The Career Model of 21st Century Adopted By Higher Education Graduates

The present paper has identified two career models, the Protean Career and the Boundaryless Career, that can be considered to accommodate higher education graduates’ personal and professional needs, as well as the flexibility and adaptability requirements of the current labor market. The research used the data from a tracer study applied online to the graduates of the West University of Timisoara, with a response rate of 25% (which falls within the response rate for similar studies at the European level).

There has been an increased dynamic of the number of jobs compared to the short period since they have been active on the labor market, especially among male graduates. At the level of individual factors that can influence career success, the importance given to both objective and subjective values is observed. The results have shown that for graduates, income, job security, the possibility of promotion, the use of knowledge, but especially leisure time, are equal priorities, with consistent values in time for both stages of the study. Moreover, there has been a significant negative association between the variables of leisure time and job satisfaction (r (522) = -.17, p <.001). Given the mode of action, the high dynamics of jobs, which reflect the much-needed flexibility in the dynamic context of the labor market, and the values that have guided job search, often working and studying at the same time, the pattern of employment career that most accurately describes the career profile of graduates seems to be that of the Protean career (the path with a heart), also called the career of the 21st century.