Career Management Report: Comparing and Contrasting Career Types

This report delves into the realm of career management, providing a comparative analysis of career types as defined by Driver and Kanter. The report begins with an executive summary and an introduction setting the stage for the discussion. It then contrasts and compares the career concepts proposed by Driver, including linear, steady, spiral, and transitory career types, with Kanter's professional, entrepreneurial, and bureaucratic career models. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to a personal reflection, where the author identifies professional and entrepreneurial career types as particularly relevant to their career aspirations. These choices are justified based on the importance of valued knowledge, reputation, and the balance between risk and return. The report concludes with a summary of its findings and a list of cited references.

Running head: CAREER MANAGEMENT
Career Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The report gives an overview on career management. The report tries to compare and contrast on
the career types put forward by Driver and Kanter. There is also a personal reflection the choice
of two career types that helps in the journey of career growth.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Comparing and Contrasting between Driver and Kanter’s Career Types.......................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References:......................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
The report aims at discussing career management. The report therefore, tries to provide
an insight into the career types described by Driver and Kanter by comparing and contrasting
them. There is also personal reflection on the career options mentioned by Kanter that
particularly suits my career journey.
Comparing and Contrasting between Driver and Kanter’s Career Types
The career journey within organizations takes place within its boundaries (Clarke 2013).
There exist four career concepts as described by Driver that includes a linear career concept, a
steady career concept, spiral career concept and transitory career concept. Kanter, however
describes three vital patterns of career which includes professional career, entrepreneurial career
and bureaucratic careers.
According to Inkson, Dries & Arnold (2014), the linear career concept of Driver is where
an individual choose an organization or specialist field early in this career and accordingly
execute a plan that enables him/her to move forward. Driver’s steady state career concept is
where an individual chooses a singular occupation or work role with the thought of spending a
lifetime. However, in spiral career concept the move of the individual from area to a related area
on cyclic basis. The transitory career concept described by Driver describes the move of the
individual from one job to another without following a particular pattern. On the other hand, the
concept of professional career described by Kanter refers to the careers described by the
professional occupations (Rodrigues, Guest & Budjanovcanin, 2013). There however, exists
logic for acquisition of the socially valued expertise and knowledge within the professional

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boundaries that allows accessing the key rewards of the career. The bureaucratic career
represents Kanter’s term for describing the organizational career. According to him, there is
logic through which the primary career opportunities like power, responsibility, challenge and
earnings is accessed. The entrepreneurial careers as per Kanter’s represent a new career type
represents the characteristics of ambitious manager cum owner particularly of small businesses
who does not confine to them (Baruch & Vardi, 2016). Thus, the principles of this
entrepreneurial career are applicable to almost all job settings.
The most relevant career type in my case would be professional and entrepreneurial
career as described by Kanter. This is because the key resource for the career is valued
knowledge and reputation. The progression of this career type depends on the growth by
reputation and the growth of the valued knowledge by the peers that I actually possess.
Moreover, this career suits me as it involves lower risk and higher return. Standards for this
career type depend on the external professional body. However, entrepreneurial career type can
also drive my career journey, as there is freedom to set up the key resource. In this career type,
the progression depends on the market and the consumers. Although it has higher risk as well as
higher returns but it is to be kept in mind that is no gain until and unless one takes a risk.
Conclusion
The report ends with a self-reflection on how two of the career choices help in driving the
career journey. The report also compares and contrasts about the career types put forward by
Driver and Kanter.

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References:
Baruch, Y., & Vardi, Y. (2016). A fresh look at the dark side of contemporary careers: Toward a
realistic discourse. British Journal of Management, 27(2), 355-372.
Clarke, M. (2013). The organizational career: Not dead but in need of redefinition. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(4), 684-703.
Inkson, K., Dries, N., & Arnold, J. (2014). Understanding careers: Metaphors of working lives.
Sage.
Rodrigues, R., Guest, D., & Budjanovcanin, A. (2013). From anchors to orientations: Towards a
contemporary theory of career preferences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(2), 142-
152.