Career myths and beliefs

Owned by Amanda Vos
Last updated: Nov 13, 2024
11 min read

 

Linear vs. non-linear career paths

Traditionally, the belief is that once you graduate from your degree, you will land a job that you will be in for the rest of your life. While that may have been commonly true for jobseekers of the past, it is much more common for current job seekers to have a less linear career trajectory (Castrillon, 2023).

  1. In a linear career path, an individual may find a job after graduation with an employer and progress in their career through promotions. This career path is best represented by a “ladder” or “staircase” – every couple of years there is a “step” through promotions that progress the individual’s career.

Today, career paths are much more non-linear for multiple reasons. For example, more individuals are following their personal and professional aspirations. This may cause them to change roles within an organization or find a new job at a different employer. Other factors that contribute to non-linear careers can include the increase of contract work, economic factors that contribute to layoffs, employee dissatisfaction and/or technological changes that create or alter roles. Some call non-linear careers a “lattice” instead of a “ladder” because movement and professional development can be both vertical (up or down) and horizontal (side to side) instead of just upward (Galarza, 2023).

  1. In a non-linear career path, career progression is not solely measured by being at an employer for extended time; instead, career progression in a non-linear career path is also measured by how meaningful the individual finds the work and how satisfied the individual is in their role.

Why are non-linear paths more common today?

  • Career development (at least in North America) is more self-directed. More people are concerned with finding their work meaningful and working with employers that reflect their own values (Borgen & Edwards, 2019).

  • The Covid-19 pandemic normalized remote work.

  • People are making more space for other meaningful things outside of work, e.g. finding work that allows for greater flexibility.

  • Technology advancements, in addition to economic factors, have changed and continue to change the workplace rapidly, making work uncertain and complex.

  • The rise of employers hiring part-time or contract employees, which in turn encourages employees to be looking for the next job/employer, significantly reducing loyalty (Borgen & Edwards, 2019).

  • Career breaks, whether to focus on well-being and health or taking some time after a layoff, are becoming more common (Nahla Davies, 2022), and there are now effective strategies on how to articulate and leverage career breaks in applications (Xinyi Bian, “Career Interruptions,” 2023), with even LinkedIn integrating a “Career Break” feature.

These factors primarily point to a common trend with non-linear careers: they are focused on the individual’s needs and career satisfaction and acknowledge the uncertain and complex future state of work that requires individuals to continually learn new skills.

Positive outcome of the trend:

Challenges of the trend:

Positive outcome of the trend:

Challenges of the trend:

  • Non-linear careers support career exploration, which increases individuals’ ability to find career satisfaction and meaningful work

  • The lack of consistent job security can cause financial anxiety

  • “Success” is measured from the individual’s perspective, reinforcing the importance of values and impact in work

  • Not every employer you work for may reflect your values or some jobs you take on may not meet your needs

  • Continuously learning new skills or lifelong learning keeps you invested in the work you do or would like to do, making career transitions easier (but not necessarily easy!)

  • While some employers support lifelong learning and professional development, some employers rely on individuals to facilitate their own professional development

Like any challenges you may be experiencing in your career or work search, approaching career advisors or connecting with peers or mentors in your field can support you in overcoming and/or adapting to these challenges.

 

Individual and community/collective approaches to career

Pursuing a career and the job application process may seem to be individualistic: your résumé and cover letter are about you, you’re looking to get a job for yourself and even networking may feel as if it’s all centered on you and your career advancement. But careers are much more multifaceted, ranging from individualist approaches to community or collective approaches and everything in between! This range of approaches are available to all and are not mutually exclusive. For some folks, certain approaches may better suit their cultural and personal values. Others may use a mix of either end of the spectrum based on certain situations or circumstances. If you’re unsure, you can always seek a career advisor's support in identifying what approach may be best for you (Hong et al, 2022).

Let’s go over the broader approaches:

Individualistic approaches to career

Individualist approaches to career involve more self-directed and self-motivated career decision-making. These approaches often prioritize the values and interests of the individual, although these values and interests may also reflect their community. With this approach, career goals are often informed by individual values, interests, needs and decisions are centered on what is best for the individual.

Individualist approaches do not have to be conflated with competitiveness. Nor do individualistic approaches mean that the career journey is done in isolation. The focus of the individualistic approach is: what is best for the individual, according to their values, interests and needs?

Individualistic approaches to careers include:

  • Researching employers and roles that meet the individual’s needs at the time

  • Establishing networks and joining work search groups from across communities/fields to increase career paths and movement for the individual

  • Networking to get information to make the best decision for the individual’s career goals

  • Career decision making informed by the individual’s needs and goals

  • Upskilling determined by personal needs

  • Individualist approaches to career tend to be more mobile, moving between employers or within an employer often as the individuals’ needs and career aspirations change over time (Hong et al, 2022)

Community or collective approaches to careers

Career goals and professional development in community or collective approaches to careers often are informed by community/collective values, interests and needs, with decisions centered on what is best for the community or for the employer.

Community or collective approaches do not mean the individual’s own needs or values are separate from the community/collective or that they are not prioritized at all. Instead, community/collective approaches should be understood as the individual taking community/collective values and needs into consideration in career decision-making and the individual may be more interested in prioritizing those needs and values in their career and satisfying their own personal needs/values in other avenues. Or, perhaps, one’s personal needs/values are simply more influenced and shaped by the community/collective values and so it is harder to tease them apart.

