Career Development and Career

Super's Life-Span Theory Career development is a continuous process that can last for a lifetime since it incorporates the decisions and changes that individuals make from entry into a particular field until retirement. This view is supported by David Super's Life-Span Theory, which postulates that personal change is a continuous process because people are influenced by various factors in life as the develop from one stage to another and experience different life roles.

The continuous nature of career development is also attributable to the fact that people have the capability to carry out different duties across several occupations. Therefore, career is not an isolated phenomenon, but a social phenomenon influenced by social factors and the organization where these factors are rooted (Baruch, 2004). In essence, career development should be viewed through the lenses of its changing nature because of individuals' potential to develop different skills and ability throughout their life and work in various occupations and tasks.

Actually, Super's Life-Span Theory highlights the significance of assessing career development based on its larger context of personal roles, way of life, and achieving the balance between life and work. One of the issues that has dominated the modern labor force is the issue of achieving the balance between life and work. This has contributed to the emergence of two contradictory views relating to work and living the desired lifestyle. One of these schools of thought suggests that employees are busy earning as living as they are living a life.

The other school of thought is the idea that individuals earn a living to support their way of life as they are busy living that lifestyle. The second school of thought seems to be an actual reflection of modern employees given the nature of today's society and working environment. In the modern society and business environment, employees are busy living and working to earn a living that would support their lifestyles.

The modern employee is faced by numerous issues that contribute to the need to work in order to support a particular lifestyle. According to Schwimmer (2013), every individual in the modern society is faced with the need to work in order to earn a living to pay bills and support his/her lifestyle. This has created a society where people are addicted to work not necessarily because they enjoy their jobs, but in order to make money that can support their lifestyles.

Therefore, while people are pre-occupied with living a particularly lifestyle, they are also forced to work in order to make the required money to support their lifestyles. In light of the technological advancements that have transformed the society, life has become relatively expensive because of huge bills. Consequently, today's employee is not only busy living a life but works hard to ensure he/she has adequate funds to support that lifestyle.

While work is an important aspect towards earning a living to support a lifestyle, it is not the primary/basic factor of my identity. The basic factor of my identity is family since it acts as the basis for entry into this world and for growth and development, especially during childhood. The other factors that determine my identity include values, beliefs, race or ethnicity, religion, and nationality.

Work is not a basic factor of my self-identity since its basically something I do to earn a living to support my lifestyle and can change from time.