Career Stability Research Articles

Career stability and redirection in adulthood.

Career stability and redirection in adulthood.

Eleven-year career stability and change as reflected in Project Talent data through the Flanagan, Holland, and Roe occupational classification systems

The vocational psychologist seeks classifications of occupations which maximize career stability as occupations change from time to time in the life. This study investigates the extent of career stability and the patterns of career change which have occurred in the lives of Project TALENT twelfth grade students in the 11 yr elapsing since they were tested. “Career” plans in the last year of high school and at 1, 5, and 11 yr after testing were classified by the Flanagan, Holland, and Roe occupational classification systems in order to study the career stability and patterning within each system and to contrast both among systems. Career stability proved to be about the same in all three classification systems but decreased in all cases as the interval over which it was measured increased. Career stability increased as subjects grew older, proving to be the greatest from 5 to 11 yr after high school. Patterns of change mildly conformed to the circular patterns claimed by Holland and Roe for their systems and the linear pattern hypothesized for the Flanagan system. Generally, the direction of “career” flow was away from intellectual careers to careers in business and sales but each system had unique results as well.

The Social Demography of the All-Volunteer Armed Force

With the termination of the Selective Service System in 1973, the armed forces will be reduced in size, but for the first time the United States will have an expanded military operating as a "force in being" rather than a cadre for mobilization. Several fundamental public policy questions are involved: will the armed forces be able to recruit the necessary number and quality personnel; will this force be relatively representative of the larger society. With present reduction in force levels, recruitment is made more difficult because of lack of career stability and declining opportunities. The end of the draft has already resulted in shortages of skilled and technical personnel as well as declining enrollment in Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and National Guard and reserve units. Together with age restrictions and educational guide lines, this suggests that progress toward numerical quotas is in part a compromise in quality. A review of the characteristics of the manpower pool indicates that it is weighted toward the low-income and modest social status group. The social demography of the armed forces is not predetermined, but it will play an important role in the internal viability of the armed forces in civil-military relations in the post-Vietnam period.