CAREER

PATTERNS
MR. RED CABALLERO
FACULTY
DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY INTEGRATED SCHOOL - MANILA
CAREER PATTERNS
▪ Careers are determined by an interaction between
our personality and the environment

A career is a sum total of work-related experiences

throughout a person’s life.

A pattern (template) is a distinguishable regularity

in the world. As such, the elements of a pattern
repeat in a predictable manner.
FOUR CAREER PATTERNS

▪ Linear
▪ Expert
▪ Spiral
▪ Transitory
LINEAR CAREER PATTERN
▪ Most familiar and well-accepted career concept,
usually associated with material success
▪ Follows the ladder concept
▪ Success is determined from ‘moving up’ the
corporate ladder
▪ People leave their positions as soon as they top out
▪ For many, it is an emotionally brutal concept
LINEAR CAREER PATTERN
▪ Motives: increase in power and status, prestige
(security and stability) and achievement
▪ Careers in business, military, police, maritime,
teaching
LINEAR CAREER PATTERN
EXPERT CAREER PATTERN
▪ Also known as steady-state expert
▪ Most traditional way of viewing an ideal career
▪ Shows that a person sticks to his/her choice of
career for the long term
▪ Represents a life-long commitment to a vocation
or profession
▪ The central focus of a person’s career comes to
play an essential role in the person’s sense of
identity.
EXPERT CAREER PATTERN
▪ Motives: deeper knowledge, mastery/expertise
and continuing professional development
▪ Careers in law and medicine
LINEAR CAREER PATTERN
SPIRAL CAREER PATTERN
▪ Less traditional than linear or expert as a defined
career pattern
▪ Entails periodic, major changes in the nature of
the work that one performs (changes that might
cross occupational boundaries)
▪ Not motivated by power but by learning
▪ The individual gets bored and is willing to give up
power and status for the sake of getting back to
the steep part of the learning curve.
SPIRAL CAREER PATTERN
▪ Involves shifting from one field to another, where
the new field draws upon knowledge and skills
already developed but requires acquisition of a
new set
▪ Willingness to go back to school
▪ Motives: Knowledge and learning, personal
growth, opportunities for creativity and
innovation and nurturance motive
LINEAR CAREER PATTERN
TRANSITORY CAREER PATTERN
▪ Also known as roamers
▪ Less traditional than spiral career pattern
▪ “Consistent patter of inconsistency”
▪ Work is not the primary motivation.
▪ Shifts from one type of work to another
▪ Simply to be having a good time
▪ Some periods of work and earning money
followed by long fun breaks
TRANSITORY CAREER PATTERN
▪ Series of short engagements in varied fields
▪ People from the extremes of economic
backgrounds
▪ Success translated into the ability to meet greater
challenges
▪ Motives: independence and freedom, people
involvement and strong novelty motives
LINEAR CAREER PATTERN
REFERENCES
INKSON , K. (2007). UNDERSTAN DI N G CAREERS: THE METAPHORS OF WOR-
KING LIVES . THOUSAND OAKS, CA LIF ORNIA : SA GE PUB LICA T IO NS , INC.

LLEW EL LY N, R . (2002 ). TH E F O UR CA R EE R CO N C E P T S. R E TR IE V ED F RO M
H T T P S: / /WWW .S H RM . ORG / HR - TO DA Y /N EW S /H R - M A GA Z I NE / PA GE S /
0902 TO O LS.A S PX

SA N TA M A R IA , J . ( 2000 ). L IF E CARE ER PLA N NI NG WOR KB OO K: TH IR D E DI TI O N .

M A KA TI CITY, PHILIP P I NE S : CA R EER SYSTEM S, INC.