Identity, Meaning, and Subjectivity in Career Development

Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma
Series Editor
Julie Gedro
Empire State College
Rochester
New York, USA
This series is a call to action for organizations to not only recognize but
include, support, and value employees of all walks of life, regardless of the
social stigmas that might create material, affective, or psychological divi-
sions between them and their ostensibly “normal” counterparts. It fills the
gap in scholarship surrounding the difficult issues employees or job seekers
might face based on their demographics, life events, or other factors. The
series explores issues such as mental illness and wellness; and alcohol and
drug addiction and recovery. It explores the complex and often times
nuanced issues that face sexual minorities, or those who are formerly
incarcerated, or military veterans in the context of employment or career
decision making.
Through rigorous research and contributions from the foremost scho-
lars in human resources, books in the series will provide an in-depth
exploration of each population and challenge HR scholars and practi-
tioners to effectively consider and embrace these explorations. and con-
sider expanding their own awareness. The series speaks on behalf of
anyone who has ever been affected – directly or indirectly – by discrimina-
tion or exclusion in the context of work, and promotes a positive, pro-
ductive, and purposeful working environment for employees at all levels.
More information about this series at

http://www.springer.com/series/15458
Julie Gedro
Identity, Meaning,
and Subjectivity in
Career Development
Evolving Perspectives in Human Resources
Julie Gedro
Rochester, New York, USA
Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma

ISBN 978-3-319-51588-5 ISBN 978-3-319-51589-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2
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FOREWORD
It is an immense pleasure and honor to write the Foreword for this land-
mark book. To my knowledge, no other human resource development
(HRD) academic has so honestly and comprehensively articulated the
complex interplay between identity, its impact on career development,
and how HR professionals might respond. It is no surprise to me that
this book breaks new ground. I have known of Julie and her important
body of work for several years. However, it wasn’t until June 2016 that I
had the pleasure of finally meeting her at the European HRD conference
in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Some of my initial perceptions of Julie’s identity were shaped by the
photo on her university’s website. I was already aware of Julie’s work
around gender and sexual orientation and felt comfortable with her status.
Looking at her photo, I immediately liked her nice, warm smile with
sparkling eyes. Then, I considered Julie appeared strong, confident, and
professional, and I suddenly felt a little intimidated at the thought of
meeting and working with her. What did that say of my identity? As
Julie notes, “it is the way that people self-categorize or relate, and who
they think they are and who they think others think they are, that impacts
development a profound level” (p. 5). Having now met Julie, I am acutely
aware of how we subconsciously judge people (including ourselves), and
can inadvertently make identity mistakes. Yes, Julie appears strong and
professional, but she is also warm and humble. After sparking a friendship,
I now see how different her professional profile is to her Facebook photo,
which is perhaps unsurprising as mine—and I’m sure many others’—are
quite different, too! This immediately raises issues regarding the
v
vi FOREWORD
complexity, multiplicity, dynamism, and situated nature of individual

identity. As with emotional intelligence, we need to be aware of our
own identities and the impact these can have on the identities of others
we encounter in our converging careers—such as trainer and trainee.
Trainers intervene, intentionally or otherwise, and need care when inter-
fering in people’s careers, and thus their lives. So, having allowed sub-
jective perceptions to erroneously shape my judgment of Julie’s social
identity, I now appreciate the importance of HR professionals becoming
more aware of “identity intelligence”—but from a human (social/psycho-
logical) rather than computer science or defense perspective. The prospect
of an encounter with Julie triggered many identity issues for me to ponder.
When we eventually met at the conference, we connected through author-
ial, editorial, and social activities, offering deeper insights into our
identities.
First, as a co-chair of the critical, theoretical, and methodological
stream, I was judging papers for the Alan Moon Prize. Julie’s autoethno-
graphic paper was outstanding, the best in our stream, and was eventually
a close runner-up for this prestigious prize that rewards HRD research that
is relevant and accessible to practitioners. Julie linked her own experiences
as both trainer and HRD researcher, turning the lens on what shaped her
own identity. Julie has practiced for over three decades as a trainer and HR
professional and draws upon this rich well of personal knowledge and
involvement. Having read the fascinating paper, which I am delighted
Julie has developed into one of the chapters in this book, I was eager to
attend Julie’s presentation. She delivered a consummate performance—
humble, informative, passionate, evocative. I just sat, watched, listened,
and learned much about Julie’s identity—and my own—and the impact
this can have in our own training worlds.
Next, in a different role, but with the same personal qualities, Julie’s
identity had an impact in an editorial context. As a leading HRD author
with substantial publication experience, Julie had been invited to join the
Board of Directors of the Human Resource Development International
journal, which I chair. During our first Board meeting together, Julie
clearly but quietly demonstrated to me the important and unique con-
tribution she could offer in this small group. The Board is tasked with
overseeing the management of the journal through representatives of its
two sponsoring bodies: the (European) University Forum for HRD and
the (American) Academy of HRD, of which Julie is president-elect.
Working with colleagues from quite distinct demographic backgrounds,
FOREWORD vii
yet immersed in similar careers (albeit with unique trajectories), I began to

reflect again on Julie’s conference presentation. It had moved me so
deeply, I almost wanted to just sit back and observe the interactions
between this small group of very different personalities and identities.
Yet, I soon remembered that I had to chair this meeting and so launched
into more functional activities, albeit spliced with some mini-observations
and contemplation. Jule was—and is—right! Our identities impact every-
thing we do as HRD professionals, through our practices in the classroom,
in research encounters, and in managerial meetings, and these can have
profound effects on those whose careers we touch.
In the social context, I remember exactly the moment in her presenta-
tion Julie mentioned she was a recovering alcoholic, and wondered how
we might interact at the conference dinner—where it must be said I do like
to indulge in red wine! Julie’s revelation had roused me and caused me to
consider my own drinking “career.” Was I troubled by her acceptance and
remedy of a problem that could so easily assail me? Would Julie think any
less of me for my own indulgence? Would I think any less of her for her
abstinence? It never appeared to be an issue, and we engaged in a wonder-
ful after-dinner conversation outside, on the cold streets of Manchester.
Through our various interactions, I believe we initiated a meaningful
relationship, and I am thrilled to be invited to open this book. Writing a
Foreword for such an important text is somewhat daunting, not least in
light of the outstanding content of the book, and my emerging friendship
with Julie. However, having read the work, I am grateful that Julie has
shared her profound personal experiences and research, connecting iden-
tity and career development in such a beguiling manner. I am sure other
readers will derive the same illumination and satisfaction that I
experienced.
To whet your appetite, the book is organized in eight chapters. In
Chapter 1, Julie introduces the context, purpose, and problem of
Identity, Meaning, Subjectivity, and Career Development. The purpose
is clearly articulated: to raise HR professionals’ awareness by examining
the construct of identity and demonstrate why and how it plays a signifi-
cant role in career identity. But the book is also intended for anyone and
everyone, as individual we all contemplate our own fluid identities and
how these impact and align with our career development—or not. Identity
is a complex yet under researched concept in this emergent field of HR
development, in a context where individuals are now increasingly respon-
sible for their own career development. Chapter 2 examines the construct
viii FOREWORD
of identity and its relevance to HRD theory and practice, drawing on

critical theory. This is a particularly interesting chapter in that it turns the
lens inward on HR professionals. It explores how we negotiate our perso-
nal and social identities. Julie asks us to reflect on our own identities, as
trainers and career developers, and consider our impact on others.
Chapter 3 explores how identity is constructed and how career success is
subjective, focusing on the perplexing question: “Who am I?” Julie intro-
duces the notion of a contested and matrixed identity. Chapter 4 considers
demographics, and the matrixed nature of identity through the nexus of
age and gender, including racial and sexual orientation, ability/disability,
and educational and professional qualifications. This was fascinating, criti-
quing existing theories as masculinized, assuming identity homogeneity
and linearity. Chapter 5 focuses on the various (micro) life events that
impact identity, particularly family, marriage/divorce, returning from
military deployment, addiction, and criminality. Chapter 6 develops this
theme, drawing our attention to other factors that impact identity, such as
(meso) organizational strategies and (macro) national adult/higher edu-
cation and HRD policies and global issues. Chapter 7 synthesizes earlier
discussions of HRD, identity and career development, culminating in a
comprehensive typology of influencing factors and HR responses. The
final Chapter 8 offers conclusions and recommendations for HRD practice
and research, arguing there is a “business case” for HRD professional to
become more aware of, and be able to respond to, issues of identity.
This book will be invaluable for many readers, with extensive examples
and implications for practice and ideas for further research. Julie invites
HR professionals to consider the ways in which “identity shapes and crafts
peoples’ hopes, dream, fears, joys and abilities” (p. 7). Practitioners can
find new ways to think of and enact their practice in the knowledge that
their enhanced awareness of individuals’ (including their own) complex,
constructed identity impacts the career development of all they encoun-
ter/coach/teach. Julie also reaches out to those entering or changing
careers. This book can help us steer our journey through the various
contours of career development. I think this book also appeals to another
audience. Researchers can draw on Julie’s autoethnographic approach to
help illuminate both their own career development and their effect on
others. This might activate more interdisciplinary (psychological, socio-
logical) and phenomenological and (auto)ethnographic research to more
deeply understand attitudes toward and processes of career development
from trainer and trainee perspectives. Researchers unfamiliar with
FOREWORD ix
autoethnographic approaches can be comforted by Julie’s deeply personal

revelations of her struggles of—and obvious success—in career develop-
ment, and finding a way to write herself into this compelling story.
To conclude, Julie has shared with us her profound and enlightening
views on the nature of identity and career development and what HRD
professionals need to consider in their own practice. I encourage you to
read this fascinating book and sincerely hope you enjoy it and learn as
much as I did. Thank you, Julie.
Bangor University, UK Sally Sambrook

PREFACE
This work has been inspired by personal and professional events in my own
context; most of which have occurred over a three-decade period in which
I have experienced, or observed, the ways that people identify and pursue
their career objectives. It seems to me, that in the quest to interrogate
career development, and bring to the light of day aspects of humanity that
might go unnoticed, unspoken, or perhaps even uncared for, that it is a
good idea to provide some of the context for this inspiration. Having
served as a trainer and human resource professional, I have some first-hand
context for the compliance angles that are certainly most necessary, but I
argue insufficient to assist in raising our awareness of the inner worlds,
which then manifest in the outer worlds, of people’s experience of being
human. It is the way that people self-categorize or relate, and who they
think they are and who they think others think they are, that impacts
career development at a profound level. For example, for someone who is
groomed from a young age to become a doctor or a lawyer, for someone
who is a “legacy” at a particular prestigious school, for someone who is the
heir apparent to a family business, or for the other types of ways that career
and career preparation are “signaled” to an individual and the paths
established, career development can become an exciting journey. Or
perhaps a journey that is not seen so much as a journey, but as a taken
for granted (pleasant, but taken for granted) aspect of life and life’s
journey. I think of this as akin to assumptions that middle-class people
in the United States have around the tradition of a holiday such as
Thanksgiving. The assumptions might include that someone is going to
host a large, celebratory meal that is comprised of a turkey dinner and a
xi
xii PREFACE
variety of mostly traditional types of side items. For those in the middle
class (perhaps lower to middle class) and above, in the United States there
is a template of expectations around this holiday that there is going to be a
gathering of some sort of “tribe” or “pack” of familiar and (hopefully)
friendly and affectionate people around a table. This is called a tradition.
For many, this is not just a tradition, but an expectation—something to
anticipate with a modicum of happiness. For many, however, holidays like
Thanksgiving are not something to joyfully anticipate because of a range
of circumstances that challenge or disrupt their lives. Having any kind of
meal, much less a meal that has tradition woven into it, is a challenge on a
daily basis (or weekly or monthly basis, for the working poor and the very
poor) that is not taken for granted and, in fact, rather painful because of
the contrast in life experiences that are raised to the surface by its very
presence.
Career development as a construct, therefore, has rather middle-class to
upper-class overtones on its very face because it assumes that someone has
thought about how they are going to make a living, and they have
planned, to some kind of extent, their career path or plan. There are
people born who do not have luxuries of nurturing, safety and security,
and guidance (and underwriting) toward higher education, who enter the
workplace ill-equipped to play offense (meaning, to be proactive and
intentional), and who, instead, play defense when it comes to navigating
the workplace. There are others who, as indicated in the preceding para-
graph, are groomed and positioned to have at a minimum, rather undra-
matic work lives and at a maximum, flourishing, or at least comfortable
work lives (and, by extension, lives). The range of human experience with
respect to earning a living is as varied as the human experience itself. There
is a pulse of connection that all people face, however, which is the fact that
we all have characteristics that help to shape and define us, and these
characteristics can change over time. Some of the changes are gradual
and inevitable, such as aging. Some of the changes are complex and laden
with transformation, such as realizing that one has an affliction such as
alcoholism or drug addiction, which jeopardizes not only one’s career, but
one’s very life itself. Getting sober or clean is a life-altering proposition
that has very real implications for career development. Realizing one’s
sexual orientation, or gender identity, which is different from the here-
tofore identity (in other words, realizing that one is, for example, a gay
rather than straight man, or realizing that one’s gender on the outside-
biological gender—does not match one’s sense of self—one’s gender
PREFACE xiii
identity), has real consequences for career development. Going through a

divorce, getting married, having and raising children, coming back from
serving in the military overseas, and perhaps in combat situations—all of
these types of aspects of self—impact how one relates to the external world
and in particular, and for purposes of this book, the world of work.
For human resource professionals and for those engaged in interfacing
with employees or prospective employees (in whatever form: full time, part
time, temporary, contract), attending to matters of employment law such
as those laws and policies that prohibit discrimination based upon demo-
graphic or other factors is a necessity, and it makes good business sense to
be vigilant about compliance with laws and policies. This book is designed
to speak to human resource professionals and to encourage and invite
them (us, for I am one) to think broadly, deeply, and perceptively about
our employees and consider the ways that identity shapes and crafts
peoples’ hopes, dreams, fears, joys, and abilities. For individuals who
work and would like to work and for those in the midst of career or job
change, the book is designed to “speak” to you as well. I would like to
provide some education related to career development for these audiences,
which means reaching minds. I would like to provide, through these
pages, some inspiration for hearts as well. When we come to the realization
that people’s characteristics, which shape their sense of self, and which
shape how others perceive them, are interwoven in a complex weave that is
dynamic, not static, and that presents challenges as well as opportunities;
when the reading of this book helps a human resource professional or
manager shift and consider the nuances of people’s particular identities
and take those into account with awareness and sensitivity, then I have
done the job I intended with these pages. My intention is to take these
ideas about identity, to apply them to a subject of fascination for me, and
to hopefully raise the visibility of career development within the field of
Human Resources.
Therefore, this work explores different facets of identity. As the world of
work has grown increasingly complex and unpredictable, individuals have
become increasingly responsible for their own career development.
Identity is a fluid and complex construct, one that plays a crucial yet
under-explored role in career development. This book will examine the
construct of identity, which is shaped by multiple factors such as demo-
graphics, life events, and individual interpretations of career histories.
I will explain relevant characteristics of identity, and then identify and
explain the implications for Human Resource practice and research.
CONTENTS
1 Introduction: Context, Purpose, and Problem 1
2 Examining the Construct of Identity and Its Relevance

for HRD Theory and Practice or Turning the Lens
of Examining Identity Inward upon HR Professionals 13
3 Identity is Constructed and Career Success is Subjective 39
4 Demographics, Identity, and the Matrixed Nature

of Identity 61
5 Life Events that Impact Identity 89
6 Other Factors that Impact Identity 97
7 Human Resource Development, Identity, and Career

