Career Development Theories: Evolution, Comparison, and Application

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of career development theories, tracing their evolution over the past 75 years. It begins with the trait factor theory, emphasizing the matching of personal traits with occupational choices, and progresses through developmental, decisional, and psychological theories, highlighting key figures like Frank Parsons, Donald Super, Albert Bandura, and John Holland. The essay then compares Savickas's career construction theory with Super's developmental theory, examining their approaches to career development and the role of individual preferences and choices. Chen's framework, which integrates career development theories with career counseling practices, is also discussed, emphasizing its usefulness for career practitioners. The essay concludes by underscoring the importance of career theory knowledge for career practitioners in providing effective counseling and support to clients.

Running head: CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORY
CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Changes in Career development theory over time
Over the period of the last 75 years career development theory has seen some
significant changes. Chronologically, it can be classified into four distinct categories:
1. The trait factor: the matching between personal traits and occupational decision
making (Frank Parsons in the 1920s)
The Trait and Factor Theory by Frank Parsons was developed in 1908 and was
sincerely followed in the 1920s and 1930s. Here Parsons identifies three different
achievement by individuals that propels them towards occupational decision making (Patton
& McMahon 2014; O’Brien 2001):
a. The individual has understood accurately, their personal aptitudes, interests and
abilities.
b. The individual has understood the job and labour market sufficiently.
c. The individual has made rational and objective judgement about the relationship they
share with their individual traits and the current job market.
2. Developmental theory: Concept of self over life span (Donald Super in the 1950s)
Donald Super’s Developmental Self-concept theory focuses on the aspect of
vocational development as the process of developing and implementing a concept of the self.
He asserts that vocational choice and behaviour in correspondence with careers is directly
proportional to the realisation and stability of self-concept (Vondracek, Ford & Porfeli 2014).
Developmental self-concept theory is more focused on the development of the
concept of self over the period of an individual’s life, starting from the very early phase of
life till the age of retirement and is characterised by the initial idealisations of a particular
dream career and the subsequent stages that help an individual realise his dream.

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3. Decisional: Situational or sociological self-efficacy (Albert Bandura, in the 1970s)
The focal point of Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory is the concept of self-efficacy
(Bandura 2010). The self-efficacy enables the individuals to evaluate his/her control over the
actions and environment. The level of self-efficacy is helpful in determining whether in a
career space, certain coping mechanisms will be implemented or not, if yes, how much effort
needs to be put in and how long the effort will last in order to achieve the desired outcome
(Lent & Brown 2013).
4. Psychological: matching of personality types with work environment. (John
Holland in the 1980s)
Holland’s theory of vocational types is the most influential in current context of
career development. It provides detailed attention to the style of behaviour or personality type
as the major influencers in career choice development (Holland 1959). It expands that in the
context of a career or a particular occupation, the choice is not random but an extrapolation of
the personality. It also states that in a particular occupational group, members have the same
personality type and will provide similar response to a problem (Brown 2002).
They key establishment of this theory is that the more congruent one’s personality is
with the job environment, more stability, satisfaction and career achievement is entailed.
Over the period of the last one hundred years, what we can notice is that the core
concept of career has remained more or less relevant, however the approaches to career
development has changed. The early 20th century was more job centric and contemporary
theories revolved around identifying personal traits that fit the job well. Therefrom we moved
to a situation of compromise in the 1950s to the 1970s where emphasis on self-identity was
improving significantly and there was a need to identify a balance between self-efficacy and
the job entailments. Further as we advance into the 1980’s we see a significant shift in the
career development field where more emphasis was being provided to finding jobs that fit the

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individual’s criteria. 21st century career practice is more focused towards finding innovative
jobs which are completely different from what would have been included in a 1950’s career
development plan. The most notable ones include freelancing, the digital nomad concept of
working as well as residential jobs.
The change in career has been influenced by a multitude of factors. We can trace one
of the earliest changes in career development back to the industrial revolution which put
machines at the forefront of industrial work (Herr 2001). Current jobs are rife with advanced
robotics and Artificial Intelligence which has made the job more efficient and less requiring
of human help. Therefore, the criteria of requirement has also changed from being able to
handle production, for instance, to being able to handle the technicalities behind an advanced
computerised machine that handles the production. Social contexts have also significantly
changed the concept and acknowledgement towards different careers. Significant jobs from
the 1940’s are no longer considered ‘standard’ (Vondracek & Porfeli 2008).
Comparison between two career development theories
The career construction theory (Savickas 2013) is concerned with elaborating how an
individual makes a choice about a particular work and utilises it. This theory takes into
account three distinct perspectives on vocational behaviour, namely differential,
developmental and dynamic. The central aspect of career construction theory is concerned
with the way people establish themselves in their choice of career. Savickas’ theory of career
construction draws a lot of similarities from the aforementioned theories of career
development, especially in the aspects where the personality traits and choices play a
significant role in the choice and continuation of an occupation (Savickas 2013). Savickas
explains that the current job market is neither employee centred, nor job centred but calls for
a sale of services and skills to the employers who are in need of a project getting completed.

