Making Career Stories

This book is about how people construct career stories: the stories we use to make sense of our work life. Mark Scillio explores the idea of security in the current turbulent employment climate, investigating employment experiences in developed, wealthy countries like Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdomwhere careers have become fragmented, complex, and uncertain. Using Anthony Giddens' notion of ontological security, Scillio develops a concept of career security that goes beyond economic and financial concerns and encompasses the personal and social meaning of work. The ramifications of succeeding (or failing) to forge a good career narrative are explored through a series of detailed case studies.

Provides timely insight into how people manage career insecurity and seek concrete narratives Deals with issues that cut across a range of disciplines and sub-disciplines Builds a new framework of "career security" for the modern world

Autorentext

Mark Scillio has worked as a university lecturer, adult educator, policy advisor, and social researcher. He currently teaches sociology at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Situating the Study.- 2. Conceptualizing Career Security.- 3. Entangled Work Motivations.- 4. How Routines Shape Career Stories.- 5. Organizations as Places of Learning and Self-Development.- 6. Narrative Crises.- 7. Developing an Entrepreneurial Story.- 8. Creating your own Structures: Implications for the Self.- 9. Personalizing Social Problems.- 10. The Audience as a Social Context and Form of Grounding.- 11. Possible Selves and Career Stories.- 12. Structure and Coherence in Career Stories.- 13. Conclusion. Career Security and Keeping a Good Story Going.