Development 115
8 Conclusions: Where Do We Go from Here? 129
References 139
Index 155
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 6.1 Higher education: The concentric nature of individual,

organizational, policy, societal, and global considerations 111
xvii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 A typology of the role of HRD programs, modalities,

identity, and HRD program focus 31
Table 4.1 Overview of peer-reviewed manuscripts dealing with older
women and career development 70
Table 7.1 A typology of career development related or impacted
dimensions of identity, and human resource management
and human resource development responses 118
xix
CHAPTER 1
Introduction: Context, Purpose,

and Problem
INTRODUCTION
This chapter establishes the context, purpose, and problem posed by the
book. Identity is a construct that influences virtually every aspect of life,
including work life. This chapter examines the construct of identity and
demonstrates why and how it plays a significant role within career devel-
opment. Through an examination of the construct of identity, its purpose
is to offer a rationale for the increasing importance of career development
research efforts within our field that hopefully enrich our human resource
development (HRD) career development practices. The chapter begins
with a brief discussion of some of the extant career development research
in HRD. Next, it will offer some definitions of the construct of identity,
followed by a discussion of the proposed characteristics of identity. It will
conclude with implications for HRD practice and research that align our
work in HRD with the current realities of career development. There are a
few foundational opening comments that are important to make in these
introductory pages. First, it is important to highlight, up front, that the
construct of identity is problematized and interrogated with the express
intention of raising the awareness of those who are scholars and/or
professionals in fields related to human resources. By “human resources,”
I consider a wide embrace that includes both human resource manage-
ment, and also, human resource development. This book will not expli-
citly explore definitions of either of these domains because that is not its
© The Author(s) 2017 1

J. Gedro, Identity, Meaning, and Subjectivity in Career Development,
Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_1
2 1 INTRODUCTION: CONTEXT, PURPOSE, AND PROBLEM
purpose, nor my interest. Human resource management includes staffing,

compensation and benefits, employee relations, labor relations, and
employment law; human resource development includes training, organi-
zational development, career development, and any activity related to
workplace learning and growth. These are separate but related and some-
times overlapping fields. Because there are career development activities
and considerations that have elements that include both human resource
management and human resource development, as the constructs of iden-
tity, meaning and subject in career development are interrogated, which
they will be in all chapters of the book. In Chapter 7, a typology of career
development dimensions related to identity will be presented, and the
corresponding aspects of human resource management (mostly related
to compliance with employment laws) and human resource development
(for which I present suggestions and implications) are presented. The
typology presented in Chapter 7 is the important exception to the other-
wise ubiquitous and intentional convention to embrace both fields of
human resources: Human Resource Management and Human Resource
Development. In addition to the position that both fields are relevant and,
in fact, necessary, for a thorough exploration of identity, meaning, and
subjectivity in career development, there are two additional layers of
context that inform and support this position. The two fields should be
drawn into discussion with respect to career development because human
resource management activities such as staffing, job design, job analysis,
and employee relations are part and parcel of the infrastructure that
comprises the career development landscape for prospective employees
and current employees. Human resource development activities such as
leadership development, skills based training, diversity training, or other
interventions designed to facilitate workplace learning and growth, are
clearly related to career development. Therefore, it is necessary to “own”
this position up front: that the two fields are drawn together for purposes
of the interrogations and then the suggestions presented by the book.
Second, the book explores specific aspects and configurations of identity in
ways that, as will likely be clear to the reader, are not comprehensively
representative of every type of identity configuration possible. In other
words, I take a “zoom lens” approach to examining specific questions such
as the identity of human resource developers (trainers, in specific); I take a
“zoom lens” approach to examining gender and age through a compre-
hensive literature review and assessment of the state of the literature in the
last 10 years that explores older women (age/gender) and career
INTRODUCTION 3
development. I take a “zoom lens” approach to examining the issue of

higher education as a part of career development, and I unpack the issues
that the increasingly complex and “consumer-oriented” marketplace of
higher education presents for adults who either have not completed their
college degrees and desire to do so, or have never attended college and are
considering pursuing a college degree. I take a rather “mid-range lens”
approach to discussing issues of identity with respect to sexuality, race,
ability/disability, veteran status, and formerly incarcerated status. Each of
these aspects of identity could be combined with each other in an expan-
sive number of ways, and I have conceived and then written about con-
figurations that represent some of what I think should be highlighted in a
book such as this, to give credence in particular to aspects of identity that
might otherwise be invisible or marginalized. Admittedly, therefore, there
is a careful, mindful, intentional curation of the topics that are closely
explored.
McDonald and Hite (2014) have been stalwart champions with the
field of Human Resource Development, in keeping the oxygen flowing to
keep career development research and publishing alive and well. The field
owes, as do I, quite a debt to their leadership and championship and to the
gravitas that they bring to bear on this facet of human resource develop-
ment, which, in many ways, holds a bit of stepchild status within the field.
McDonald and Hite (2014) have indicated that career development
within an organization, conceived as a collaborative effort between an
employee and employer, has been “called into question” (p. 153) because
economic cycles (in specific, downward cycles) “drove many employers to
downsize, leaving employees to fend for themselves” (p. 153). This is part
of the undergirding of my argument that we are all, as employees, to a
large extent, on our own when it comes to career development. This is not
patently a bad thing; it is a reality in postmodern, capitalistic times when
capital flows much more freely around the globe than does labor. This also
represents an exciting time, if one has a proactive and informed perspective
about career development, because there has never been a better time to
understand, acknowledge, accept, celebrate, and then advocate for oneself
in the marketplace of work. Challenges among minority populations, and
by those populations who have been historically marginalized or stigma-
tized remain; however, the conditions have never been less hostile, or
more welcoming (in many cases) for people who have identities that
might have held them back from entrance and advancement in organiza-
tions. Problems remain: to fail to acknowledge this fact—that
discrimination and disparities for under-represented groups continue is

naïve. Wages and advancement opportunities are stubbornly and persis-
tently inequitable. It is imperative for those in the fields of Human
Resource Development and Human Resource Management, to dial up
scholarship and research regarding career development and to energeti-
cally explore it in ways that match the current realities of the marketplace.
One of those current realities is that career development is not strictly an
assumed benefit or even interest of an employer; rather, it is the interest
and responsibility of an employee. McDonald and Hite (2014) note that
there are structural and disciplinary factors that have impeded the progress
of career development as a disciplinary focus. First, they say, is the chaos
and turbulence of the world of work in which “the emphasis on more
individually oriented career development (CD) has left organizations
questioning their part in the process” (p. 154). Second, they say, is the
interdisciplinary nature of career development, which creates a fragmenta-
tion that restricts our ability to agree on what can and should be studied.
My entrance point into a career-length fascination with identity, and its
interweave within the field of Human Resource Management, was my
doctoral dissertation entitled “Urban Cowgirls: How Lesbians Have
Learned to Negotiate the Heterosexism of Corporate America” (2000),
and since that time I have researched and written about a broad array of
constructs related to identity. However, the impetus for my interest in
identity was my own journey of self-discovery, self-awareness, and self-
acceptance. It was a long process to see my heretofore perceived “weak-
nesses” and liabilities and points of shame and stigma, and transform them
or have them transformed for me, into sources of strength, uniqueness,
clarity, compassion, and empathy. As such, my portal of lesbianism, and
recovery from alcoholism, has been a powerful gateway of inspiration. My
intentions with this book are twofold: first, that by reading and consider-
ing the complex, sometimes nuanced, and fluid nature of identity and its
relationship to career development; that human resource professionals
acquire greater awareness around issues of identity; and that they consider
how their actions, words, and decisions impact prospective and current
employees within their organizations. Some aspects of identity are expli-
citly brought to the light of the workday because of the legal considera-
tions of these aspects. For example, Title VII of the Civil Right Act of
1964, and all of the related legislation in the United States, creates the
conditions by which human resource professionals respond with checks
and balances in their systems, designed to avert the intentional or
INTRODUCTION 5
accidental appearance or reality of illegal discrimination. Second, the book

is intended for individuals of all walks of life, and of all types of interwoven
identities; my hope is that by thinking about how identity impacts—for
good, bad, or neutral—one’s career trajectory—that individuals approach
the prospect of their careers with hope, confidence, enthusiasm, and with
eyes wide open. There are situations in which one’s identity serves as a
facilitative aspect of career development or career management. There are
situations in which one engages in a dance with respect to identity. That is,
there are aspects of identity that one might be well served to negotiate
rather carefully. For example, it may or may not be a good idea for a
person who is newly sober, to consider employment in a context in which
alcohol is ubiquitous (e.g., a bar). However, the book passes no judgment
on individual career decisions and, in fact, has an undertone of personal
choice, agency, and freedom as one of its guiding principles.
The organization of the book represents my approach to conceptualizing
and then exploring how identity and career development are so closely
related. After this introductory chapter, the chapter that follows examines
the role that identity plays in human resource development practice from a
rather unorthodox point of view. That is, rather than interrogate the role of
the learner, or trainee’s identity, it interrogates the role that the trainer’s
identity plays in human resource development practice. This is informed by
my own experience as a trainer and coach, as an HRD practitioner who has
learned through experience, how and when to disclose different aspects of
myself in different types of situations. It is through these multifaceted
experiences, of negotiating training and development situations with relative
ease, that I became interested in the works of Goffman (1959), Blumer
(1969), and Berger and Luckmann (1966). Sociology forms, to a large
extent, the disciplinary basis for many of the ideas presented. Identity and
meaning are subjective constructs and they change over the life course, and
for purposes of this book, the career life course. It is, after all, the interactions
that people have with each other, no matter what professional context that
frames the situation. As someone enters the world of work, they are faced
with the prospect of determining how to “package” themselves, with a
resume and cover letter, and with the completion of the job application
form. Questions arise, whether tacitly or explicitly, around the mechanics
of a resume. Should one write and present a resume that tells a chronological
story, or a functional story? If there are gaps in a resume, how does one
anticipate the questions or concerns that might cross the minds of the human
resource professional screening the resume, or the executive recruiter reading
the resume, or, in the case of higher education, the members of a search
committee reading the vita.
However, turning back to the overview of the organization and flow of
the book, Chapter 2 considers how the identity (social class, gender,
gender identity, gender expression, race, religion, age, occupational affilia-
tion) relate to the training and development context. Increasingly, this
interrogation becomes relevant because of the impact of technology on
the world of work, and by extension, the world of human resources. The
reason for this is that technology is an intermediary of information. Social
media enable, to a large extent (and not perfectly or ubiquitously), the
ability of someone to learn about another. That means that, for example,
when someone is enrolled in a training class, he or she can learn about the
trainer through a relatively easy combination of general searches, or an
examination of social media sites such as LinkedIn. To what extent does a
human resource professional have control over the information about his
or her identity, and to what extent does this matter? Chapter 2 explores
these questions and issues. Chapter 3 examines how identity is socially
constructed and changing, and how career success is subjective. Chapter 3
is perhaps the most “post-modern” chapter of the book because it pro-
blematizes and challenges the Western capitalist orthodoxy that career
success is something that can be measured in the three dimensional,
material world through metrics such as one’s position on an organizational
chart, one’s salary and benefits and perks, and one’s social status in a given
sociological milieu (manifested through membership at country clubs;
sending children to particular exclusive primary, secondary, and then
higher education schools that signal the extent to which the family is
resourced). Chapter 4 takes a perhaps more technical, or particular,
approach than the preceding chapters because it examines demographics
and identity.
In order to give the chapter some epistemological “teeth,” it focuses in
particular at the nexus of age, and of gender in order to highlight the ways
that intersecting identities manifest in practical and sometimes inevitable
ways. However, and hopefully this is entirely clear: career “success” (which
is measured according to an individual) is not determined or limited by
different types of identity, whether those identities are “fixed” (such as eye
color or country of birth and socialization) and fact, or whether they are
fluid and self-determined (such as dress, appearance, and personal choices
related to lifestyle or personal habits). Chapter 5 examines the relationship
between life events, such as divorce, coming out as an LGBT (lesbian, gay,
INTRODUCTION 7
bisexual, and transgender) person, having children, or becoming disabled,

and career development. Chapter 6 explores other aspects of identity that
have relevance for career development such as interests, serious hobbies,
and other types of avocational pursuits. Chapter 7 synthesizes the infor-
mation in the chapters that precede it, in order to create and present a
typology of different aspects of identity, in order to explore the ways that
human resource professionals can expand their awareness and their
responsiveness to prospective employees and current employees in ways
that transcend legal considerations and requirements. To be sure, it is
necessary to comply with laws governing employment arrangements, and
there are ways that human resource professionals can think about expand-
ing their capacity to understand people and all of the aspects of their
identities. Chapter 8 is the concluding chapter, and it offers some ideas
and suggestions for where we go from here.
Identity is not a single, unitary, fixed proposition. Alvesson’s work (2010)
provides expansive challenges to this notion. Alvesson challenges the way that
we have been conditioned to conceptualize identity as a fixed construct and
problematizes the assumption that people have a unitary, stable, autonomous
self that exists separate from society. Collinson (2003, in Alvesson 2010,
p. 527) critiques essentialism as an organizing framework to understand
human nature and human existence, highlighting the “dualistic tendency
artificially to separate individual from society, mind from body, rationality
from emotion” (Collinson, p. 527). Alvesson notes that, despite the critique
of dualism and the artificial separation of an individual from society that an
essentialist interpretation of identity sets up, there are “still many authors who
take a version of this ‘traditional’ perspective” (p. 194). Alvesson highlights
others who explore expansive ways of understanding the “self”:
Acknowledging the multidimensional nature of the self-concept, Leonard

