Career development models helps a graduating career path to go on smoothly as it implies a sense of balance in the process of life and career in terms of its relevance to a person and his career changing plans. Thus, one type of career model that can be crucial and appropriate to use for a career graduate path can be identified and reflected by means of using the ‘’Life Career Rainbow’’ that can be in a way, become a positive indicator in finding the essence of balanced work and life realities that suits a graduating student. When peaks of demand in one area match troughs in another, life can be good. However, when demands are in synch people can experience dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, depression and a whole host of other ills as the rainbow model makes it important to find an appropriate balance between your career and your life. Moreover, in the year 1980, Donald Super introduced a theory that describes career development in terms of Life Stages and Life Roles. Super’s original work on career development began in the 1930s and he wrote his defining book, The Psychology of Careers, in 1957. He modified his theories in 1980 to account for the fact that people were no longer continuing on a straight path of career development and he called the theory the “Life Career Rainbow” in order to further take account of modern career life patterns.
Understanding the Model:
The Life Career Rainbow helps people think about the different roles they play at different times in life. “Life Roles” are represented by the colored bands of the rainbow, shown in the diagram below. Age is shown by the numbers around the edge of the rainbow. And the amount of time typically taken with each life role is described by the size of the dots in that colored band of the rainbow.
Figure 1: Super’s Life Career Rainbow Model
Super, D. E. “Life Career Roles.” In CAREER DEVELOPMENT IN ORGANIZATIONS, 1986.
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The implications is that, this is the pattern that most people find suits the way they want to live their lives as the model may or may not suit a career path and the circumstances for the individual and making sure a graduate path understands Super’s Life Roles:
Eight Life Roles
Child – this is the time and energy you spend relating to your parents. The role begins at birth and continues until both parents are deceased, often into your 50s or 60s. You spend a great deal of time in this role early on which decreases over time until the parents become elderly. At this time, there is often a surge in time and attention spent caring for elderly parents. The student role usually continues until at least the age of 16, although it is now common to see students in their early 20s in many countries. People are also increasingly engaging in masters programs or participating in career training or further education throughout life. Leisurite – this is a word created by Super to describe the time people spend pursuing leisure activities. Many people tend to spend more time on leisure as a child or adolescent, and after they have retired. Citizen – this describes the time and energy spent working for the community, with time spent in non-paid volunteer work.
People often engage in this as their children get older and they have more free time available. This role describes the time spent raising children and looking after them. The parent role is usually significant until children reach their mid-teens but, with many grown children staying at home during higher education or moving back home as adults, the parent role can continue at a relatively high level for quite a while after this. Spouse – this role represents the time and energy spent in a committed relationship. It also includes activities that keep the union strong. Home-maker – in this role, people are expending time and energy on maintaining their home: cooking, cleaning, repairing and shopping. This role typically starts as soon as a person leaves his or her parents’ home. When Super developed his model, peoples lives tended to move through five clearly defined “Life Stages”, which were a major feature of the model. Today, people’s careers tend to follow a less predictable pattern, so if a person want to use the Life Stage idea, it is better to adjust them to fit the pattern of own life.
Super’s stages were:
Growth (ages 14 and under) – This Life Stages focuses on physical growth, and is a time when people begin to form ideas about their self-worth. During this time people start discover many of their interests, talents, and abilities. Exploration (typical age range 14 – 25) – This stage is when people start learning about the different types of work available and what is required to be successful in different careers. During exploration, the more you learn, the more committed you become to a few of the choices and you start to narrow the field to those types of jobs you would like to pursue. Near the end of the exploration stage you will (ideally!) have analyzed the career options against your personal skills, talents and interests as well as your expectations from a career. In reality it is not, which means we often make “quirky” career choices. While your first experience with this stage happens usually between the ages of 14 and 25, it is increasingly likely you will return to this stage at least once later in your life as you think through your choices again, hopefully in a more rational and considered way. Establishment (typical age range 26 – 45) – This Life Stage starts as people settle into their chosen career, and become productive members of society. This stage is marked by increased responsibility and personal satisfaction from work and career. Maintenance (typical age 46 – 65) – People at this stage are maintaining their current career and participating in career development activities that will keep them up to date in their present job.
Disengagement (ages 65 and up) – This is the stage when someone has chosen to slow down and eventually retire from their career. During this stage the emphasis moves away from paid work and leaves people with time to concentrate on the other roles they engage in like leisurite, home-maker, and citizen. In particular, the middle of life was taken up with the intense and often-conflicting activities of hard work and parenting, with relatively little time dedicated to the role of “leisurite”.
Figure 2: Example Current Work/Life Balance Pie Chart:
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It’s too easy for people to let emotion cloud their judgment here and think that they routinely spend more time on roles they dislike than they actually do.
Figure 3: Example Ideal Work/Life Balance Pie Chart:
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The ideal message of Super’s Life Career Rainbow is that career development is a lifelong process that is influenced greatly by other areas of life. There is no one-way to develop a career and one of the most important aspects of career planning is finding the balance between work and the rest of life. The Life Career Rainbow is a useful tool for thinking about how the demands on person’s time change depending on life circumstances. It helps him understand why he might be overloaded or experiencing stress and helps him understand what he can do about it and the trade-offs the person should expect as a consequence. As the individual see how he split up his work roles and his life roles, it can be much easier to identify where his work and life is out of balance and begin the process of creating the harmony the individual need.
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Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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