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Super’s theory states that the best case implementation of the actual and expected
vocational behaviour is found in the career maturity (Super 1980). The process has five
distinct stages:
a. Growth – This process is characterised in the early stages of an individual where s/he
develops a fantasy for something over reality based choices (4-10 years of age),
followed by the development of an interest and ending with the identification of
capacity where realistic choices are made based on the relation between the self-
assessed skills and the job requirements (13-14 years of age) (Super 1980).
b. Exploration – this phase is identified in the mid-teens to the early twenties where the
individual explores various roles and tryouts in order to develop a realistic concept of
self and the preference of work. The process is signified by a gradual narrowing of the
wide field of choices regarding careers(Super 1980).
c. Establishment – This phase is identified in the mid 20s through the mid 40s where the
individual fixates upon a particular field and attempts to find a secure niche in the
field and proceed accordingly. It is characterised by trial at the onset and advancement
post stabilisation (Super 1980).
d. Maintenance – This phase (40s through early 60s) entails that the individual’s gains in
the field of work is maintained and preserved while exploring alternative side roles
that the individual wanted to explore (Super 1980).
e. Disengagement – The final stage of the career development where because of
declining capacities, the individual is characterised by a gradual decline and
disintegration from the occupation (Super 1980).
The notable feature that both the theories attempt to highlight is the individual
preferences and choices that become crucial for the individual to establish and develop a
successful career. The main difference between the theories are the parameters that they use

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to determine the aspects of career construction and development. While Savickas looks at the
psychosocial aspects of growth and development in connection with the differential traits and
the work dynamics to determine a successful career advancement, Super takes a more bio-
cognitive developmental approach. Another key aspect of comparison is their approach to
careers. While Super views careers as a gradual, progressive and methodical process starting
at imagination and ending at termination of career, Savickas is more focussed on the life
themes that help guide an individual in his career choices. Savickas does not position his
argument based on whether the individual traits are matching the job or the job requirements
are matching the traits, instead argues that individuals construct careers by establishing
meaning in whatever work they do.
How is the framework, as suggested by Chen, useful in understanding career theory?
Chen’s (2003) framework is concerned with establishing a relationship between the
theories of career development and career counsellor practices. The framework consists of
three distinct possibilities, namely career as self-realization, growing experiences and
conceptualization of context. The goal as attempted to be achieved by the framework is the
development of career practice and therefore, this framework is viewed as important and
usable by many career counselling practitioners in their field.
The first aspect, self-realization is built upon the concept as developed by Parsons and
emphasises the significance of knowing oneself (Chen 2003). In career theory, this becomes
useful as without a deep understanding of the innate abilities and skills as well as fitness
criteria, establishing a successful career becomes difficult. The second aspect is built upon
the construct that views occupational engagements as an opportunity for reflection and
growth. In career development, proper reflective analysis is important to identify the
drawbacks and gaps in the career as well as the strengths in order to develop and advance the
career experience positively. The final aspect addresses the importance of context in career as

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a way of deriving meaning. Career theory plays a key role in both a theoretical understanding
of career development as well as in career development practices. Chen’s theory is focused
towards the integration of theory into career development practice thereby making Chen’s
framework a vital resource for reference.
How can knowledge of career theory contribute to your work as a career practitioner?
Knowledge of career theory (theories) can help me, as a career practitioner in
identifying the background information that is required before providing assistance and
support to career counselling seekers (Sharf 2016). As a practitioner, the job entails providing
career information and in depth counselling to clients regarding various careers that they can
explore as well as assisting them in identifying which career would be well suited for them
based on their styles and preferences. Additionally, the job also entails providing the clients
with educational assistance, self-assessment skills and information about vocational job
options and training. Since they all require a thorough background knowledge of
developmental theories, the knowledge of career theory becomes a useful resource for me as
a practitioner.

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References
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Holland, J.L., 1959. A theory of vocational choice. Journal of counseling psychology, 6(1),
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