et al. (1999) propose three general sets of individuals’ identity attributes: traits,
competencies and values. Albert et al. (2000) claim that identity means that
one can “interact effectively with other entities over the long run” and “a sense
of identity serves as a rudder for navigating difficult waters” (p. 13). Stets and
Burke (2000) suggest that “a complete theory of the self would consider
both the role and the group bases of identity as well as identities based in the
person that provide stability across groups, roles and situations” (p. 234).
But . . . many if not most contemporary texts on identity go beyond a view of
individuals as unitary, coherent and autonomous and embrace a position
somewhere in between a “traditional” and a postmodernist or “anti-essentialist”
view. (Alvesson 2010, p. 194)
People’s identities change over time; it is important to resist the notion

that one’s identity is unchanging and immutable; and even characteristics,
such as gender, can (and should, for the sake of well-being) be problema-
tized, such as in the case of a transgender. In the last 20 to 30 years, the
notion of a changeable, mutable identity has become rather commonplace
as people access all of the resources and opportunities that there are for
personal and professional growth and development. Therefore, the notion
that a person is comprised of a single, fixed, non-transient “self” should be
replaced by the notion that self-direction, growth, development, and even
flourishing are worthy and appropriate replacements to the essentialist
ideal that identity is a unitary and enduring construct. For example, a
person who is a sexual minority may develop, over time, an increasing
ability to acknowledge to oneself, and then, to others, one’s sexual min-
ority identity. The realization that one is gay, bisexual, lesbian, or trans-
gender may occur at different stages over the life course. For example, in
Gedro (2000), various models of lesbian identity were discussed. These
models include Cass’s model (1979, in McNaught 1993) which posits six
stages to forming a lesbian or gay identity. First, Cass’s model depicts
identity confusion in which individuals “begin to question their sexual
orientation” (Gedro, p. 38). Second, Cass’s model depicts identity com-
parison represents the external exploration of identity and one begins to
compare the self with others. Third, Cass’s model depicts identity toler-
ance, which is the toggling of representing the self as straight in straight
contexts, and as gay or lesbian in gay or lesbian contexts (such gay bars,
gay events such as Pride, or others). Fourth, Cass’s model depicts identity
acceptance as a gay or lesbian person and that acceptance begins to take on
characteristics of self-acceptance and a positive regard for the self as a gay
or lesbian person. Fifth, Cass’s model depicts pride in being a gay or
lesbian person and then sixth, Cass’s model depicts identity synthesis in
virtually or actually all contexts as a gay or lesbian person. Cass’s model is a
classic; it helps to explain and to inform and illuminate the way that the
development of sexual minority identity occurs, and it brings to light the
fact that such identity development is not necessarily aligned with chron-
ological age. In other words, a person may traverse these stages younger in
one’s chronology; another person may come to experience stages later in
life. This model is invaluable. Because of the increasing acceptance and in
many cases, awareness, acceptance, and inclusion of sexual minorities,
newer models of sexual minority identity development may reflect the
changing social environments in which younger generations of LGBT
INTRODUCTION 9
people experience identity development. It is important to consider sexual

minority development, which does not necessarily occur in a chronologi-
cal, linear trajectory in the way that sexual majority (heterosexual) devel-
opment occurs, because of the different points in time that a gay or lesbian
or bisexual or transgender individual realizes his or her identity, becomes
comfortable with that identity, and then expresses that identity to the
outside world, including the world of work. Note that I realize the way
that I use gay and lesbian at times, and then I use gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender at other times. Part of the reason for this is that I want to
be accurate in the way I depict the theories that help inform this discus-
sion, such as Cass, who do not necessarily discuss bisexual and transgen-
der. I want to be inclusive, however, with the range of sexual minorities
that exist and this has become (delightfully so) and increasingly complex
proposition because of the emergence of more post-structural ways of
thinking about sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, and gender expres-
sion. Terms such as “gender queer” have emerged, for example, as ways of
resisting typical constructs of binaried thinking and categorizing. In this
way, Alvesson’s (2010) resistance of the notion that identity is fixed,
essential, and unitary supports and aligns with emergent theories that
seek to dismantle binary, essentialist notions of sex, sexual orientation,
and gender. In some ways, the title of this book itself could have included
a nod to these ideas, and could have been something like: “Queering
Career Theories and Careers.” However, the title is as presented, because I
wanted to depict, in as comprehensive and descriptive of a way as possible,
the proposition that identity complex, multifaceted, and changeable; that
career success and meaning are personal and individual. We all must live in
the “real” (meaning, material) world, and necessities of modern life, to a
large extent, mean that people must obtain and fulfill commitments—in
this case, jobs and work—in order to earn wages and salaries and benefits
(for fulltime positions, and sometimes, for part-time positions). Alvesson’s
(2010) work speaks to the issue of essentialist versus constructivist para-
digms of identity, and he appears to argue the point that there is an “in-
between” (p. 194) position, observing that “it is common to observe less
stable aspects of identity, often with references to destabilizing faculties of
dynamic social and economic conditions” (p. 194).
The world of work has become increasingly complex, volatile, and
unpredictable. McDonald (2005) noted that as companies “rightsized,
downsized, reconfigured, employees that once had pinned their career
plans on advancement within a particular organization began to realize
that the future of their careers depended on their own initiative, and career
planning took a new dimension” (p. 420). Savickas (2012) has gone so far
to suggest that the world of work provokes anxiety and insecurity, and that
frequent job dislocation sets workers “adrift as they try to chart their
futures and shape their identities” (p. 13). Identity is a construct that
influences virtually every aspect of life, including work life. The purpose of
this chapter is to examine the construct of identity, and to demonstrate
why and how it plays a significant role within career development. This is a
conceptual chapter, one that, as Callahan (2010) notes, does not “claim to
conduct a thorough and detailed search of the literature to provide a data
set” (p. 302). Rather, I have “carefully selected literature consistent with
the premise . . . ” (Callahan, p. 302). Moreover, in their discussion of self,
identity and career development, Blustein and Noumair (1996) proposed
that there is an abundance of career theories and that the field “is in need
of qualifying perspectives that function to enrich our view” (p. 437). This
chapter operates with a resonant intention. It does not presume to add
another career theory to the literature. Rather, through an examination of
the construct of identity, its purpose is to offer a rationale for the increas-
ing importance of career development research efforts within our field that
hopefully enrich our HRD career development practices.
To date, there have been few comprehensive examinations of the
myriad dimensions of identity in relation to HRD and career develop-
ment. Identity includes immutable characteristics such as height or eye
color of year of birth. It also includes mutable characteristics such as
education and religion. Identity includes less discernible, perhaps stigma-
tized identities that are shaped or otherwise impacted by life events such as
military/combat service, mental illness, and recovery from addiction or
alcoholism. Now more than ever, it is important to research and explore
career and identity-impacting aspects of the adult life experience that
might otherwise go unexamined. Through the analyses offered by this
book, HRD practitioners and researchers can become equipped with a
wide and deep understanding and awareness of tacit, nuanced, or stigma-
tized issues. As a result, HRD practitioners can design programs and
resources that have a richness and a relevance that might heretofore be
lacking. The book presents a framework for considering and addressing
career development from a critically reflective perspective of who we are as
the result of birth, socialization, conditioning, choice, chance, events,
growth, and adaptation. Identity is not a neutral proposition. That is,
some aspects of identity are facilitative of career “success” (which the
FOCUS ON RESEARCH AND ON PRACTICE 11
book problematizes, because career success is subjective). Some aspects of

identity are not quite as helpful in facilitating one’s success, and can be a
source of negotiation or even hiding. This book examines identity from a
comprehensive point of view, and it explores topics that are challenging
and perhaps even stigmatized. It discusses how privilege and stigma
themselves fluid constructs. What was once, for example, entirely shameful
(and, in some aspects, illegal) have become more socially acceptable.
FOCUS ON RESEARCH AND ON PRACTICE

Given the complex and contested nature of career development and
practice, and the increasingly dynamic nature of identities and the very
real and practical ways in which identity relates to career development,
HRD professionals can increase their professional capacity if they are
attuned to the ways that the environment of work, the job marketplace,
the educational marketplace, the credentialing marketplace, and identity
are interwoven. Ultimately, there is a way to argue that all human resource
activities are, in some way, related to career development. Understanding
and appreciating career development models provides valuable scaffolding
for HRD professionals. Traditional career models are insufficient to
explain the current context of career development. People are living
longer, the workforce is now more diverse than ever (although there is a
persistent tendency for white males to achieve access to the highest ranks
of organizations), and people change jobs and careers with more alacrity
and less social stigma. Sullivan and Baruch (2009) note, “Environmental
changes, such as increased globalization, rapid technological advance-
ments, increased workforce diversity, and the expanding use of outsour-
cing and part-time and temporary employees, have altered traditional
organizational structures, employer-employee relationships, and the
work context, creating changes in how individuals enact their career”
(p. 1542). As such, HRD professionals who are involved in career devel-
opment would be well served to acquire a larger framework to understand:
(1) the self-directed nature of career development today, (2) the chal-
lenges faced by those whose identities might be less visible and, therefore,
have difficult decisions to make around career choice, and (3) that rela-
tionships are shorter term, and that jobs are shorter term; this presents a
challenge when it comes to identifying the types of training to provide.
How much and which type of investment in individuals by the organiza-
tion, in other words, is appropriate?
The book is relevant and significant for individuals because addresses

identity, and all of the characteristics of identity that relate to career
development. The ideas presented are intended to acknowledge the ways
that identity provides a backdrop for career development; it provides
guidance and hopefulness for individuals as they negotiate the intersec-
tions of their identities and their career development.
CHAPTER 2
Examining the Construct of Identity and Its

Relevance for HRD Theory and Practice
or Turning the Lens of Examining Identity
Inward upon HR Professionals
INTRODUCTION
This conceptual chapter draws the construct of identity into the HRD
discourse. It examines identity theory, which is a robust stream of research
in Sociology and Organizational Studies, in order to offer ideas about how
identity relates to HRD practice. Identity is a multi-level construct that
includes individual identity, personal identity, self-concept, and social
identity. Each one of these aspects of identity has the potential to enrich
what and how we think about HRD practice. This chapter is novel because
it interrogates identity from the perspective of the HRD practitioner,
rather than identity (mostly considered in the form of demographics,
which is one but certainly not all of the ways that this chapter considers
identity) from the perspective of the trainee or employee. In other words,
it examines identity of the trainer (or organizational development (OD)
consultant, or executive coach, or mentor) rather than identity of the
trainee (or employee, or mentee). The chapter presents a framework
through which HRD practitioners and scholars can visualize the relation-
ships among and between HRD practices, of HRD practice, modalities
(types of delivery), and implications of identity.
This chapter explores the role that identity plays in HRD and it inter-
weaves in a (hopefully) straightforward, inquisitive manner, sociological
theory on identity, in order to address a question that has fascinated me for
more than two decades. In particular, it interrogates the role that the

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_2
14 2 EXAMINING THE CONSTRUCT OF IDENTITY AND ITS RELEVANCE . . .
identity of a trainer plays in program design, delivery, and evaluation. The

theoretical foundation of this chapter is identity theory, which includes a
rather broad expanse of scholarship drawing on sociological and psycho-
logical frames of reference. This chapter fills a gap in the HRD literature
about the role that identity plays in HRD and offers the suggestion this
inquiry can create informative backdrop for practice and research. The
dearth of scholarship into the role that identity of the trainer plays in HRD
delivery and outcomes needs to be addressed because the lack of inquiry
implies that people—particularly HRD practitioners—are homogenous
and interchangeable. While it sounds possibly risky to explicate identity
and HRD practitioner identity (including but not limited to demo-
graphics such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity,
and gender expression), the intention of this interrogation is not to arrive
at a set of recommendations for what type of demographic should delivery
certain types of trainer. I hope, instead, that the ideas here are much more
nuanced and deeply curious than that.
There is little guidance in the HRD research to provide information for
HRD practice (competencies) in a systematic manner and there is little to
no formal research that can help inform HRD practitioners to become
skilled at negotiating their identities as they conduct HRD programs. By
“negotiating identities,” I refer to decisions that HRD practitioners make,
whether they are conscious of it or not, around self-disclosure, interaction
(formal or informal, “strictly business” or exchanging personal informa-
tion) and appearance. The field, at least in the United States, has grappled
with the issue of creating a bridge between scholarship and practice
evidenced in part by the references to the “bridge” of scholarship
and practice. For example, there have been two entire issues of Advances
in Developing Human Resources devoted to the issue of the relationship
between HRD practice and research. See “Bridging the Gap: Scholar-
Practitioners in Human Resource Development” (Short et al. 2009);
and “A Scholar-Practitioner Case Approach: Implications for Advancing
Theory and Research through Informed Practice, (Scully-Russ et al. 2013).
One way that scholarship in HRD could help HRD practice, is to provide
guidance around the competencies for HRD practitioners. Professional
associations such as the Association for Talent Development, or ATD
(US) and the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, or
CIPD (UK) provide information around the competencies. The CIPD, at
the time of the writing of this book, presents information about the recom-
mended skill and competencies for those interested in the field, on their
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH 15
“CIPD Profession Map” (located at https://www.cipd.co.uk/learn/

career/profession-map). The ATD, at the time of the writing of this
book, presents information around competencies their on site called The
ATD Competency Model™ (located at https://www.td.org/
Certification/Competency-Model). These models are helpful because
they provide some form of instruction and information for those who
want to enter the field, or acquire formal credentials, or further their careers
in the field. These competencies necessarily and presently have a rather
performative focus, and they are invaluable in helpful in explaining what
the field is and what HRD practitioners do. Additionally, these types of
models are wonderfully illustrative of the ways that career seekers can
conduct their own research on potential career fields for themselves.
While there has been HRD research that has critically examined the
purpose and focus of HRD interventions and while there has been some
research into diversity and related issues of critical inquiry, there has been
little examination of the role that trainer identity plays in considering
program effectiveness. Identity is a construct that has been vigorously
researched in management and organizational studies and my main con-
tention in this chapter is that by drawing the scholarship of identity into
HRD research and practice, our field can become enriched. By trainer
identity, I mean the actual characteristics of a trainer such as demo-
graphics, educational level, position in the organization, and other related
qualities of the trainer.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

