What career path are you pursuing? Have you ever considered what type of career path are you on?

Knowledge of your preferred career type helps in identifying roles and work environments that are most aligned with your personal values, needs, and motivations. This, in turn, can lead to greater job satisfaction and reduced levels of work-related stress.

What is a career?

For everyone, it's something different…

• Professional life with a sense of well-fulfilled duty
• Interesting challenges and tasks
• Climbing to higher positions, achieving success
• Course of life's activities in a work-life balance
• Rapid promotion, quickly gaining higher positions in social, scientific, and professional activities,
• Successes within one's own specialization….

Have you ever considered what type of career path you are on?

Knowledge of your preferred career type helps in identifying roles and work environments that are most aligned with your personal values, needs, and motivations. This, in turn, can lead to greater job satisfaction and reduced levels of work-related stress.

If you want to determine what type of career path you are on, the career models according to M.J. Driver can be helpful. M.J. Driver is a scholar who studied organizational behavior and career development. His work was particularly significant in the 1970s and 1980s, actively contributing to the literature on career management and professional development. The career models he is known for were developed to understand different professional development paths and career strategies that employees can adopt in the context of a changing work environment.

Driver explored how different career types affect job satisfaction, engagement, and professional success, suggesting that various approaches to career management can better serve different personalities, needs, and professional goals. His work helped shape contemporary understanding of career planning and personal development in an organizational context.

Driver identified four main career types, differing in their structure, trajectory, and assumed professional goals. Here they are:

• Transitory

A transitory career is characterized by frequent job and industry changes, resulting from the search for new experiences, skill development, or adaptation to changing job market conditions. Individuals with this career type often change employment, not focusing on long-term engagement in one organization or career path. This approach is more typical for those who value flexibility, diversity of experiences, and the opportunity for continuous learning.

Motivation: individuals with this career type are motivated by the desire to gain new experiences, learn, and adapt. They value diversity, flexibility, and the opportunity to work in different environments.

Preferred Positions: they may occupy positions in various industries and at different levels, often choosing project-based, temporary, or contract work (e.g., Creator, artist. Business coach, consultant, project manager, board advisor)

They are open to changes and often take on roles that offer new challenges and learning opportunities.

Sense of Success: success for them means acquiring a wide range of experiences, personal and professional development, and flexibility in choosing a career path.

• Stable

A stable career refers to long-term engagement in one field or profession, with little change in terms of employer or professional role. Individuals with a stable career type often focus on developing deep specialist knowledge and skills in a specific field. This approach is more typical for those who value stability, predictability, and building long-term professional relationships.

Motivation: stability, security, and deep specialization in a particular field are key motivators for individuals with a stable career type. They value predictability and long-term commitment to one path.

Preferred Positions: they may prefer positions that allow for deepening knowledge and skills in a specific area, often staying in the same industry or organization for many years (e.g., chief specialist, plenipotentiary, expert, subject matter consultant, book author, lecturer, academic work)

Sense of Success: achieving success means for them to be recognized as an expert in their field, stable professional advancement, and building long-term professional relationships.

• Linear

A linear career is characterized by gradual, sequential development within one professional path or organization. Individuals with a linear career type aim to advance to higher positions, focusing on vertical professional development. This career model is often associated with traditional career paths, where professional success is measured by advancement to increasingly higher managerial positions.

Motivation: ambition, the pursuit of advancement, and achieving higher managerial positions are the main motivators for individuals with a linear career type. They value vertical development and clear promotion paths.

Preferred Positions: they prefer positions that offer a clear career path with the possibility of advancing to increasingly higher positions in the organizational hierarchy (e.g., Corporate CEO, strategic company general director, Prime Minister, influential lobbyist)

Sense of Success: success is measured for them by achieving a high position, recognition as a leader in the organization, and influence on strategic decisions.

• Spiral

A spiral career is characterized by cyclical changes that lead to development in different, but related, fields. Individuals with a spiral career type seek opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge through exploring various, but often interconnected, professional fields. This career model emphasizes the importance of transferring knowledge and skills between different roles and sectors, leading to more integrated and comprehensive professional development.

Motivation: personal development, exploration of different but interconnected fields, and the desire for integrated professional growth motivate individuals with a spiral career type. They value the transfer of skills and knowledge across different areas.

Preferred Positions: positions that allow for the use and development of diverse skills in different contexts, often in various departments or industries that are, however, interconnected (e.g., own company owner, Freelancer, independent consultant)

Sense of Success: success for them means the ability to combine and apply knowledge and skills in new, innovative ways, contributing to the development of organizations and their own professional growth.

You are not limited to one career type.

It is possible to pursue different types of careers simultaneously or at different stages of professional life. Human careers are inherently dynamic and can evolve depending on changes in personal interests, life situations, available opportunities, or in response to changes in the job market.

Here are some ways to pursue different types of careers:

• Career Evolution

An individual may start with one type of career, which over time evolves into another. For example, someone might begin with a linear career, aiming for advancements in one field, and over time start exploring spiral paths, moving to different but related areas to integrate their experiences and develop new skills.

• Combining Career Types

Some people may actively combine elements of different career types. For example, they may have stable employment (stable) while also undertaking side projects or freelance work that fits into a transitory career model, allowing for the exploration of new areas and gaining diverse experiences.

• Changes Motivated by Circumstances

Changes in personal life, such as moving, the birth of a child, or other significant events, can lead an individual to change their career type. Someone who previously pursued a linear career may seek greater flexibility and diversity, moving towards a transitory or spiral career.

• Personal Revaluations

Changes in personal values or reassessments of what is important in professional life can also lead to a change in career type. Someone who has achieved success in a linear career may decide to transition to a spiral career, seeking more fulfilling work that allows for the use of a wide range of skills and interests.

• Parallel Careers

In some cases, individuals may simultaneously develop two career paths that correspond to different types. This can be a combination of professional work with a passion or hobby, which over time can transform into a parallel career.

Combining and intertwining different types of careers requires flexibility, openness to change, and a willingness to continuously learn. Such an approach can bring richer professional experiences, greater job satisfaction, and better adaptation to the rapidly changing world of work.