Community/collective approaches to careers include:

  • Researching employers that are invested in your local community or reflect your community’s values

  • Establishing or joining work search groups within the community or field to support each other in their work search journey

  • Networking with the goal of understanding the needs of the community/employer

  • Career decision-making informed by family values

  • Upskilling based on needs in the community/organization Career movement is within the organization/community, and the movement may be more horizontal than vertical (Hong et al, 2022)

Some of these approaches from the individualist and the community/collective ends of the spectrum can be mixed and matched for you. You may tilt towards one end of the spectrum than the other, and there may be external factors that may push you towards favouring one approach over others.

 

When pursuing a post-secondary degree, there may be specific careers and industries that you have in mind that are popularly associated with your field of study. For instance, pursuing a degree in Computer Science may come with the assumption that you are pursuing a career in the tech industry, but there are many roles in several other industries that require the skillsets and knowledge you are gaining. It can be helpful to think about more than your degree (or assumptions about your degree) when considering which careers are available to you. There are several reasons for this:

  • There may be occupations/roles that you are not aware of or that you didn’t think you could apply to that require your skillsets and knowledge (Wood, 2021).

  • You may be interested in other industries instead of the one commonly associated with your degree of study.

  • Your knowledge and skills may be (many are) transferable to other types of careers.

  • You may want to reframe or tailor application materials to speak to those audiences outside your area of expertise.

  • You may be making a career change, having a previous degree that is not related to your current degree. That previous degree can still be leveraged, utilizing relevant knowledge and skillsets developed in that degree.

If you are pursuing a graduate degree or taking upper year specialized courses, you are acquiring more advanced and, in some cases, specialized knowledge and competencies that may build upon the knowledge and skillsets established in your previous degrees, coursework and past work experiences. That advancement in competencies and specialization can sometimes feel like a narrowing of competencies; however, view these additional specialization opportunities as adding to your skillsets and knowledge, opening more career paths for you to explore.

Researching and thinking beyond job titles, particularly titles commonly or even stereotypically associated with your degree, can be very useful when exploring what career paths are available to you.

 

Work-life balance will look different for each person, but incorporating work-life balance into your daily life has been shown to be beneficial both in your non-work and work parts of your life (Aziz et al, 2023). Whether you are drawn to or in a moment of hustle culture, or you find yourself needing to prioritize things in your life outside of work, noting and keeping track of work-life balance is crucial for overall satisfaction in your career (Hirschi, Zacher, and Shockley, 2020).

Commonly, some may think of career planning as only including work-related goal setting. Involving non-work related planning and goals, particularly how they interact with work-related planning and goals, is beneficial. Work-life balance may seem like “work” and “life” are separate domains, but they are often interconnected; work can affect life outside of it and life can affect work. It’s good practice to be aware of these interactions and connections to achieve a healthy work-life balance that is right for you. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to work-life balance since each of us have different needs, values, boundaries and personal circumstances.

The above example is just one scenario, and a very common one, where a non-work goal is impacted by work and may affect or shape work goals and vice versa. Sometimes the non-work goal is bigger, like living in a location or starting a family with your partner. And sometimes, the non-work goal may be something smaller like wanting to learn a new language and finding a job that allows flexibility to take language courses during the day. Or you may have a non-work goal to have a hobby, so you look for a job that has less commute time so there is more time for you to do that hobby in the evening.

So, what does work-life balance look like for you? It’s a useful exercise to write down your work goals and to write down your non-work goals. Check in with these goals every now and then: Are you working towards these goals or are the goals being met? If not, is work negatively affecting your goals? If so, what can you do to change your work? Is non-work affecting your goals? If so, what can you do to change things about your non-work?

You can also research how employers promote a healthy work environment and work-life balance. You can find this information by networking with employees about how their work-life balance is supported, or you can ask in an interview what policies and benefits are in place to support your work-life balance. Moreover, there is potential to negotiate items in your contract to support your work-life balance.

What can you do with this information now? If you are currently a student or a postdoc, you can start planning the next step in your career while keeping in mind the interconnections between work and non-work life and its connection to well-being and work-life balance.

  1. Next: Researching your careers

Aziz, S., Meier, B., Wuensch, K., & Dolbier, C. (2023). Take a break! Leisure participation moderates the workaholism–work stress relationship. The Career Development Quarterly, 71(4), 315–329. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12336

Borgen, W., & Edwards, D. (2019). Context Counts in Career Development. Canadian Journal of Career Development, 18(1), 59–70. Castrillon, C. (2023, February 26). Why Non-Linear Career Paths Are The Future. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2023/02/26/why-non-linear-career-paths-are-the-future/?sh=1d14da6d13a9

Castrillon, C. (2023, February 26). Why Non-Linear Career Paths Are The Future. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2023/02/26/why-non-linear-career-paths-are-the-future/?sh=1d14da6d13a9  

Davies, N. (2022, May 23). Taking a career hiatus is now perfectly okay. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90753552/taking-a-career-hiatus-is-now-perfectly-okay/

Galarza, A. (2023, May 2). Corporate Ladder Or Corporate Lattice: Rethinking Career Growth And Development. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2023/05/02/corporate-ladder-or-corporate-lattice-rethinking-career-growth-and-development/

Hirschi, A., Zacher, H., & Shockley, K. M. (2022). Whole-Life Career Self-Management: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Career Development, 49(2), 344–362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845320957729

Hong, R., Romans, J. S. C., Koch, J. M., & Ramakrishnan, N. (2022). Impact of Cultural Individualism and Collectivism on Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. Journal of Career Development, 49(1), 218–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845320922608

Wood, K. (2021, September 3). Students need to look beyond job titles to find opportunity. CareerWise. https://careerwise.ceric.ca/2021/09/03/students-need-to-look-beyond-job-titles-to-find-opportunity/