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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 12

Publication Date: December 25, 2021

DOI:10.14738/assrj.812.11393. Argyropoulou, K. (2021). Sustainable Career Development: A New Challenge in Career Counselling in the Modern Era. Advances in

Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(12). 128-138.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Sustainable Career Development: A New Challenge in Career

Counselling in the Modern Era

Katerina Argyropoulou

Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Career Guidance and Counseling

Department of Educational Studies, School of Philosophy

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT

Sustainable Career Development constitutes an interdisciplinary research area in

the field of counseling and career guidance that is based on Sustainable

Development. In this context, the aim of the manuscript is to report the importance

of providing career counselling to manage one's personal and professional growth

and development in a sustainable approach. In the framework of this effort, we are

presenting the Sustainable Career Development Scale and putting forward a

number of implications for career intervention, which relate to sustainability in

career.

Keywords: career guidance, career sustainability, career development, sustainable

careers

The current work contexts and workplaces are characterised by continuous changes that result

in unceasing transitions for workers and hence instability in their work lives (Di Fabio & Kenny,

2016). Additionally, the pandemic impacted the way work is performed throughout the world,

changed the way we live, posed threats to our health and is still having an even greater impact

to the economy (Hooley, Sultana & Thomsen, 2020). Work has an important psychological

function in the lives of individuals as it can contribute to the fulfilment of personal needs and

serves as a bridge between the individual and society, while promoting sustainable growth and

development. As a result, in the last decades of the 20th century, the term 'sustainability' began

to receive special mention. This term, although directly related to 'sustainability', is much

broader than its ecological dimension, as it is associated not only with conservation and

stability, but also with the dynamics of renewal, in which resource use the orientation of

technological developments and institutional changes are in harmony and enhance both the

existing and future quality of human life (Lawrence, Hall & Arthur, 2015). Based on this

approach, the field of sustainability constitutes an interdisciplinary framework of reflection

involving both the natural and applied sciences as well as the social sciences and humanities

(Rosen, 2017). In this context, sustainable career development is a new challenge in career

counselling in the modern era that marks an innovative framework of primary prevention,

which empowers individuals' ability to use their personal resources and strengths in their lives

and careers (Argyropoulou & Mouratoglou, 2021).

In the present article, based on a review of the recent literature, we are attempting to give a

spherical viewpoint regarding the importance of providing career counselling to manage one's

personal and professional growth and development in a sustainable approach. In the

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Nkansah, S. K., & Gyasi, R. B. (2021). Ambiguity as a Communicative Style: A Study of Rufftown Records. Advances in Social Sciences Research

Journal, 8(12). 116-127.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.812.11393

framework of this effort, we are presenting the Sustainable Career Development Scale and

putting forward a number of implications for career intervention, which relate to sustainability

in career.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF SUSTAINABLE CAREER DEVELOPMENT

The Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development highlights a meaningful and

sustainable life/career construction across different environments and time, with coherence,

direction, significance, purpose and a sense of belonging for people and therefore for their

communities (Di Fabio, 2017). In particular, the emphasis is placed on the harmonization of the

complexities related to individuals’ environments (personal, social, organizational, natural), as

well as on the flourishing of their talents and improvement of their well-being (Di Fabio &

Rosen, 2018). For instance, individuals with a "beyond-the-self" orientation are more open,

have higher levels of life satisfaction and more humanitarian tendencies/inclinations (Bronk &

Finch, 2010).

Sustainable careers refer to “the sequence of an individual’s different career experiences, reflected

through a variety of patterns of continuity over time, crossing several social spaces, and

characterized by individual agency, herewith providing meaning to the individual” (Van der

Heijden & De Vos, 2015). Therefore, the individual, social and wider environmental systems

influence career formation, creating opportunities, needs, constraints, challenges and

dilemmas (Nagy, Froidevaux & Hirschi, 2018). In this light, the individual is an active agent,

which in combination with the social and wider environmental system, influences career

sustainability. According to Savickas (2005) individuals are the central actors in their career

construction; however, the degree of their activeness is likely to depend on and interact with

several dimensions of their social environment (family norms, organizational policies,

occupational sector, country, and cultural factors) under a systemic perspective that extents

over time (De Vos, Van der Heijden & Akkermans, 2020).

Based on this conceptualization, sustainable careers are distinguished by a multidimensional

content that is not limited to a linear sequence of jobs, occupational activities and employment

situations, but is characterized by a developmental approach that involves the dynamic

interaction of the individual with the environment over time. Therefore, sustainable careers are

influenced by the individual's work experiences, opportunities and obstacles, broader socio- economic factors and living and interaction contexts (Argyropoulou, 2021). Additional

theoretical and empirical research indicates that sustainable careers could have beneficial

effects on individual growth by three core indicators health (dynamic fit of career with mental

and physical capacities), happiness (career satisfaction), and productivity (job performance or

career potential) (Van der Heijden, 2005). Building on this context, sustainable career

development constitutes a process of preserving and generating personal and social resources

in a primary preventive approach. To this regard, career sustainability is strongly related to the

way in which individuals utilise their resources and proactively shape their careers

(Akkermans & Tims, 2017).

Hence, taking into account the theoretical and empirical background of sustainability in career

the concept of sustainable career development has been proposed (Argyropoulou,

Mouratoglou, Antoniou, Mikedaki & Charokopaki, 2020), which marks a proactive perspective

in career development, as it supports the utilisation of both personal and social resources