When I ask former students who have recently graduated how they embarked on their current career path, the answers are often strikingly similar: “I’m not sure,” they often say, “it just happened.” They choose jobs because they are available and seem acceptable at the time. They sometimes also admit, “My parents told me this was a good field to work in.” As a result, these students have begun their professional lives in careers that lack purpose and fulfillment, yet they still expect upward mobility and ever-increasing success.
In my last post, I made a case for encouraging students to engage in deep vocational discernment and reflection as they embark on their careers, rather than succumbing to the most common paths students often take in this moment: accident or happenstance, apathy, and social pressure. To support this process, we need to encourage students to view vocational and career discernment as an ongoing, regular reflection and reassessment activity.
Given the pitfalls of not being deliberate in their career decisions, it can be productive to encourage students to engage in a thought experiment and start by mapping out their career paths, if only to help them see their futures in a developmental framework. Based on my observations, the trajectory of the “perfect” or linear career can be broken down into distinct stages as a useful schematic:
- Entry-Level or Apprenticeship Roles: These positions allow individuals to begin applying skills in workplace settings, whether in a profession or a trade.
- Journeyman or Intermediate Positions: As individuals gain experience, they may move into roles that require specialized knowledge, certifications, or leadership. These positions offer greater responsibility and the potential for advancement.
- Senior Leadership and Mastery Roles: These roles involve greater expertise and decision-making responsibilities. In some professions, this stage might include management or senior specialist positions; in the trades, it could mean becoming an expert tradesperson or supervisor.
- Executive Leadership and Master Craftsmanship Roles: Some individuals advance into executive positions or achieve expert status in their profession. These positions require deep expertise and typically strong leadership skills.
To illustrate more fully the variety of linear career trajectories, we might also consider the following simplified examples drawn from disparate fields:
- Creative Arts: An artist may start as an assistant, move on to become a full-fledged artist, progress to a lead role, and eventually assume the responsibilities of an art director.
- Consulting: A consultant may begin as an analyst, work their way up to a senior consultant, move into management, and become a partner in a firm.
- Finance: In finance, one might begin as a financial analyst, advance to a senior analyst, then progress to a finance manager, and serve as the chief financial officer of an organization.
- Healthcare: In healthcare, career progression might start with roles such as a licensed practical nurse, then a registered nurse, followed by a nurse practitioner, and eventually to positions of nursing management.
- Academia: In academia, one begins as an assistant professor, and assuming a successful record of teaching, service, and research, can then be promoted to associate professor, often with tenure, then to full professor, and eventually to professor emeritus upon retirement. A few individuals may also shift into administrative roles and take on leadership positions in higher education.
As helpful as this kind of scaffolding might be, it is also misleading—and might do more harm than good as our students envision and plan for their future. While linear career paths might initially look appealing, they fail to reflect reality for most of us. Modern careers are rarely linear and typically do not reflect deep discernment. While popular culture usually portrays career trajectories as a straightforward climb from entry-level positions to senior leadership roles, real-life experiences are frequently quite different. When Augustana College surveyed 2800 of its alumni, it found that most of their careers are non-linear and involve a series of twists and turns. This reality reflects the changing demands of the modern workforce and the diverse ways in which individuals navigate their professional lives.
“While popular culture usually portrays career trajectories as a straightforward climb from entry-level positions to senior leadership roles, real-life experiences are frequently quite different.”
When I read class notes and feature articles from the alumni magazine of my alma mater, the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, I am often amazed to see so many very linear and increasingly successful career trajectories. I have thought that this may be due to self-selection bias, as graduates with upwardly mobile career paths are more likely to promote this fact.
Recent research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests these stories might not be the norm and provides more accurate data on the evolution of careers. A report examining individuals born between 1957 and 1964 reveals that on average, they held approximately 12.7 jobs between the ages of 18 and 56. Compared to this group, individuals born between 1980 and 1984 had already held nine jobs by age 36. These statistics underscore the fluidity of modern careers and affirm the importance of maintaining flexibility throughout one’s career.
In The End of Average, Todd Rose contends that no one is average. He writes that standardized success is a myth, arguing that individuals are most successful when they embrace their uniqueness rather than conforming to a typical or average path. His book challenges the idea of an idealized linear career, as these traditional career models assume a lockstep upward progression. Rose suggests that skills and abilities develop uniquely often in a non-linear manner.
In contrast to a linear career path, there are also scenarios when we shift careers entirely, necessitating a much more dramatic change of course. Consider the following examples that I’ve observed from people in my life:
- With a background that includes a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale, a tenure-track position in academia, and work as a White House advisor, a mentor and former boss made a 180-degree turn into the world of marketing consulting early in his career.
- Another acquaintance worked successfully as a partner for years at the same well-known consulting firm and is now training to become a chef in France.
- A first-generation American, who was a former colleague, earned a top-tier MBA, then worked for Fortune 50 companies developing their e-commerce strategies—and is now training for a more fulfilling career in interior design.
- A family friend worked in information technology (IT) for his entire career, reaching the position of chief information officer position at a regional utility. At 50, he made a significant career pivot to study nursing. He subsequently became a registered nurse and is now working as a nurse educator at the age of 70.
Career shifts or reinventions remind us that flourishing often lies beyond the frameworks of traditional linear career paths. The idealized career, promising fulfillment and worth through professional success, is flawed (especially for students just starting their careers), for it ignores the unpredictable nature of modern work. We need to encourage students to be open to pursue a variety of paths in their vocational journeys.
To help them do so, in my next and final post, I will discuss the evolving process I have used to shape my thinking about vocation, calling, and career, which I describe as coddiwompling. Coddiwompling is an English slang term loosely defined as meandering in a purposeful manner toward a vague destination. As I conclude my series, I will explore this process and its vocational implications for students.
David Youland is associate professor of business at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. A native of Minnesota, he has also lived in Iowa, Tennessee, and currently resides in Wichita, Kansas. Before joining Southwestern College in 2018, he worked for 35 years in marketing and innovation roles with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 firms to smaller corporations listed on NASDAQ. During that time, he also held adjunct faculty roles at St. Cloud State University, William Penn University, Central College, and King University. He is a noted thought leader and consultant specializing in organic revenue growth and the author of Driving Organic Business Growth: Actionable Strategies for Smart Innovation and editor of Readings in Qualitative Market Research: Insights for Managers.