Adaptability and the characteristics necessary for managing adult career transition: A qualitative investigation

Since the 1970s, when the more traditional adult career paths began to give way to economic and organizational changes, the vocational psychology field has required a greater understanding of adult career development. Super acknowledged a need within his own career development theory for a greater emphasis on the characteristics adults need for coping with career change---characteristics that are distinct from those of adolescents---when he introduced the concept of career adaptability (Super & Knasel, 1981). Despite the introduction of this useful construct as one way to understand how adults cope with career change, Heppner (1998) cites a lack of understanding within the career counseling field regarding adult career transitions. This study attempted to further explicate the concept of adaptability by describing the reactions of adults who have encountered a job loss. Qualitative research methods were employed to extract rich and detailed information about transition behaviors, attitudes, and emotions, as well as the contextual issues that impact progress through career transition. The stories of nine women and nine men, who sought assistance from a career counseling agency following a job loss and who volunteered to participate in an interview, became the primary source of data for further understanding adaptability during the transition. In addition, this study examined the usefulness of The Career Transitions Inventory (Heppner, 1991) as perceived by the participants in the study. Themes related to adaptability that resulted from this investigation are offered as the following recommendations: (1) approach job loss with a healthy sense of urgency; (2) consider your next career move and what it would take to get there---even when no transition is in sight; (3) react to change as soon as you see it coming; (4) treat stop-gap employment cautiously; and (5) identify a realistic goal and clearly articulate the steps to achieve it. Contextual themes related to financial concerns, family and developmental issues, and employer response to the job loss all appeared to be important components of the process. Participant perceptions of the usefulness of the CTI and their insights that appeared particularly relevant to the transition are also described. Implications for career counseling and future research are discussed.