This chapter takes a conceptual, exploratory approach. This means that I
have begun with a question, and then identified literature in HRD (which is
sparse and mostly limited to research and scholarship on minority identities)
and in the related disciplines of psychology and sociology in order to
inform, support, and offer a platform for discussion and interrogation. It
proposes a framework to understand the relationship between characteris-
tics of HRD professionals (specifically in the role of trainer or facilitator),
and training effectiveness. The method of this chapter takes the approach
recommended by Callahan (2010) and is guided by the following question:
How can drawing the construct of identity into HRD scholarship enrich
HRD practice and research, and how can it create the conditions by which
the field of HRD takes a more critical and active stance?
To date, there has been little to no research in HRD that examines

characteristics of trainers or other forms of HRD practitioners. Sadler-
Smith and Smith (2006) problematize the technical rationality that pro-
fessional organizations or associations might represent; however, they do
present concrete articulation of what trainers “do.” Sadler-Smith and
Smith suggest that HRD practitioners “need to treat learning in organiza-
tions in more complex ways” (p. 272) and they need to be “more mindful
of the selection and naming of problems, and the context in which they are
to be solved—HRD practitioners need to be reflective in an on their
practice” (p. 272). Examining identity and all of its complexities and
implications for career development can serve in one way to respond to
this call for mindful selection and articulation of problems, as called for by
Sadler-Smith and Smith.
THE ROLE OF CRITICAL THEORY IN IDENTITY

AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT
This chapter is crucial HRD scholarship because it brings to light an aspect
of HRD that has been unexamined; the role that identity plays in HRD
practice (and by extension, research). Identity has a broad yet tacit influ-
ence; some identities are privileged, others are stigmatized, some are
somewhere in between. Demographics such as race, ethnicity, age, gender
identity, sex, sexual orientation, and age are aspects of identity; however,
they are arguably obvious categories of identity that are treated in ways
that reflect a compliance focus within the fields of Human Resource
Management and Human Resource Development. Identity is a much
more expansive notion than the categories that are indicated as demo-
graphic dimensions about which discrimination is prohibited. Humans
are complex, and the human experience is dynamic. Therefore, it is an
over-simplification to think of identity as equivalent or limited to
demographics.
Sambrook (2014, p. 147) explains that “attributes of critical HRD
include: accepting multiple truths gained through different forms of
knowledge construction . . . questioning tradition and challenging con-
temporary practices; exposing assumptions, revealing illusions and
debunking icons; and facilitating emancipation.” Sambrook’s comprehen-
sive articulation of critical HRD provides the backdrop for the interroga-
tion presented here. Sambrook notes, “The term ‘critical’ can refer to
THE ROLE OF CRITICAL THEORY IN IDENTITY AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT 17
marking a transition from one state to another, and such debate might
mark the transition from a taken-for-granted acceptance of HRD as
orthodoxy toward a new, critical approach, as evidenced by a crucial
mass of researchers and practitioners” (p. 146). In the spirit and manifes-
tation of Sambrook’s description of critical HRD as accepting truths
through different forms of knowledge construction, this chapter is not a
comprehensive, systematic, literature review. It is not a conceptual chapter
in the sense that it takes a particular stance on a topic and then identifies
research to support it. Rather, the methodology of this chapter is framed
by my practical and persistent curiosity around addressing a question that
has not been asked, and yet arguably plays such an obvious part of HRD
practice (and, by extension, HRD research that informs practice). I began
with a cursory search using the terms “traits and qualities of successful
HRD professionals” in Google Scholar. This yielded few results. I then
conducted searches using multiple scholarly databases including
ProQuest, EbscoHost, Eric, and ABI/Inform. Using search terms “suc-
cessful trainer characteristics” and “trainer identity” and “organizational
development and identity” yielded few if any results in HRD related
scholarly journals.
The work of Holladay and Quinones (2008) was one result that related
to the search. This study “examined the influence of training focus . . . and
trainer characteristics (race and sex) on the effectiveness of a diversity
training program” (p. 343). Holladay and Quinones note, “Given the
obvious significance of a trainer’s race and sex within a diversity training
context, it is surprising that no studies to date have examined their effects”
(p. 345). Indeed, as Holladay and Quinones observe, few studies have
examined the role that trainer identity plays in a training context; in their
case, the role that trainer identity plays in a diversity training program
context. This is representative of a larger gap in the HRD literature around
the role that trainer identity plays in HRD interventions. There are several
ways that exploring this issue can help guide HRD research and practice
and will be presented later in this chapter.
Critical HRD has emerged as a recognized, legitimate, visible stream of
research with the field, as evidenced by an issue of Advances in Developing
Human Resources (Gedro et al. 2014) dedicated to the subject or Critical
HRD, as well as a relatively steady stream of critical HRD scholarship in
the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) conference and
in related journals. What remains unexplored in the HRD literature is the
role that the identity of the HRD practitioner (the trainer) plays in HRD
practice. This claim is offered by the perspective of an HRD practitioner

(me) who has served in roles of technical training in financial software, to
LGBT diversity training, to career development coaching, to workplace
civility training, and presently, to change management training. To date,
HRD scholars have interrogated the “what” of HRD and the “why” of
HRD. Gold and Bratton (2014) offered a proposition of critical HRD
education (CHRDE) that focuses not on the “what” or “how” of HRD,
but the “why” of HRD. They intended to connect personal social pro-
blems to HRD, and to “explain the beneficial learning to be gained from
teaching and learning about HRD that is sensitive to context, power and
inequality” (p. 400). I propose that we extend these questions farther, to
examine the “who” of HRD. Just as Sadler-Smith and Smith (2006)
problematize the functions (the “what”) of HRD, I seek to problematize
the roles (the “who”) of HRD. People are not homogenous, interchange-
able, translucent templates upon which we can overlay HRD scripts and
routines such as training workshops, career development coaching, or
executive leadership development programs. Rather, trainers and other
types of HRD practitioners show up to the location of the HRD initiative
in their full human form. This means that they bring their humanity with
them. It is a worthy endeavor to examine the role that identity plays in
HRD, with identity broadly and expansively defined and examined.
Since 2004 (Gedro et al.), there has been an examination of sexual
minority, or LGBT issues, in HRD, with a stream of research that has
followed. This stream inherently involves an examination of identity in
particular, sexual minority identity development– in HRD related journal
articles (Gedro et al. 2004; Collins 2012), as well as an entire issue of
Advances in Developing Human Resources (Rocco et al. 2009). Sexual
minority identity is, in a sense, the portal through which my interest in
drawing a broader and deeper exploration of identity theory into HRD
scholarship.
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

To what extent does technology mitigate any challenges related to the
identity of the trainer, and the relationship between trainer and trainee? In
a digital world, it is possible that disclosure of trainer characteristics
becomes more necessary in order to establish a relationship. Also, the
richness or thinness of the training medium along the two dimensions of
time (synchronous or asynchronous) and distance (virtual or face to face)
THE IMPACT OF TRAINER IDENTIFICATION WITH ORGANIZATION . . . 19
plays a role in the extent to which trainer identity is relevant. Short (2010)
explained that “HRD practice used to mean designing and running in-
person training courses and OD interventions . . . that world still exists, but
it is experienced less often since the advent of virtual technologies, which
have different textures and modes of interaction” (p. 619). For example,
the presentation, appearance, affect, gender, gender expression, type of
dress (formal, informal), and type of speech (accent and level of formality)
of a trainer is much more apparent in a face-to-face, synchronous training
context. A podcast or webinar can be manipulated to a greater extent, to
control for the role that the personal characteristics of a trainer play. This
sub-topic—of technology and trainer identity—presents material for a
separate chapter. For purposes of this chapter, it is important to mention
and wonder about this relationship because of the ubiquity of technology
as a mechanism for training delivery, and the impact that the modality of a
training program has on the dynamic between trainer and trainees.
THE IMPACT OF TRAINER IDENTIFICATION WITH ORGANIZATION

AND ORGANIZATIONAL MESSAGE
A trainer’s identification with the “message” of a training program such as
an ethics program or diversity program or other type of compliance-based
program plays a role, however tacit, in the training environment. The
sincerity of the trainer’s belief in the value of a program, and the extent
to which the trainer identifies with the organization’s approach to hand-
ling an issue, seems crucial to the overall effectiveness of a program.
However, despite my efforts to locate some scholarship that focuses on
these questions and issues, it seems that such research is thin. Given the
importance of training, particularly on topics that have a compliance
motivation to them, and given the relationship between trainer identity
(both personal and organizational), it invites scholarship in this area.
Therefore, this chapter provides a discussion of personal and organiza-
tional identity research in order to make explicit some ideas for research on
these relationships. On the surface, it might seem risky to interrogate the
role that identity plays because of the possibility of ethical issues that could
arise. For example, if it were determined that a certain demographic were
preferable than another when it comes to a specific type of HRD practice,
might that be perceived as discriminatory? This is, however, neither my
focus nor my intention. Rather, through examining the construct of
identity and examining the construct of social cognition, I intend to

present a framework to consider the role that trainer identity plays in
HRD programs. In no way do I seek to suggest that there is an algorithm
that we HRD scholars can create, that answers the question: “Who is the
best person or group of people to design and/or conduct this training?” It
seeks, instead, to draw the construct of identity which has a rich and
robust body of scholarship in sociology and related disciplines, in order
to, as Sambrook (2014) suggests, dismantle the assumption that, by
default, trainers are interchangeable (assuming a certain level of appro-
priate skill and capacity to design and/or conduct a training program).
Holladay and Quinones (2008) explain that despite the significance of
studying trainer characteristics with respect to diversity training, there is a
dearth of research in this area. They use, as proximal backdrop, the studies
that have been conducted in educational settings. For example, Holladay
and Quinones explain that in studies the examine professor effectiveness,
that race and sex impact the student ratings of educator performance.
Black professors were rated more negatively than whites. However,
when course content had ethnic components (p. 345), black professors
were seen as more credible. With respect to sex, male educators had more
favorable ratings than females. Gedro (2014) determined that lesbians
who were in leadership positions enjoyed benefits that accrued to them
because of their gender minority and sexuality minority status. In an active
shooter training workshop, might it not be advantageous for the trainer to
be someone “on the front lines” of law enforcement, or otherwise, some-
one in a position of authority on the subject? Would it matter if the trainer
in a mandatory ethics training webinar were the attorney with the office
that had to comply with the training program? Alvesson et al. (2008) note
that personal identities are negotiated in an ongoing process of creation,
threat, reproduction, and overhaul. This occurs, according to Alvesson et
al. as an ongoing and embodied interaction and that “personal identities
necessarily draw on available social discourses or narratives about who one
can be and how one should act, some of which may enjoy stronger
institutional and material support than others” (p. 11).
PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND EXAMPLES

How does a trainer’s personal identity impact the choices that the trainer
makes, for example, when conducting a training class? What kinds of
messages does a trainer electively and non-electively send during a training
PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND EXAMPLES 21
class, that indicate the personal identity and social identity that the trainer
has? Several examples present themselves here such as technical training,
change management training, skills based training, diversity programs,
supervisory training, new hire orientation, leadership development train-
ing, and the list continues. An HRD practitioner has an identity. To pin
the theoretical abstractions necessary to frame this chapter down to the
practical, day-to-day, operational level so that the intention becomes
concrete and clear, I wonder what the role of trainer identity plays with
respect to new hire orientation, supervisory, technical, or skills based
training, leadership development, career development, and organizational
development? Sadler-Smith and Smith (2006, p. 272) provide an elegant
and compelling rationale for the field of Human Resources to think more
deeply about the context of the world and organizations in which we
work, suggesting that there exists an array of considerations for
practitioners:
Through exercising professionalism and artistry these indeterminate situa-

tions may be better framed in terms of a multiplicity of different dimensions
that characterize practice (including local and global, individual and collec-
tive, freedom and control, analytical and synthetic, rational and intuitive),
the interpretation of which becomes the object of a judgement grounded in
experience and expertise. In order to be able to formulate problems in ways
that are commensurate with dynamic, uncertain and fast-moving business
environments HRD practice needs to go beyond determinacy, predictability
and consistency and confront indeterminacy, complexity and reflection.
(Sadler-Smith and Smith 2006, p. 272)
This discussion raises questions related to the very design of a training or

organizational development initiative, down to its very “roots” manifested
through the decision about who conducts a training or organizational
development initiative. For example, the question that might seem to go
unacknowledged on the surface, such as the decision around whether to
have an internal or external training professional conduct organizational
development or change management, versus someone from outside the
company, can play a crucial role in the effectiveness of a program.
Social psychology and Sociology can give HRD practitioners and scho-
lars with a more sensitive lens through which to view HRD initiatives. It
does not mean to imply that people of certain demographic identities
should be identified in specific, while others excluded, from engaging in
HRD initiatives. Rather, it suggests that having an awareness of the role

that organizational role and personal identity play in these HRD interven-
tions could help inform the way that programs are designed and intro-
duced; they could help with the way that programs are proposed.
This chapter is significant because it addresses a gap heretofore lacking
in HRD research regarding the extent to which the identity of the HRD
practitioner impacts the overall effectiveness of a training program. For
example, when I conducted workplace civility trainings at my own institu-
tion, I have a strong sense that I was welcomed as a trainer in that role,
because of my identity as “one of them.” I was not external; I was not
managerial or administrative (at the time). I had also been invited to
conduct a change management workshop for our professional employees.
I have a strong sense, again, that I was welcomed into that space because I
was one of them. I was not an outsider, and I was not a manager or
administrator. My identity impacted the extent to which I was welcomed.
Admittedly, these are speculative observations on my part. However, they
are my strong sense.
Examining the construct of identity is crucial to enriching our
understanding of effective HRD interventions because of the increas-
ingly dynamic, post-structural nature of the world of work. There are
aspects of identity that are visually discernible; there are other aspects
of identity that would only be apparent were the trainer to share them.
How and why does a trainer make a decision to share personal infor-
mation about identity, with a training group? The extent to which a
trainer shares personal identifying information also depends upon the
subject matter content, the training participants, and the focus of the
training session. Is transparency a prerequisite for training effectiveness
or should there be a boundary?
IDENTITY
The scholarship on identity is comprised of different levels: individual,
personal, and social (Alvesson et al. 2008; Ashforth and Male 1989; Stets
and Burke 2000). Stets and Burke (2000) distinguish these levels as a
hierarchy. Stets and Burke explain that social identity theory considers
identities in a “relative way because different identities are organized in a
hierarchy of inclusiveness. Three levels are generically involved: a super-
ordinate level such as ‘human,’ an intermediate level such as ‘American,’
and a subordinate level such as ‘southerner’” (p. 231).
IDENTITY 23
Individual identity is concerned with the self; personal identity is con-

