described in this study, it is evident that there are two principal concerns
This study reveals that something has happened in the world of work and indicates that people in these phases of their careers are searching for answers
The expressed confusion and frustration about expected, but neglected exchange, lack of outcomes, and a thirst for recognition for their efforts indicate that the earlier employer-employee relationship has become blurred and unclear
Summary
Over time the concept ‘career’ has undergone several redefinitions and redesigns. Concurrent with changes in employment patterns, the traditional understanding of career as the process of ‘climbing the ladder’ (see Savickas, 2008) has been challenged. Previous studies (e.g. Bergmo-Prvulovic, 2015) show that in the Swedish context professionals within the career-guidance counselling community hold an uneasy relationship to the concept of career Such professionals commonly contest the hierarchical meaning of career and instead regard it as personal growth and life development. Guiding the public’s conception of career ( evident among groups within professional communities) is the underlying mindset that views career as a game of exchange, (BergmoPrvulovic, 2013; Hirsh & Bergmo-Prvulovic, 2018), i.e., the expectations that particular efforts should result in particular rewards of both an internal and external character Such rewards clearly relate to the consequences and outcomes of (as historically conceptualized) subjective success versus objective success within the career field (Spurk & Hirschi, 2019). It becomes especially important to have a better understanding of how different types of career struggles are experienced and communicated by the public and how these are handled in a public mass-media arena in the Swedish context
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