What does ‘career’ mean to people in their 60th year? …

Reflections, projections and interpretations by people born in the late 1940s

A research study by Margaret Christopoulos and Valerie Bromage published by International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby and TAEN – The Age and Employment Network

Abstract

This is a qualitative study based on interviews with 22 people born in 1948 and 1949. The interviewees had had employment experience in 37 occupations and some were employed full-time, some part-time and others retired at the time of interview. The aim of the research was to explore what ‘career’ means to people approaching 60, but also to identify distinctive factors of the careers of this age group, if any. The participants considered their own careers, the careers of people older and younger than themselves and the career issues of members of the opposite gender. They discussed their individual theories about how people make career choices and they also talked through the best and worst parts of their careers.

The career discussions of these 22 people illuminate some of the major occupational changes in the last half century in the UK. Gender has significantly affected the attitudes, expectations and career paths of this group of people born in the late 1940s in the UK. Being female has impeded the access to some careers and employment opportunities. Some members of this group felt that being female is an obstacle to career progression, even if a maternity break was not taken. Being female restricted access to some occupations (like medicine) and restricted career progression, even in the case of an interviewee whose husband fulfilled the house husband role in the 1970s, finding access to career ladders harder and taking longer for women of this age than men. Only two interviewees intended to continue working full time for the next few years. There was a perception of relief to have reached 60 among some interviewees and be able to retire soon, or reduce paid work. Three of those employed mentioned too much pressure at work, and two of those who had already retired mentioned work related stress as a contributory factor to their retirement. Many of the interviewees were at the pinnacle of their career and had not been under specific pressure to retire or reduce their working week. This may indicate a hidden ‘brain drain’, a loss to the economy of much needed knowhow in some sectors, particularly the public sector.

The interviewees gave their own theories about how people choose careers, and the views they articulated fitted in well with career theories – talent matching, developmentalism, opportunity and social structure. Several of them adhered to the theories related to Chance and Chaos, with several of them feeling that their careers had just ‘happened’.

Most members of this group considered that they had fared better than their older siblings in terms of having a wider range of occupations available to choose from but also they had found it easy to get a job throughout their working life – that despite many of them having experienced redundancy. Some felt that their career ‘lot’ was easier than their younger siblings – as younger siblings would have experienced the impact of the 1980s recessions at the wrong time of their career, when they were starting in their career. Young sisters also were thought to be under more pressure to remain in work rather than take maternity leave. Maybe the 1948/9ers could be described as the ‘never had it so good’ generation. Many interviewees talked about the opportunities that had opened up to them because of the grants system, the expanding NHS and four or five decades of relative economic prosperity, without the shadow of wars.

Full report (PDF 90pp)

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