cerned with the extent to which one person relates or identifies with
another person; and social identity refers to the way that an individual
perceives membership in a group or organization (Alvesson et al. 2008;
Ashforth and Male, 1989). Sveningsson and Alvesson (2003) noted that
“identity is one of the more popular topics in contemporary organization
studies . . . Identity themes are addressed on a multitude of levels: organi-
zational, professional, social and individual” (p. 1163).
If we can integrate these different identity bases and show how they operate
simultaneously in a situation, we can address the degree to which individuals
are constrained by structural expectations (tied to group and role identities)
or have some choice in their enactment (through person identities). Further,
we can examine how individuals resolve the distress that occurs when the
meanings tied to different identities (group, role, or person) interfere with
or contradict one another. Finally, we can investigate the degree to which
some identities are more malleable than others: for example, people may be
more likely to adjust their person identities to adapt to situations than to
modify more structurally constrained role or group identities. We also can
explore the direction of influence of the different identities. For example,
person identities may influence role and group identities when they are first
taken on. Once a role or group identity becomes established, however,
person identities may have little impact. (Stets and Burke 2000, p. 229)
Identity can be an explicit construct, illuminated during mundane transac-

tions such as a completing an employment application, or signing up for
healthcare benefits and other perquisites offered by an employer. Identity,
in these cases, is relegated to demographics such as name, race, age,
ethnicity, family relationships, educational levels, and employment history.
It is in these moments that one’s identities become necessarily fixed and
categorized, because they are ways in which human resource professionals
create their employee files for purposes of managing, storing, retrieving,
and reporting on their employee bases. In modern, times, even these
“fixed” categories have presented themselves as contested terrain. For
example, whereas under the “gender” question there was once (and in
many cases, remains) two choices: male and female, there are now applica-
tions that might signal greater gender identity inclusivity because they
include responses for male, female, transgender, and other. For example,
the State University of New York, in its college applications illustrates the
possibilities for how an application can signal inclusion:
State University of New York (SUNY) system: allows students to identify

their gender identity (choices: man, woman, trans man, trans woman,
genderqueer/gender-fluid, questioning, and unsure or write in) and sexual
orientation (choices: straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer, and
questioning, and unsure or write in) on admissions forms for all SUNY
schools (https://www.campuspride.org/tpc/identity-questions-as-an-
option/).
This act of signaling is a trope, which has a significance that it is difficult to

overstate. When an organization intentionally creates signs or includes
language or symbols that send the message that those of particular iden-
tities are not only welcomed but included; that organization is creating,
establishing, and maintaining an identity; and it is creating the conditions
by which career seekers and employees who recognize or see themselves as
having that identity or appreciating that identity, feel visible, and
respected. For example, a gay pride (rainbow) flag hung in a visible
location on a church entrance sends a signal that LGBT people are
acknowledged in that particular church. This is an example from my
own particular context as an Episcopalian, whose recent church in
Syracuse, New York, did just that. As one more example drawing upon
LGBT identity, the presence of particular organizations in identity-related
events such as Gay Pride, send a signal that the organization acknowledges
and values LGBT people. The same is likely true for other demographics; I
use this example because it is in handy “reach” for me and it tangible and
experiential on my part. Hopefully, it effectively illustrates this point about
organizations signaling that identity matters to them and that they inten-
tionally and sincerely have an expansive reach of inclusion for all, but in
particular, for marginalized people.
INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY
Stets and Burke (2000) explain that the personal identity is the lowest level
of self-categorization and that the “individual acts in terms of his or her
own goals and desires rather than as a member of a group or category”
(p. 228). Alvesson et al. (2008, p. 10) describe personal identity this way:
[P]ersonal identity typically refers to unique personal attributes—those

assumed as not being shared with other people, or not seen as a mark of
group belonging.
PERSONAL IDENTITY 25
Alvesson et al. (2008, p. 6) offer a helpful definition of individual identity

as one that is individual and subjective:
One’s personal identity implies certain forms of (often positive) subjectivity

and thereby entwines feelings, values and behavior and points them in
particular (sometimes conflicting) directions. From this vantage point, col-
lective visions of self, such as group and organizational identities, become
not so much the “main show” as important resources in the formation of
personal notions of self.
In general, one’s identities are composed of the self-views that emerge

from the reflexive activity of self-categorization or identification in terms
of membership in particular groups or roles (Stets and Burke 2000,
pp. 225–226).
The self . . . is essentially a social structure, and it arises in social experience.

After a self has arisen, it in a certain sense for itself provides for itself its social
experiences, and so we can conceive of an absolutely solitary self. But it is
impossible to conceive of a self arising outside of social experience. (Mead
1967 p. 140)
PERSONAL IDENTITY
Personal identity is a crucial aspect of career development because it
represents the relationship, as the term implies, between and among
people. Ashforth et al. (2016) explain that personal identity is “perceived
oneness with another individual” (p. 30). Examining the interweave of
individual identity and personal identity is, implicitly, a significant part of
the backdrop of diversity scholarship and diversity training efforts. When
someone, such as a Human Resource professional, interacts with another,
such as a member of a minority, or a member of the disabled community,
there is an implicit opportunity for understanding, empathy, growth, and
learning. To the extent that the Human Resource professional demon-
strates understanding and awareness of the individual’s identity, needs,
hopes, and intentions, there is an opportunity for deep and meaningful
work to get done. Imagine, for example, that a person who is a minority,
has gone back to school, or acquired additional credentials, or has done
other work that has qualified him or her for a position of advancement.
That person has, in other words, taken the initiative to prepare for a
bigger, or broader, position in the organization. If the positions for
which the person qualifies, represent challenges with respect to identity,
such as a culture that does not welcome, for example, racial minorities, or
females, or LGBT people, the person may experience discouragement or
even trepidation about applying. However, if the Human Resource pro-
fessional is one with whom the person can trust, and if the Human
Resource professional can establish some identification (which is different
than identical) with that person, there is an opportunity for the person to
grow. Personal identification represents, in other words, the seeds by
which relationships can grow, and people can grow, and careers can
develop. Remember that one of the basic premises of this book is that
people have identities that are constructed, fluid, and matrixed and that
career success is subjective. Ashforth et al. (2016, p. 29) explain the
dynamic nature of personal identity:
PI as a crucial process through which their respective phenomena unfold—

namely, mentoring, role modeling, and leadership. In the absence of theory
articulating the nature and dynamics of PI, it is difficult to appreciate how
mentors and proteges reciprocally influence each other, how an individual
“becomes like” a close peer or role model, and how and why leadership
affects subordinates’ sense of self. Further, as we will argue, one path to PI
unfolds in close relationships, which are apt to be positive in nature.
Personal identification can help create the context for which minorities
and others, who are not majoritarians, can “see” themselves in new
opportunities. Human Resource professionals who are involved in career
development endeavors benefit, of course, by having technical knowledge
and skills around career aptitude assessments, resume and cover letter
composition, and interpersonal skills such as the ability to conduct inter-
views and to provide coaching. They benefit further, by having the capa-
city to understand the specific challenges and opportunities presented by
the person they serve in a career development context. In subsequent
chapters, specifics around identity will be explored. For now, the point
of examining each construct of identity is presented to lay a foundation.
Furthermore, it is helpful and important to understand the interdepen-
dencies of identity and to realize that Human Resource professionals have
identities: the interweave of the Human Resource professional’s identity
with the employee or prospective employee with whom they work can
PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY 27
potentially be a unique dynamic. Each relationship is potentially special

and fertile for growth and development. This is, after all, the purpose of
Human Resource Development.
SOCIAL IDENTITY
Fiske and Taylor (1991) indicate that social identity theory is a theory of
social categorization and that, for example, “one’s nationality, ethnicity,
religion, gender, occupation, and the like, all help to define one’s identity”
(p. 165). Alvesson et al. (2008) distinguish social identity from personal
identity:
SIT examines how people understand and position themselves and others in
terms of social group categories (i.e. in-group/out-group), whereas SCT
investigates what leads people to view themselves as unique individuals in
some circumstances and, in others, to define self through group member-
ship, thereby depersonalizing aspects of identity. (Alvesson et al. 2008,
p. 13)
“The person identity is the set of meanings that are tied to and sustain the
self as an individual; these self-meanings operate across various roles and
situations . . . ” (Stets and Burke 2000, p. 229).
PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
A professional identity is a socially constructed internalization of one’s
occupational status and role. Ibarra and Barbalescu (2010) observed that
“[t]he practices and strategies by which people craft and negotiate work
identities are at the heart of a burgeoning stream of research. In recent
years scholars have paid increasing attention to the diverse means people
use to craft and negotiate work identities” (p. 135). Ibarra and Barbalescu
further note that professional identity is signaled through the means
through which people present themselves in the workplace, including
dress, appearance, office décor, and style (p. 135).
Professional identity manifests when someone, to be quite practical
about this point, wears clothing that signals formality (such as a suit
with a tie), or when a person places academic diplomas or professional
certification documents on the walls of an office. In the digital world,
although it is beyond the scope of this chapter to delve deeply into the
topic of personal branding (although that is a worthy topic for a chapter

on career development and HRD), social media such as LinkedIn provide
users with the opportunity to transmit information about their identity by
including professional and industry credentials in their profile.
Defining ourselves as secretaries, middle managers, or professors, for

instance, does not entail simply stepping into pre-packaged selves, but
always involves negotiating intersections with other simultaneously held
identities (e.g. Black male professor and parent) and making individualized
meaning in interaction with the people and systems around us (e.g. compe-
tent, high-status secretary). Hence, even when people refer to a seemingly
shared “we,” they imbue this depersonalized collective with diverse and
personalized meanings. (Alvesson et al. 2008, p. 10)
IDENTITY AND SELF-CONCEPT

Fiske and Taylor (1991) note that the aspect of the self that “influences
thought and behavior depends in a large part on which aspects of the self have
been accessed. This aspect of the chronic self-concept that is accessed for a
particular situation is terms the working self-concept” (p. 182). Sim et al.
(2014) note that the self-concept is not a static, unitary representation but
rather, people define themselves thorough their personal traits, through their
“dyadic relationships” (p. 271). The research in the HRD literature that has
explored sexual minority issues has provided some foreground for the larger
construct of identity and implications set forth by this work. Because sexual
minorities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT) have histori-
cally been stigmatized in the macro-environment of the larger society and in
the micro-environment of the workplace, issues of identity and disclosure
present a very real and practical concern. Hill indicates:
For sexual minorities, sexual orientation disclosure (coming out) is a com-

plex process that occurs at multiple levels and is never fully complete. That
is, in each new encounter or event, we have the option to come out or cover,
pass, or deny. (2009, p. 40)
Coming out, although a risk-laden action, has the potential to create

relationships and interactions that are characterized by a sense of trust
and respect (as established in Gedro et al. 2004, and in Gedro 2014).
PERFORMANCE, OR IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT, VERSUS ESSENTIALISM 29
Jehn et al. (2014) provide a sociological explanation for why benefits

can accrue to an individual as a result of identity disclosure. Jehn et al. note
that it is important for individuals to have their authentic selves—their true
identities—recognized, and that alignment between one’s self-view and
the views of others (p. 488), provide those individuals with a sense of
control and predictability. Jehn et al. posit that asymmetry between an
individual’s self-view and the views held of others, creates discomfort for
the individual. Moreover, such asymmetry can result in negative conse-
quences such as stress, anxiety, strained interpersonal relationships, and
lack of well-being (Jehn et al., p. 489). Gedro (2014) explained how this
type of stress—of the misalignment between who one is, and the views of
others, have tangible, negative manifestations. For example, lesbians have
disproportionately high (relative to the general population) rates of alco-
hol abuse due in part to the stress of their sexual minority status and the
resulting shame secrecy, and isolation related to that identity.
PERFORMANCE, OR IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT, VERSUS

ESSENTIALISM
People have a natural, implicit curiosity about each other. The HRD
context provides a micro-environment for the social interactions and
exchanges that social psychologists examine and describe. When an
HRD practitioner conducts an HRD program, there are two or more
people involved in an exchange of information. Fiske and Taylor (1991,
p. 230) observe that:
Behavior is the vehicle through which impressions are usually enacted, and
as such, impression management is much like acting. One cannot simply do
it without preparation, at least not well. To create a successful impression
requires the right setting, correct props, and costumes, a good deal of skill,
and often some rehearsal.
Whether the HRD practitioner is aware of it or not, he or she is perform-

ing. This does not imply that that practitioner is being disingenuous. It
does mean to imply that HRD practice is a performance. Goffman notes
that “when an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly
seek to acquire information about him . . . They will be interested in his
general socioeconomic status, his conception of self, his attitude toward
them, his competence, his trustworthiness . . .” (1959, p. 1). Trainer
identity is a dimension of training programs that is significant, and under-

explored. The paper considers specific types of HRD initiatives such as
mentoring programs, leader-led and classroom training, on the job train-
ing and job shadowing, and it highlights the gap in identity research
within the field.
It is ironic that my own sense of identity within the (United States and,
by intentional extension, the United Kingdom) HRD field is that I do not,
in the strictest sense, “belong” to the Academy of Human Resource
Development. That is to say that I am not a faculty member at a college
or university that has an HRD department, or anything that could be said
to resemble such. Rather, I am an administrator and professor in an
institution that was founded to dismantle the practical, tangible, material
barriers to access to higher education for re-entry or first-time adult
students. Therefore, I problematize the sense of social identity by virtue
of my very “showing up” for these types of conferences, and considering
myself part of this community, which is my own professional home. Social
identity can and should be a fluid construct.
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE PRACTICE

One of the practical implications arising from this chapter is that when
designing training programs, HRD practitioners should be mindful of the
impact that their own identity plays within the training context. As such, a
trainer should have the skills and competencies to understand how to
leverage identity as an asset and how to minimize potential shortcomings.
One example of this is LGBT diversity training. Might a person who is a
member of the LGBT community be more persuasive, or credible, or
effective, conducting LGBT diversity awareness training, versus a hetero-
sexual trainer? This chapter implicates these and other types of considera-
tions for training program design, delivery, and evaluation.
HRD practitioners can benefit from programs that are informed by
deeper insight about the human condition. Again what is unique about
this chapter is that the lens of inquiry is turned around, to consider the
identity of the trainer. HRD is a performance. This is different proposition
than performative. By performance, I mean that trainers seek—whether
they are conscious of it or not—to manage the impression that they make.
Their identity—their self-concept, their identification with another person
or persons, their attachments and affiliations to the organization, and their
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE PRACTICE 31
attachment or affiliation (identification) with a profession—all play vital

roles in their performance.
Table 2.1 presents a representation of the relationships between the
type of HRD program or intervention, its potential modalities, trainer
identity, and role that trainer identity plays. This table does not presume
to be comprehensive; rather, it is illustrative of the fundamental ideas.
Table 2.1 A typology of the role of HRD programs, modalities, identity, and
HRD program focus
Type of HRD Modalities Identity: Focus of HRD program
program Self-concept and role that trainer
Demographics identity plays
Professional identity
Organizational
affiliation
Skills based Face to face, Some aspects are visible, Skills based.
training synchronous discernible. Some aspects Identity is likely a
Virtual, are “invisible” and would peripheral aspect.
synchronous involve disclosure.
Virtual,
asynchronous
Coaching and Face to face, Some aspects are visible, Interpersonal skills,
mentoring synchronous discernible. Some aspects career skills.
Virtual, are “invisible” and would Identity can be a directly
synchronous involve disclosure. related aspect.
Virtual,
asynchronous
“Soft skills” Face to face, Some aspects are visible, Communication and
training such as synchronous discernible. Some aspects trust; understanding of
civility or Virtual, are “invisible” and would dimensions of diversity.
diversity training synchronous involve disclosure. Conflict management
Virtual, capacity.
asynchronous Identity can be a directly
related aspect.
Compliance Face to face, Some aspects are visible, Specific information that
training such as synchronous discernible. Some aspects is organization,
ethics Virtual, are “invisible” and would location, or industry
synchronous involve disclosure. specific.
Virtual, Identity is likely a
asynchronous peripheral aspect.
(continued )
Table 2.1 (continued)

