This document outlines a study on career life cycles and influences on career progression. It begins with an introduction and agenda, then discusses the origination of the study idea and initial assumptions. The goals are to identify influences that shape career decisions and understand how professionals move through career stages. A literature review covers developmental theories, vocational choice models, and motivation theories. Key takeaways are that influences, motivations, self-awareness and balance impact career progression. The document proposes applying the findings to enrollment management career stages and conducting further research.

1. “Pioneering” Your
Career Life Cycle
NAGAP 2012
Joshua LaFave Kristen Trapasso
Director of Graduate Director of Graduate
Enrollment Admissions
Whitman School of Management LeMoyne College
Syracuse University, Syracuse, Syracuse, NY
NY

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Origination of Study Idea
• Initial Assumptions and Rationale
• Goals of our Study
• Literature Review
• Key Takeaways from Literature Review
• Finding Personal Equilibrium and Balance
• Applications to Enrollment Management
• Invitation for Continued Study

3. Origination of Idea
From one end of the scale to…
“Young Buck”?
“Old Timer”?

4. Introduction
What is a
career?
Who owns your
career?

5. Some Fun With
Metaphors
• A career is a “climbing ladder”

6. Some Fun With
Metaphors
• A career is a “game”

7. Some Fun With
Metaphors
• A career is a “rat race”

8. Some Fun With
Metaphors
• A career is a “minefield”

9. Some Fun With
Metaphors
• A career is a “timetable”

10. “So, instead of looking for keys to
successful careers, we’ve settled on
careers as keys to success.”
-The Career Management Challenge Balancing Individual
and Organizational Needs by Peter Herriot

11. Initial Assumptions and
Rationale
• Hypothesis:
o There are numerous influences that interact
within the realm of our professional career. The
perceived significance of these influences in
each stage shapes the decisions we make in a
continual search for professional equilibrium.

12. Initial Assumptions and
Rationale
• There is a perceived career “life-cycle” of an
enrollment management professional
• Internal and external influences affect personal and
professional commitment to one’s job/motivation
for excelling
• As one’s “life cycle” advances, the impact of these
influences change

13. Initial Assumptions and
Rationale
• Explore further:
o What are the influences?
o What is the interpretation of these influences as they relate
to balance?
o Are there established tracks or are they personally
motivated?
o At what point does someone move into a different career
stage?
o How do we use this information to make informed decisions
for ourselves and for those around us?

14. Visual Model:
Influences and Career Progression
Personal/Social
Environment
Internal Balance
Environment
Professional
Exploring Stage Confidence Stage Protecting Stage

15. Goals of Our Study
• Identify influences that shape internal and external
decisions in one’s career
• Understand how we move within our career and
what influences are the catalysts for this movement
• Benchmark lifecycles of other professions
• Link previous research with survey findings and
identify enrollment management specific findings

17. Literature Review
What models/theories are there that would help
identify career stages, influences and how/why we
make decisions?

18. Developmental Theory
• An evolution
• Levinson, et al., describes adulthood is a series of
stable and transitional periods
• During stable periods, one follow fairly clear goals
• Periodically, one must reorder priorities and change
behavior in order to compensate for “neglected
dimensions of the self”: unfulfilled ambitions, newly
acquired interests, changes in family dynamics, etc.

19. Vocational Choice: "Life Stages and Life
Roles” (Donald Super)
• As we move through different stages in our lives, we
also move through different stages in our careers
• People don’t follow a straight path of career
development. Super calls it the Life Career Rainbow
o Identifies the different “life roles” we play at different times in our
lives

20. Life Career Rainbow
• Super’s main concepts:
o Influences
o Balance
o Career Maturity
o Self Concept
• People go through changes as they mature and
are affected by:
o Socioeconomic factors
o Mental and physical abilities
o Personal characteristics
o Opportunities

