Pionerring your GEM Career Lifecycle

“Pioneering” Your Career Life Cycle

NAGAP 2012

Joshua LaFave Director of Graduate

EnrollmentWhitman School of

Management Syracuse University,

Syracuse, NY

Kristen Trapasso Director of Graduate

AdmissionsLeMoyne College

Syracuse, NY

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

Origination of IdeaFrom one end of the scale to…

“Young Buck”?

“Old Timer”?

Introduction

What is a career?Who owns your

career?

Some Fun With Metaphors

• A career is a “climbing ladder”

Some Fun With Metaphors

• A career is a “game”

Some Fun With Metaphors

• A career is a “rat race”

Some Fun With Metaphors

• A career is a “minefield”

Some Fun With Metaphors

• A career is a “timetable”

“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

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.

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

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?

Visual Model:

Influences and Career

Progression

Exploring Stage Confidence Stage

Protecting Stage

Internal Balance

Pro

fessio

nal

En

viron

men

t

Perso

nal/

Socia

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nviro

nm

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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

Literature Review

What models/theories are there that would help identify career stages, influences and how/why we

make decisions?

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.

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 Rainbowo Identifies the different “life roles” we play at different times in our

lives

Life Career Rainbow• Super’s main concepts:

o Influenceso Balanceo Career Maturity o Self Concept

• People go through changes as they mature and are affected by:o Socioeconomic factorso Mental and physical abilitieso Personal characteristics o Opportunities

Social Cognition CareerAlbert 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 choiceo We continue doing something because we had a good

experience, proven success and high self esteem as a reward

Role TakingGeorge Herbert Mead

• Role taking has two components:1. Thinking about oneself from the perspective of others2. 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

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

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 motivationo In order for the valence to be positive, the person must prefer

attaining the outcome to not attaining it

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 giveno If individuals trust their superiors, they are more likely to

believe their leaders’ promises.

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; capabilityo Beliefs usually based on an individual's past experience

supporting self confidence/self efficacy

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: Motivational Force• Motivational Force (MF) = Expectancy X

Instrumentality X Valenceo 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

Other Theories Considered

• Motivation Theorieso Acquired Needs : we seek power, achievement, affiliation

and needs are shaped over time from experienceso Cognitive Dissonance: non-alignment is uncomfortable →

changeo Consistency Theory: we seek the comfort of internal

alignment → changeo 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

Key Takeaways from Literature

Review

InfluencesSelf-

Awareness and

Balance

•Lifestyle•Personal Needs•Quality of Life• Social Context/Relationships• Goals

Valence

•Instrumentality (Tangible returns)•Psychological Contract•Acquired Needs• Internal • Altruism

Motivations

• Life Experience• Professional Experience• Emotional Intelligence

Self-Concept

Applications to Enrollment Management Stages

• Influences o Within each stageo Career spanning

• Balanceo Demands of personal and professional life

• Maturity• Self-Concept

Applications to Enrollment Management

Finding Personal Equilibrium

and Balance• Personal • Occupational• Institutional/Employer• Professional Involvement

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 Influenceso Motivationso Balanceo Valenceo Instrumentalityo Expectancies

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