Type of HRD Modalities Identity: Focus of HRD program
program Self-concept and role that trainer
Demographics identity plays
Professional identity
Organizational
affiliation
Organizational Face to face, Some aspects are visible, Communication and

development synchronous discernible. Some aspects trust; understanding of
Virtual, are “invisible” and would dimensions of diversity.
synchronous involve disclosure. Conflict management
Virtual, capacity.
asynchronous Specific information that
is organization,
location, or industry
specific.
Identity is likely a
peripheral aspect.
Leadership Face to face, Some aspects are visible, Interpersonal skills,
development synchronous discernible. Some aspects career skills.
Virtual, are “invisible” and would Identity could be
synchronous involve disclosure. directly related or
Virtual, peripheral.
asynchronous
Career Face to face, Some aspects are visible, Interpersonal skills,
development synchronous discernible. Some aspects career skills.
Virtual, are “invisible” and would Identity could be
synchronous involve disclosure directly related or
Virtual, peripheral.
asynchronous
The first column presents a categorization of types of HRD programs that

I envision when considering identity. The second column lists the types of
ways that the program can be delivered. This is significant because the
dimensions of time (synchronous or asynchronous) and space (virtual or
face-to-face) impact the ways that identity gets communicated (or not
communicated). The next column lists, and then describes, identity,
which includes self-concept, demographics, professional identity and orga-
nizational affiliation. This is significant because it provides the interweav-
ing of HRD programs, and the main focus of the chapter. The fourth and
final column depicts the focus of the HRD program in the corresponding
first column. It provides illustration of the extent to which the program is

focused on “hard” content (such as skills, or information that needs to be
conveyed or instructed) versus “soft” content (such as coaching, mentor-
ing, or career development).
Career development, presented in the table, is one facet of Human
Resource Development; this means that the identity of the Human
Resource Professional should be a consideration. When working with
employees, or when serving in positions of career counseling or related
types of endeavors, the identity of the Human Resource professional
plays a role in the dynamic of the relationship. It is heretofore tacit in
Human Resource practice, because of the dearth of scholarship that
turns the lens of inquiry around, to consider the role that the identity
of the career developer plays. For example, how do gender dynamics
impact a career development relationship? When working with a single
mother with a high school education, who is re-entering the workforce,
to what extent does the identity of the career developer impact the
effectiveness of the relationship? If the career developer is a majoritarian
(white, heterosexual male, college educated, middle or upper class), it
bears consideration that that practitioner acquire awareness and sensi-
tivity around issues of access to higher education, gender, resume writ-
ing (to account for gaps in employment), and generally, to develop
empathy for those who are materially “different.” If a career developer
is heterosexual, it is a worthy investment of time and effort to acquire
knowledge about the challenges and opportunities that lesbian, bisexual,
gay, transgender, queer and questioning clients or employees face. With
respect to sexual minorities, it is a useful practice for career developers
to create welcoming spaces that send signals of inclusion and awareness.
Turned the other way around, a career developer who is a member of a
minority (whether it be racial, gender, sexual, ethnic, or religious), it is
helpful and important to have a strong sense of self, and self-confidence,
and to acquire skill and ability in working with a variety of employees or
clients. This likely occurs naturally for minorities, because they have had
to traverse majoritarian-dominated contexts in their careers by default.
However, in the interest of exploring the dynamics of relationships in
career development in either direction, it is important to note that the
majoritarian/minority dyad can go in either direction. The main pre-
mise in this chapter is to establish the fact that HRD practitioner
identity is under-examined, and that it is a crucial consideration in
HRD practice because of the role that identity plays.
There are questions that can help further guide the insights intended by
this chapter. These are questions that I have pondered for as long as I have
been I this field. For example, who makes a better trainer: one who has the
skills or abilities that are admired, such as a world class athlete, or one who is
able to convey the information in a confident and credible and effective
manner? Granted, this is a false or at least constructed dichotomy but it is
intended to highlight the issue of identities, both personal and social. The
answer is, of course, it depends. For HRD initiatives that rely more heavily
upon behavior modeling, perhaps it is preferable to point to highly skilled
professionals as examples or role models, and have an HRD professional (who
may or may not have the particular functional skill set) facilitate the learning
and development experience. This is where role identity becomes relevant.
The matrixed and hierarchical nature of identity is a major reason that it
is not a dangerous or ethical proposition to interrogate the role of trainer
identity. In fact, by drawing social psychology theory into HRD practice
and research, we can benefit from the insights and awareness that stem from
such understanding. The personal is political,1 after all. To ignore identity,
to pretend it does not exist or to shy away from discussing it, perpetuates a
tacit mythology that the world of work is based upon merit, and that it is
not impacted by dominant paradigms, populations, and identities. People
are complex, and individuals have a variety of identities. Some identities
become activated in certain situations, as salience hierarchy explains.
“Salience hierarchy addresses which role a person will enact in a situa-
tion when more than one more than one role may be appropriate” (Stets
and Burke 2000, p. 231). Salience hierarchy provides a theoretical expla-
nation for how or why a trainer might rely upon or emphasize one aspect
of his or her identity more than other aspects.
To date, there has been little formal interrogation of the role that the
identity of a trainer plays in training program effectiveness. This chapter
critically interrogates the role that identity plays in HRD interventions.
The construct of identity has relevance for own our HRD professional
associations; as new members come into these organizations, they may or
may not identify with the mission, purpose, scope, conference experience,
and people in the organization. Or they may. The extent to which an
organization can attract and retain members plays a significant role in its
effectiveness. The Academy of Human Resource Development’s confer-
ence, for example, generates and shares new knowledge, and serves as a
conduit of networking, social capital, ideas, collaborations, ideas for jour-
nals and books, and for job opportunities.
Exploring identity, and identification, contributes significantly not only

as an examination that can help to inform or enrich scholarship and
practice, but also as a means to foster vibrancy of our field. Ideas for future
research include: the newcomer experience at a University Forum for
Human Resource Development (UFHRD, at http://www.ufhrd.co.uk/
wordpress/) conference, or the Academy of Human Resource
Development (AHRD, at http://www.ahrd.org/?) conference; the
experienced attendee at a conference, a senior scholar, and an experienced
leader (perhaps past Presidents or Chairs). This way, we can formally, and
with intentionality, acquire knowledge about the process of identity for-
mation in our own field. We welcome, of course, authors outside of the
discipline because the heterogeneity of scholarship, just like the diversity
of any ecosystem, can help it to become stronger, more interesting, and
richer. However, in order for organizations to thrive, there must be some
core group of those who identify with the mission, purpose, scope of the
organization and are committed to serving in volunteer roles. Therefore,
this chapter has pragmatic implications for our own organizations and by
extension, our field. Drawing identity theory into the HRD research
provides the opportunity for enhanced understanding about the ways
that individuals, groups, and organizations respond to HRD initiatives.
In particular, this chapter focuses on the trainer characteristics, rather than
trainee characteristics.
Note that the presence of a theoretical description of this phenomenon
does not imply that the trainer is aware of what he or she is doing when
emphasizing industry credentials, or educational background, or even,
perhaps the region of a particular country where he or she was born and
raised, or their industry experience in order to perhaps create a condition
of credibility, versus activating an identity that might be stigmatized. Let
us say, for example, that a white lesbian is conducting a technical software
training class. She has an MBA in Information Systems, and has served in
customer support for years. She has her education and experience upon
which to establish her credibility. That same person is a volunteer trainer
for an LGBT diversity nonprofit, and she conducts workplace LGBT
diversity training. She activates her industry background, to be sure, but
she more directly activates her identity as a lesbian. Depending on the
training context, this trainer likely enacts roles that position her in a
credible and effective light. For example, she may emphasize her technical
background, training, and experience as she designs and conducts a tech-
nical training session. When she conducts diversity training, she likely
emphasizes her lesbian identity and her various roles of LGBT research
and activism.
An implication for practice is the extent to which a trainer is skilled at
disclosing appropriate types of information that are related to identity
(individual, personal, or organizational). To what extent, for example,
does it matter what the role of the trainer is, with respect to the organiza-
tion? When a trainer shares his or her credentials with the class, he or she is
demonstrating a facet of his or her professional identity. When a trainer
sends signals that demonstrate industry experience and knowledge, the
trainer is sending a message of social identity, of collective “in-group”
identity.
The construct of identity provides the tapestry, in so many ways, to our
lives wherever we live, whatever career we occupy, whatever our role in
society. As such, its central (although often times tacit) role that it plays in
shaping our day to day lives, as well as our life courses, bears an inten-
tional, focused examination.
I have always been interested in the distinction between the identity that
one has about the self, and the relationship between the identity of the
“home” self and the “work” self. There are insights from role theory (see
Ashforth et al. 2016) and social identity theory that inform these questions.
However, I am still left with the problem or question of, why are those
identities so different? Do they need to be? Where does the question of
personal disclosure come into play? Why does disclosure need to be legis-
lated on a form, such as an EEO form? There can be subtle changes in
identity, such as one’s aspiration to, for example, obtain a “bigger” job once
the person obtains a college degree, or that one develops an interest and a
capacity to move into supervision or management, because they have done
work on themselves on a personal level, to be able to acquire an interest in
leading and managing others. There are places in which people seek identity
changes that are not scripted or routine, or the “formal” work of HRD
practitioners or career counselors. For example, someone may seek counsel-
ing to deal with a family issue, or an addiction issue, or a trauma issue. This
may strongly yet invisibly affect one’s ability to function in a career space.
These actions represent material investments in that person’s ability to
“succeed” in a career because that person can now devote mental or
emotional resources to intentional pursuits, rather than have to focus on
survival. Here is an analogy. If someone lives (as many people do) in an
underdeveloped country in which water is scarce and the day begins with
the question or problem of “how will we get water today?,” that person or
NOTE 37
family has that primary interest—survival, water, not thirsting to death.

However, in a situation in which water is plentiful—plentiful to the extent
that it is taken for granted and available whenever the tap is turned on—that
person or persons can focus on other quests. The person could, for example,
acquire an interest in running, not for the sake of basic transportation, but
for the sake of personal growth and development (exercise, competing in
formalized races). That person can move from a focus on basics, to a focus
on thriving. In this way, personal development can have an effect and in
some cases, a profound effect, on one’s ability to invest in career related
pursuits that lead one to having a happy and fulfilling career.
What is the relationship between someone’s identification with a
group? There are groups that have more privilege than others. For exam-
ple, what if a person were a Pagan, and was employed by an organization
that had senior leaders who were fundamentalist Christians? Should that
employee disclose anything about his or her identity? Even though reli-
gious freedom is protected in the United States, there are likely other ways
that the person might experience discomfort or even covert discrimina-
tion. Even though, for example, race and gender have been protected
classes for over 50 years, the pace of change—meaning, the pace of the
acquisition of equality, or proportionality, of women (see Onley 2016)
and minorities into well paying, and senior leadership positions lags
behind majoritarians. Therefore, issues of identity are material and they
can serve as facilitation (people hiring people who are “like them”), as well
as obstacles (people are less inclined to hire people who are “different”).
Therefore, identity can serve in a variety of ways with respect to career.
Gender expression, for example, is a subtle aspect of identity. It is not
studied extensively. Gedro (2010) explored the leadership roles of les-
bians, and she wondered about dress, appearance, hair, mannerisms.
Collins (2014), for example, explored the experiences of gay men in
masculinized industries. The matrices of identity provide fertile and
important ground for much more work.
NOTE
1. This is a phrase widely used in Women’s Studies texts and resources, and to
the best of my knowledge, Carol Hanisch first used the phrase. See http://
www.carolhanisch.org/CHwritings/PIP.html
CHAPTER 3
Identity is Constructed and Career

Success is Subjective
IDENTITY
This chapter examines identity and explains how identity is directly related
to career development. It provides a close examination of three ideas: (1)
identity is constructed, (2) identity is fluid, and (3) career success is
subjective.
The field of Human Resource Development is inter-disciplinary, which
is noted in the introduction of Chalofsky et al. (2014, pp. xiix–l). There
are foundational disciplines that undergird the field, including sociology,
anthropology, psychology, management, education, economics, and phi-
losophy (Chalofsky et al.). The ideas presented in this chapter find many of
their epistemological roots in philosophy. Fundamentally, and likely
tacitly, when a person approaches a point in their career development in
which they are considering a career change, he or she is taking into
account a personal sense of self, a social sense of self, and a roles-based
view of self. In other words, the person asks “Who am I?” to which
answers might be: I am a female, 54-year-old, first-generation college
student, single, lesbian. A person asks, to what groups or systems do I
belong? These could be groups such as American citizen, and
Episcopalian. A person asks, what is my profession (or what has my
profession been?) These could be professor, educator, Human Resource
professional, or administrator.

