Career success

[M H Parvez]

Career success is a term used frequently in academic and popular writing about career. It refers to the extent and ways in which an individual can be described as successful in his or her working life so far.

Traditionally, career success has often been thought of in terms of earnings and/or status within an occupation or organisation. This can be expressed either in absolute terms (e.g. the amount a person earns) or in relative terms (e.g. the amount a person earns compared with their starting salary). Earnings and status are examples of objective criteria of success, where "objective" means that they can be factually verified, and are not purely a matter of opinion.

Many observers argue that careers are less predictable than they once were, due to the fast pace of economic and technological change. This means that career management is more obviously the responsibility of the individual rather than his or her employing organisation, because a "job for life" is a thing of the past. This has put more emphasis on subjective criteria of career success. These include job satisfaction, career satisfaction, work-life balance, a sense of personal achievement, and attaining work that is consistent with one's personal values. A person's assessment of his or her career success is likely to be influenced by social comparisons, such as how well family members, friends, or contemporaries at school or college have done.

The amount and type of career success a person achieves is affected by several forms of career capital. These include social capital (the extent and depth of personal contacts a person can draw upon), human capital (demonstrable abilities, experiences and qualifications), economic capital (money and other material resources which permit access to career-related resources), and cultural capital (having skills, attitudes or general know-how to operate effectively in a particular social context).

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