21. Social Cognition Career
Albert Banduras
• Addresses culture, gender, genetic endowment,
social context and unexpected life events that may
interact with and supersede the effects of career-
related choices
• Focuses on the connection of self efficacy,
outcome expectations and personal goals that
influence an individual’s career choice
o We continue doing something because we had a good
experience, proven success and high self esteem as a
reward

22. Role Taking
George Herbert Mead
• Role taking has two components:
1. Thinking about oneself from the perspective of others
2. Regulating one’s behavior based on what one thinks
others expect
• “Maturity” is the ability to make the distinction between
the actor’s and the observer’s view
• Awareness and maturity are expected to change
throughout a person’s individual life and lifestyle

23. Lifecycle Career Management
Adizes
• “Growing up doesn’t mean getting past all the
problems. Growing up means being able to handle
bigger and more complex problems.”
• Becoming mature and aware of a need for career
change; creating consciousness in order to make
mature decisions
• Maturity and awareness

24. Vroom’s Three Tenants:
Expectancy Theory
1) Valence:
o The value of perceived outcomes. What’s in it for me?
o The value placed on the rewards respective to: personal needs,
lifestyle, goals, values and sources of motivation
o In order for the valence to be positive, the person must prefer
attaining the outcome to not attaining it

25. Vroom’s Three Tenants:
Expectancy Theory
2) Instrumentality:
Performance (P) → Outcome (O)
o Belief that a person will receive a reward if the performance
expectation is met: pay increase, promotion, recognition or sense
of accomplishment
o Clear path?
o Instrumentality is low when the reward is given for all
performances given
o If individuals trust their superiors, they are more likely to believe
their leaders’ promises.

26. Vroom’s Three Tenants:
Expectancy Theory
3) Expectancy:
Effort (E) → Performance (P)
o The belief that one's effort will result in desired performance goals
o The belief that one is able to complete the actions; capability
o Beliefs usually based on an individual's past experience
supporting self confidence/self efficacy

27. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory:
Motivational Force
• Motivational Force (MF) = Expectancy X
Instrumentality X Valence
o Behavioral options: the option with the greatest motivational
force (MF)
o Expectancy and instrumentality are attitudes (cognitions) that
represent an individual's perception of the likelihood that effort →
performance → desired outcomes
o Valence is rooted in an individual’s value system

28. Other Theories Considered
• Motivation Theories
o Acquired Needs : we seek power, achievement, affiliation and
needs are shaped over time from experiences
o Cognitive Dissonance: non-alignment is uncomfortable →
change
o Consistency Theory: we seek the comfort of internal alignment →
change
o Intrinsic Motivation: motivated by internal factors, as opposed to
the external drivers of extrinsic motivation; intrinsic motivation
drives me to do things just for the fun of it, or because I believe it is
a good or right thing to do.
• Maslow’s Study of Individual Needs

29. Key Takeaways from Literature
Review
•Lifestyle
•Personal Needs
Valence •Quality of Life
• Social Context/Relationships
• Goals
•Instrumentality (Tangible returns) Self-
•Psychological Contract
Influences Motivations •Acquired Needs Awareness
• Internal
• Altruism
and Balance
• Life Experience
• Professional Experience
Self-Concept • Emotional Intelligence

30. Applications to Enrollment
Management Stages
• Influences
o Within each stage
o Career spanning
• Balance
o Demands of personal and
professional life
• Maturity
• Self-Concept

31. Applications to
Enrollment Management

32. Finding Personal Equilibrium and
Balance
• Personal
• Occupational
• Institutional/Employer
• Professional Involvement

33. Invitation for Continued
Study
• Construct a study to identify possible career stages and
applications to a model
• Learn personal and professional influences
• Assign values of influences and motivations as identified by
sample of graduate enrollment managers
• What do they mean? Anything?
• Will we do our jobs differently? Will this improve the mentoring
process?
• Identify:
o Influences
o Motivations
o Balance
o Valence
o Instrumentality
o Expectancies

34. “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a
day in your life.” ~ Confucius