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_3
40 3 IDENTITY IS CONSTRUCTED AND CAREER SUCCESS IS SUBJECTIVE
With respect to career development, identity is matrixed. It is a com-

posite. It represents the interweave of multiple inputs into a system. The
system of which I conceive for purposes of this discussion, is a person (a
career seeker or changer). Different aspects of identity impact career
development efforts at different ways and at different times. Different
aspects of identity shift over time (e.g., age) and different aspects of
identity are less mutable (height, eye color). Identity is socially con-
structed, however, when one considers the impact that identity has on a
person’s experience of career. In other words, and has been explored in the
literature in the field of Human Resource Development, different people
from different demographics have different experiences of work and of
organizational life. For example, explorations of LGBT people, people of
color, disabled, females, or similar groups that are mostly non-dominant,
experience their identities are potentially limiting due to their non-major-
itarian status. Blumer’s (1969) idea of symbolic interactionism provides
insights into the subjectivity of identity, and the corresponding subjectiv-
ity and malleability of human interaction. Symbolic interactionism
“involves interpretation, or ascertaining the meaning of the actions or
remakers of the other person . . . or conveying indications to another per-
son as to how he should act” (p. 66). Symbolic interactionism “rests . . . on
three simple premises” (Blumer 1969, p. 2). Blumer observes that the first
premise is that people act toward things based upon the meaning that
those things represent for them (p. 2). Blumer’s second premise is that
these meanings that things have for people are derivations of social inter-
action. Blumer’s third premise is that “these meanings are handled in, and
modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing
with the thing he encounters” (p. 2). Symbolic interactionism also recog-
nizes that the meaning that things have, are not fixed, objective, and
externally determined by a supreme authority, but rather, that meaning
is determined by the people involved in the interaction, and that the
“meaning that things have for human beings are central in their own
right” (Blumer, p. 3).
Queer, feminist and post-structuralist theories also provide helpful
lenses through which to consider the fluidity of identity, broadly con-
ceived. Although queer and feminist theory use gender, sexuality, and
gender expression as their loci of interrogation, they are extremely helpful
theories to provide the conceptual environment for the arguments herein.
Bendl et al. (2008) explained how Queer Theory can be placed in post-
structural tradition (p. 383). They argue that “as post-structuralism tends
IDENTITY 41
to focus on the shifting, fragmented complexity of meanings (rather than

on a notion of centralized order) and destabilizes perceptions of a static
structure [Bendl 2005], a post-structuralist perspective is appropriate for
highlighting, de-stabilising and de-centring fixed notions of identity . . . ”
(p. 383). Bendl and Fleischmann reject the notion that identity is a fixed
construct, and that individuals can be “compartmentalized” into cate-
gories of diversity that “follow either/or logics” (p. 383). In their inter-
rogation of diversity management programs, Bendl et al. note that
diversity management programs tend to reinforce the idea that identities
follow binary patterns (such as male/female), and that there is a given type
of normal (which they characterize as “A”), and a type that is not normal
(which they characterize as “not A”). This idea can be extended to a
variety of types of identity, and the “A” and “not A” categories might
depend on who is doing the interrogating. For example, when two people
are engaged in a conversation, and they are from different regions, or
states, or countries, or continents and have, as a result, different dialects or
ways of putting words together, it is customary for one person to think, or
to observe, that the other person has an accent. Yet, that other person
thinks the other person has the accent. This is a rather pedestrian example
of “normal,” and “not normal,” but it highlights the role that perspective
plays in examining, and in deconstructing, notions of identity.
Women’s entrance into the workforce provides some historical trajec-
tory for the idea that identity, particularly with respect to career develop-
ment, changes over time. Women have been faced (or forced) to decide
between career and family—which is a binary: a forced choice, zero-sum
proposition. Then work–family literature emerged, and employment laws
such as Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Pregnancy Discrimination
Act, accompanied (or perhaps augmented) the shift in the choices that
workers, particularly women, have with respect to decisions around prior-
itizing family responsibilities versus prioritizing career responsibilities. In
the 1970s, there was a destabilization of the notion that a person must
demonstrate their ability to project and live the image of the “company
man” (see Kanter 1977) and dedicating all of one’s waking hours to
developing one’s career, has been replaced by a more complex practice
and culture of “balance.” This has historically been a feminist construct.
However, as capitalism and its excesses (meaning, a focus on profits to the
detriment of the environment, employees, and consumers) has become
critiqued and interrogated, there has been an accompanying resistance to
mindless consumption. The movement toward balance—of the shift from
profit-seeking behaviors, and stockholder prioritization rather than stake-

holder prioritization-has become more mainstream.
Technology has altered the boundaries of time and space in the
workplace, meaning that is now ordinary to meet with people in dis-
parate locations, synchronously or asynchronously. However, technology
can be a bit of a leash, tethering people to their jobs. The resistance to
linear, structural, capitalistic excess has become multifaceted. The move-
ment to raise the minimum wage in the United States, championed by
(at the time of this writing) President Obama (see https://www.white
house.gov/raise-the-wage), has been accompanied by state-level deci-
sions about raising the minimum wage. The arguments for raising the
minimum wage include the statistics on poverty and the inability of a
family of a reasonable size (such as four) to comfortably live on this level
of income. The arguments against it are that it would put a burden on
employers, particularly small businesses or those who employee workers
for low-skilled, mostly service positions. The legislation raises the thresh-
old for the salary rate at which a worker becomes eligible for overtime
pay, to $913 per week (up from $455 per week; (see https://www.dol.
gov/whd/overtime/final2016/). The movement toward supporting
local economies (the “buy local”) movement, and other types of move-
ments which signal a resistance to the power that large corporations
tend to wield over daily lives, point toward a raising of consciousness of
inter-connectedness, and a re-consideration of values and priorities.
These trends are not necessarily brand new, and they have been docu-
mented in various forms. The reason they bear highlighting here, is
because the tenor, or pulse, of these changes signals an emerging
emphasis on social justice, environmental considerations, and economic
justice. These trends are consistent with the ideas set forth in this larger
examination of identity, meaning, and subjectivity in career develop-
ment, because they align with the premises herein, that identity is a
social construction, which is fluid, and that career success is subjective.
These ideas put some power and agency in the hands of career seekers,
and they also are offered to human resource professionals, with the
intention of expanding our awareness and our sensitivity to the frames
of references of prospective and current employees, whose identities and
priorities shift over time.
Certainly, the creation and maintenance of categories of identity serves
some useful purposes in human resources. It is helpful to have information
about employees with respect to, for example, age, gender, educational
IDENTITY 43
background, professional competencies, race, and location—but only to the

extent that the information helps to inform and guide decisions around
alignment between the employee’s (and prospective employee’s) career
interests and objectives, and the needs of the organization as transparently
expressed through job descriptions and performance management pro-
grams. Identity, however, should be contained for use only in limited
ethical, responsible, and transparent ways and not in ways that limit the
potential of the employee. In searching for a way to describe the complex
interweave and fluidity and inter-related nature of identity, I tried to come
up with a term or phrase to capture it. I thought of “matrix” and I thought
of “tapestry” and other forms and expression but these ideas and words, as
perhaps many if not most are, already captured by others and expressed by
others (Bendl et al. 2008) including artists (such as Mary Corey March’s
“identity tapestry” art installation, which has participants weave a thread
around the statements that occur that relate to identity, see http://www.
marymarch.com/Identity_Tapestry.html). The futility of imaging a clever
term or phrase for the fluidity, constructed nature, and interweave of identity
did not preclude my writing this book. Instead of focusing on originality, I
took a feminist approach to the tasks and give credence to others, sharing or
spotlighting their contributions to identity discourse. Of course, this is not
only a feminist approach but also academically appropriate. I have focused
energy, instead, on conceiving and expressing these ideas about fluidity and
connectivity, in ways that for the audiences I intend to reach, which are
career developers, human resource professionals, and individuals. This work
investigates identity and career development from, to a large extent, theore-
tical points of view in order to set an appropriate scaffold from which to
them zoom the lens of inquiry with specific aspects of their interactions.
Gender and age, for example, are broad categories that cover a relatively
wide swath of people; therefore, I take a close look at the research that has
been done on older women and career development. Women comprise
relatively half of the population, which means that there is broad coverage
by examining this population. Admittedly, and I am not sure how to
untangle from this, but there is a fluidity to gender; gender is not a fixed
binary; queer theory resists those binaries and dualities of thinking and
categorizing and labeling. However, the category of “female” is discernible
enough to serve as an approximation of one half of the population. Age is a
state of identity that pertains to all humans, and aging is inevitable. Granted,
there are different ways to perceive the aging process, and age is, in some
respects a “state of mind.” However, you can count age; and everyone has an
age, and aging is a part of the process of life. As such, aging is an aspect of
identity that, because of its universality, serves as a category of examination,
can cover a broad swath of people. Additionally, and this is part of the
transparency that as an author, I try to model: I am an older woman in the
workforce. Therefore, older women and career development is a topic of
focused examination in this book. Higher education plays a significant role
in workforce development and in career development, however, broadly
conceived or however broad or technical/vocational the focus is of a parti-
cular college degree.
There are arguments about the intrinsic value of a liberal arts degree, and
there are arguments that rail against the “selling out” of higher education
to the employment marketplace. I think there is plenty of space between
these two polarities—liberal arts education for its own sake, versus educa-
tion as a way of responding to the needs of the career marketplace—that are
possible and desirable, even perhaps ideal. Admittedly, the curation of the
inquires is likely to reflect my own interests in this point in my life and
career. I am a middle-aged woman who identities as lesbian, and as gen-
derqueer, who has a career at an institution of higher education that serves
adult students. Therefore, in the interest of modeling the transparency that
this work envisions and calls for human resource professionals, it seems
necessary and appropriate to claim and justify the topics that are closely
examined. Perhaps a way to describe these inquiries is sort of an autoeth-
nographically inspired lens. However, it is crucial to highlight the fact that
there are a myriad of topics and dimensions to be explored with respect to
identity. This book is the first in what is designed to be a series of books that
explore different aspects of marginalization, stigmatization, and under-
examination in the management, business, and human resource literature.
The theory that career success in the subjective sense means one’s own
sense of success and that objective success means measurable and material
symbols, is replaced with the suggestion that all career success is subjec-
tive. Sullivan and Baruch (2009, p. 1543) observe that “[i]ncreasingly,
individuals are driven more by their own desires than by organizational
career management practices.” What might mean career success to one
person might lack meaning for another. I suggest that we replace the
privileged paradigm of objective career success, with an emphasis instead
on autonomy and agency. That way, the individual has choice and ability to
discern what makes the most sense, what is most fulfilling, what makes the
best use of one’s time and talent and resources, as a career calling. The
phrase “keep up with the Joneses,” is a mostly US phrase that symbolizes
IDENTITY AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT: ZEROING IN 45
the materialistic and superficial consumption competition among people.

Pritchard (2013) notes that the origins of the phrase come from a comic
strip from the early twentieth century, that make fun of people’s “need to
do things to impress other people” (para 2). It might be helpful to suggest
that materialism and competition be replaced with a more expansive
notion of success. In other words, success can be conceived as individually
determined rather than externally imposed Let us consider that a
“McMansion” might be one person’s dream, a tiny house may be
another’s, and an internationally vagrant life as an expat may be yet
another’s. One type and size of measurement of success does not fit all.
IDENTITY AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT: ZEROING IN

Chapter 2 explored the construct of identity in order to provide a general
and theoretical context, and also, to present the ways that identity impacts
the HRD function. Chapter 2 turned the “lens” of examination of identity
around, from the focus on the trainer or learner or “client” of an HRD
program to an examination on the identity of the HRD practitioner. This
chapter resumes with an exploration of identity, with a focus on the impact
of identity and its impact on the identity of the career seeker.
Identity is a multifaceted construct that impacts career development.
Identity “refers to the various meanings attached to a person by self and
others” (Gecas 1982; in Ibarra 1999, p. 3). “Identity involves how people
think of themselves in relation to social roles” (Savickas 2012, p. 14).
Interrogating the meaning, interpretations, and implications for identity
can enrich the capacity of HRD professionals who are involved in career
development initiatives. The following is a definition of identity:
Identity refers to the meanings or self-conceptions that are attached to an

individual either by him/herself or others. These meanings are usually based
on social roles (social identities) as well as idiosyncratic character traits or
personal identities . . . Identities have been regarded as socially con-
structed . . . as people convey images of themselves about how they would
like to be regarded by others. (Sealy and Singh 2009, p. 292)
Career identity is a subset of identity:
Career identity refers to the degree of importance of one’s work organiza-

tion and career to one’s personal identity or self-image . . . Career insight is
defined as having realistic views of oneself and the environment as related to

one’s career aspirations, and using that information when making career-
related decision. It is proposed to be related to self-monitoring and feedback
processes. Career resilience is the extent to which an individual is able to
cope with a suboptimal career environment or recover from career-related
obstacles (Walker 2013, p. 125).
Strauser, Zanskas and Lustig (2011, p. 174) offer yet another definition of
vocational, or career, identity: “Vocational identity is defined as the indi-
vidual possessing a clear and stable understanding of his or her career
goals, interests, personality, and talents.” There are immutable aspects of
identity such as race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. There are
aspects of identity that are altered as a result of life events such as marriage,
child bearing and rearing, serious illness, and aging. There are other types
of identity such as formerly incarcerated status, military and veteran status,
and personal commitments such as sports or nonprofit work that directly
or indirectly affect one’s career choices and opportunities. These three
broad categories of identity will be proposed and presented later, in table
form, in a typology of career identities and HR-related responses.
IDENTITY IS FLUID
Identity is a fluid construct, and the dynamic environment of the world of
work has intensified the extent to which workers have to iteratively address
their career development, particularly manifest as a job search. Conroy and
O’Leary-Kelly (2013) said that “[n]one of us makes it through a career
without loss of a cherished sense of self that comes from work, whether
loss of a valued position, close work relationship, treasured team member-
ship, or prestigious work location” (p. 67) and as such, they identify three
phrases of identity transition: separation, transition, and reincorporation.
“Identity commitments do provide a stable significance, at least for some
period of time” (Savickas 2012, p. 14). Savikas argues that identity is fluid.
Identity provides a way to give life stability and a sense order, yet it is
dynamic, as Guichard (2005, p. 115) describes:
Dubar (1992) considers that, at a given time, a society offers individuals

some social categories in which they can recognize themselves and others.
This identity offer is not static: it evolves, in particular because of interactions
between individuals and between communities. This offer is more or less
IDENTITY IS FLUID 47
diversified according to societies. These social categories concern gender,

ethnic origin, age, religion, sexual orientation, occupation, associative
belongings, leisure activities, etc. Some of these categories—such as gen-
der—appear to be universal. Nevertheless, some important differences exist
between societies as to the meaning of these universal categories. Other
categories are local (for example: thinking of oneself as a football club
supporter). Each of these categories finds its meaning in relation to others.
Alvessson notes that when considering the Western notion of the self as an
autonomous, fixed, and essential construct, versus a post-modern notion
that the self is entirely fluid, that there does not have to be a binary, and
forced choice between thinking about the two:
[B]ut complexity and changes in contemporary social and organizational life

