The Stages in a Person’s Career

Each person's career goes through stages, and it is important to understand how careers evolve. One reason is that you can better plan your own career and deal with occasional career crises if and when they occur. Another is because it can improve your own performance by giving you a better insight into your employees' behaviour. The main stages of one's career can be summarized as following.

Growth stage

During this stage (from birth to age 14) the person develops a self-concept by identifying with and interacting with other people such as family, friends and teachers. Towards the beginning of this period, role-playing is important, and children experiment with different ways of acting; this helps them to form impressions of how other people react to different behaviours, and contributes to their developing a unique self-concept, or identity. Towards the end of this stage, the adolescent (who by this time has developed some preliminary ideas of what his or her interests and abilities are) begins some realistic thinking about alternative occupations.

Exploration stage

During this stage (from 15 to 24) the person seriously explores various occupational alternatives, attempting to match these alternatives with what he or she has learned about them (and about his or her own interests and abilities from school, leisure activities, and part-time work). Some tentative broad occupational choices are usually made during the beginning of this period. This choice is, then refined as the person learns more about the choice and about himself, until, before the end of this period, a seemingly appropriate choice is made and the person tries for a first job.

Probably the most important task the person has in this and the preceding stage is that of developing a realistic understanding of his or her abilities and talents. Similarly, the person must discover and develop his or her values, motives and ambitions, and make sound educational decisions based on reliable sources of information about occupational alternatives.

Establishment stage

This stage (from about 24 to 44) is the heart of most people's working lives. Sometimes during this period a suitable occupation is found and the person engages in those activities that help him or her to earn a permanent place in it. Often the person locks on to a chosen occupation early. But in most cases, this is the period during which the person is continually testing his or her capabilities and ambitions against those of the initial occupational choice. This stage itself comprises three substages.

Trial substage

This lasts from about 25 to 30; during this period the person determines whether or not the chosen field is suitable; if it is not, several changes might be attempted.

Stabilization substage

This lasts from about 30 to 40. During this period firm occupational goals are set while at the same time the person does more explicit career planning to determine the sequence of promotions, job changes and/or any educational activities that seem necessary for accomplishing these goals.

Mid-career crisis substage

Finally, somewhere between the mid-thirties and mid-forties people often make a major reassessment of their progress relative to original ambitions and goals. They may find that they are not going to realise their dreams or that, having accomplished what they set out to do, their dreams are not all they were made out to be. Also, during this period, people have to decide how important work and career are to be in their total life. It is often during this substage that a person is, for the first time, faced with the difficult decisions of what he or she really wants, what really can be accomplished, and how much must be sacrificed to achieve this.

Maintenance stage

Between the ages of 45 and 65, many people slide into this stage. During this period the person has typically created for himself or herself a place in the world of work and most efforts are now directed to securing that place.

Decline stage

As retirement approaches, there is often a deceleration period during which many people are faced with the prospect of having to accept reduced levels of power and responsibility, and have to learn to accept and develop new roles as mentor and confidant for those who are younger. There is, then, the more-or-less inevitable retirement. After this, the person is faced with the prospect of finding alternative uses for the time and effort formerly expended on his or her occupation.