make identity a more open project and thus something to take seriously. A
variety of ideas about identity, reflecting differing attitudes towards the
turbulent and fragmented nature of society, various views of the individual
and which elements (discourses, social belongingness, existential themes)
are crucial in identity constructions have sprung up in the literature.
Although perspectives such as (Western) “essentialism” versus construction-
ism (postmodernism) indicate radically different views, there are a range of
options, as we will see. We don’t have to choose between a mainly fixed and
a predominantly fluid view, nor between a sovereign self and a decentred
one (Dunne 1996). In addition, there is a wide set of stability as well as
process conceptualizations. A more fine-tuned overview of the alternative
positions is therefore called for (Alvesson 2010, p. 195).
Queer Theory provides an appropriate framework for the idea that identity
is a fluid rather than fixed and unitary construct; it is mostly consistent
with the ideas set forth by Alvesson (2010). Queer Theory is a construct
that emerged during the 1990s, and “coincided with the publication of
both Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble and Eve Sedgewick’s Epistemology
of the Closet” (Kopelson 2002; Spurlin 2002; Wallace 2002; in Gedro
2009, pp. 96–97). Queer Theory undergirds much of the very inspiration
for this book, because it provides such a powerful way to think about how
categories, labels, language, customs, conventions, dress, speech, manner-
isms, and expectations have the power to put people in boxes that may or
may not fit their own sense of self. These social constructions of identity
can shape who people conceive themselves to be; the act of forming one’s
own sense of self, of identifying, creating, and manifesting career choices,
represents a daunting yet exciting way to think about life itself. The pink,
for example, that an expectant couple (heretofore, assumed to be male and
female; yet in today’s society, has now been re-cast to embrace the
possibility that a couple is comprised of two same gender people, which
provides further evidence that that we live in a time in which identities—in
this case, the identity of a couple—is so problematized that it creates
entirely new expanses for people to actualize their hopes and dreams)
paints a nursery when the sex of the child is identified as female, sets in
motion an entire trajectory and set of expectations that the child will
assume the identity and all that that means, of a female/girl/woman. In
a post-structural sense, this imagined couple might consider painting the
nursery in a color other than pink or blue, as a way of signaling creativity,
resistance to conformity, and as a way of creating the space where the child
can co-create his or her sense of self. Labels such as “tomboy” (which is a
slang term for girls who demonstrate gender non-conforming behaviors)
and “sissy” (slang for boys who demonstrate gender non-conforming
behaviors) can serve to shame children into gender conforming submis-
sion. These are examples of the ways that identity is fluid, and how it is
constructed. The next section focuses on how identity is a construction.
IDENTITY IS CONSTRUCTED
Identity is constructed (Sealy and Singh 2009). Our self-concepts are
developed through our own cognitive frames as well as through the
environments, role models, and other factors in the external world.
The implications for HRD are that mentoring programs that take
into account the variety of facilitating factors (supportive environ-
ments, positive experiences, self-confidence) as well as impeding fac-
tors (stigmatized identity, negative experiences, and difficult
environments—in other words, “baggage”) and that HRD profes-
sionals approach their work that relates to career development in
ways that demonstrate an understanding for the processes, interests,
development, and also, affective schemes (such as fear, excitement, or
self-efficacy) that people have. Guichard (2005, p. 120) explains how
identity is an ongoing process of reinterpretation:
[P]ersonalizing can be defined as an ongoing activity of self-synthesis during

which individuals give meaning to their lives through a reinterpretation of
their past experiences, and notably of those that occurred when they
IDENTITY IS CONSTRUCTED 49
constituted themselves “as this one” in this particular relation to others, a

relationship which was progressively internalised . . . A person is an ongoing
process of self-interpretation. This process can be an internal one (an intra-
personal dialog) or an inter-individual one (an interpersonal dialog).
Chapman and Gedro note that Queer Theory problematizes the way that
identity and sexuality are constructions (2009, p. 97) which is a theme that
supports this notion that identity is a social construction. Queer Theory
rejects the binaried construction of identities such as straight or gay; and
Queer Theorists “claim that identity categories and labels like heterosex-
ual, homosexual, bisexual are regulatory mechanisms of the dominant
culture” (Chapman and Gedro, p. 97). The identification, this exposure
to the metaphorical light of day, that identity constructions such as
heterosexual (straight) or homosexual (gay), and the interrogation of the
way that these constructions privilege a dominant culture through
mechanisms that manifest in the larger social milieu as access to jobs,
housing, and cultural and social functions such as weddings or adoption
of children (which are interrogations that are worthy of particular exam-
ination, but beyond the specific career development focus of this book); as
well as the career development landscape, represent a call for the necessity
of identity and career development to be closely interrogated. Although it
mostly rests on the constructions of sexuality, gender expression, and
gender identity, Queer Theory is useful and important as a template for
this argument that identity is a social construction, and that identity is not
power-neutral. Identity is a contested construct. As Jones et al. (2012)
point out, Erikson (1968) is “considered a pioneer in the development of
identity theory” (p. 699) and yet, the also point out that identity is mostly
conceived as a psychological rather than social construct. Jones et al.
critique the notion that identity is fixed, linear, and sequential (p. 699)
and that there is an authentic self that represents a clear “destination
point” (p. 699). Identities are not fixed, however, and identity develop-
ment does not necessarily follow a linear, sequential path that is aimed at a
specific, idealized destination. Identity is a continuous process that is
reshaped and reformed over the life (and work) course. There are some
identities that have privilege built in to them, and some identities that have
marginalization built in to them, and there are some identities that are
perhaps somewhere in between.
Re-interpreting one’s experiences is an important idea, because it allows
for the possibility for an individual to understand, upon reflection, the
“silver lining” in the clouds that may have appeared in one’s life or career.
For an alcoholic who has achieved sobriety, for example, the process of
bottoming out could later be perceived as a positive event because it
provided the impetus for seeking help. A person who was laid off could
reinterpret that difficult experience as one that led to some proactive
behaviors to seek another (better) position, or to pursue a new interest.
The process of self-concept is possibly always under construction. Hall and
Mirvis (1995, p. 270) indicate that learning how to learn, and identity
growth are two developmental competencies that older workers should
develop:
We will argue that the current high-speed environment places developmen-

tal demands on the individual for two key competencies (“meta-skills,” since
they are the skills of learning how to learn): identity growth (more complex-
ity, more self-reflection, and self-learning), and increased adaptability.
Wieland (2010) describes the tension, or struggle, inherent in the con-

struction of identity, as the reconciliation of the opposing forces of a desire
for distinctiveness, versus a desire for social acceptance:
Attending to ideal selves acknowledges that the process of constructing a

self-identity is fueled not only by a desire to be unique but also by a desire to
assimilate and be accepted by others. It is this normative quality of identity
that makes it such an important and compelling concept in organizational
studies, given the ways that control operates unobtrusively in modern
organizations. If we take identities as constructed rather than given, then
identities become sites of struggle at which various values and interests meet
and are negotiate. (p. 504)
This tension is played out in organizations through the efforts of employ-

ees to achieve positive performance appraisals, and to be seen as valuable,
while concurrently desiring to be valued for their unique characteristics
and abilities.
Ibarra (2002) confirms that identity is a fluid construct. We are many
selves, and those selves are defined partly by our history, and also by our
present and hopes and fears for the future (p. 43). Ibarra observes that her
research has determined that change happens this way: by doing first, and
then knowing. We acquire work identities through practice, not through
theorizing (Ibarra). As such, Ibarra suggests that by taking action and
THE IDENTITY MATRIX OR TAPESTRY 51
engaging in proactive behaviors, individuals can reposition themselves

toward careers feel well matched to their talents, interests, value, and
abilities.
Even with respect to aspects of identity that are immutable, such as
gender or sexual orientation, there are ways that identity can shift. For
example, a lesbian who experiences childhood, teenage years, and early
adulthood grappling with internalized homophobia may come to accept
her identity and ultimately learn to embrace it.
THE IDENTITY MATRIX OR TAPESTRY

Organizational cultures and environments that are positive, inclusive, and
career-conducive (Gilbreath 2008) encourage employees to operate in
ways that are authentic and aligned with their identities. For example, as
a Southerner, I have found that at my own place of employment, my
regional identity manifested in part through my accent (which is notable,
given that I live and work in the Northeast) has never been treated with
disrespect or anything that would discourage me from feeling comfortable
in my workplace. My identity as a Southerner is part of my “signature” and
it is only one aspect of my identity. I am also a woman, a former human
resource professional, an athlete, and middle-aged. This similar idea holds
true for all. Identity is matrixed.
Each facet of an individual’s identity creates a composite of the
person. The demographic aspects, the relationship and social role
aspects, the organizational other forms of social identities. What not
been connected to the literature of identity is the beliefs, or interpreta-
tions, that individuals create and sustain about themselves, that facil-
itates their success or limits their opportunities. Examples of limit
abound. A recovering alcoholic who fails to emerge beyond the limit-
ing beliefs and habits of addiction, or thinking about oneself as one
who is addicted (which can translate into “defective”), is hampered by
the belief about that identity. A victim of domestic violence, a former
combat solider, formerly incarcerated—all of these aspects of identity,
which are fluid (note: the recovering alcoholic or addict, the formerly
incarcerated), can create a web of empowerment for a person, or can
create a web of entrapment for a person. Of course, there is range of
possibilities in between these two oppositional notions of limitation
and empowerment.
The internalization of one’s identity is represented through psycholo-

gical theories such as internalized homophobia, internalized racism, inter-
nalized sexism, and other forms of limitation or oppression in which the
target of the oppression assumes the dominant thinking of the dominant
population. It is terribly important that research continues into forms of
oppression based upon demographics or other characteristics; however, it
is unlikely that the “playing field” of employment will ever be entirely
even.
Identity can be a source of strength. Career experiences—“good” or
“bad” can serve as sources of shame or disempowerment, to fonts of
strength, guidance, and wisdom. In some ways, it is easy, perhaps an over-
simplification, to think about this notion; to consider ways that this can
manifest, when one has the luxury of time to reflect, journal, and otherwise
ponder life and work experiences and think about their meaning. It is quite
another matter, however, to think about how to create a resume and cover
letter, when one is unemployed and preoccupied with the rent or mortgage
payment, that addresses gaps in unemployment, or that has to “stretch” to
tell a cohesive story about the person’s career history.
Sociological, economic, and political forces can shape self-image and
self-concept with respect to career development. They can encourage, and
they can limit. For example, when I was a little girl, I had a sense of the
transcendent, or the divine, and I strongly sensed a vocational tug toward
becoming a Nun. It never occurred to me that that “tug” could be a pull
toward becoming a Priest. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, women clergy in
mainstream Protestant churches, and certainly the Catholic Church, were
not conceivable. Today, however, there are women clergy in several
religions.
Blustein and Noumair (1996) distinguish two domains of identity:
ideological, which consists of areas such as vocational identity, religious,
and political ideology; and interpersonal areas such as friendship, dating,
and gender roles (p. 433). Blustein and Noumair observe that the while
Western notions of self tend to be logical, stable, and positivistic, non-
Western notions of self tend to be fluid, contextual, and relational.
Blustein and Noumair describe the changing landscape of the workplace
as having more instability, less hierarchy, and more diversity. Blustein and
Noumair observe that “the implications for these changes in the workforce
coupled with the shifting conceptual views of the self and identity have
analogous impact career development” (p. 437). Affect and emotions in
career development are under-examined topics in the management
IDENTITY IS CONTESTED AND NEGOTIATED TERRAIN BETWEEN . . . 53
literature (Conroy and O’Leary-Kelly 2013) and they are equally under-
examined in the HRD literature.
IDENTITY IS CONTESTED AND NEGOTIATED TERRAIN BETWEEN

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE ORGANIZATION
Even though the notion of “job for life” is a bit of a relic, there are still
good reasons for employers to invest in employees, and for employees to
demonstrate positive and committed values and behaviors. Hall and Mirvis
(1995, p. 271) identify two forms of a psychological contract of mutual
expectations between employee and employer:
The first is relational, based on a long-term mutual commitment to the

relationship, based on a trust that over time any temporary imbalances in
inducements or contributions would even themselves out. A contrasting
form is transactional, which is based on a shorter-term exchange of benefits
and services. One view of the current situation is that the contract has shifted
from relational to transactional, meaning it is very short-term and very
performance based.
Even though Hall and Mirvis (1995) argue that employment arrange-
ments have become short term and transactional, there are contrasting
perspectives about the extent to which employee and employer should
engage. De Vos et al. (2011, p. 445) highlight the importance of helping
employees to develop competencies, despite the limited duration of an
employment relationship:
[O]ur findings underscore the importance for organizations to actively

invest in the development of competencies of their employees. This invest-
ment involves both the creation of a supportive environment for developing
competencies, and stimulating individuals to actively make use of the oppor-
tunities for competency development present within the organization. The
benefit for the organization of doing this is clear: our findings suggest that it
relates to enhanced expertise and flexibility, i.e., competencies that are,
generally, considered as critical for sustained competitive advantage.
Second, for employees, participating in competency development initiatives
offered by their organization is important for enhancing their employability
perceptions, and through this also for their feelings of career satisfaction and
beliefs in their own marketability. Moreover, the direct relationship between
organizational support for development and career success outcomes
included in our study implies that by actively working on the sustainable

development of their employees, organizations not only serve themselves
but also express a form of caring for their employees’ careers. From a societal
perspective, this means that, especially in times when it has become painfully
clear that organizational success and employment security should never be.
With respect to negotiating work identities and non-work identities,

technology and globalization have helped to blur the lines between our
work and our private lives because technology allows employees to be “on
call” or accessible during times and in contexts that have heretofore been
considered as private time, or family time, or non-work time (Ramarajan
and Reid 2013). There are contrasting views about the extent two which
employees should be expected to identify with their organizations through
their work behaviors. For example, Millward and Haslam (2013) suggest
that employees’ identities are determined by organizational culture and by
the ways that identities are “locally framed” (p. 50). Additionally,
Millward and Haslam observe that organizational identity is a key driver
of performance indicators such as turnover, attendance, and organiza-
tional citizenship. On the other hand, Ramarajan and Reid point out
that the boundaries between work identities and non-work identities are
blurring, and that organizations deploy different types of pressures upon
employees to include or exclude their non-work identities at work. As an
example of the former, employers who provide onsite daycare centers, or
gyms and cafeterias, or who provide the technology to enable employees
to work from home, illustrate how organizations encourage the inclusion
of non-work identities at work. Ramarajan and Reid observe that when
non-work identities are not particularly welcomed by an organization,
such as racial or sexual minority identity, those employees who “slip
through the cracks” (p. 628) experience pressure to deny those identities.
CAREER SUCCESS IS SUBJECTIVE

There is a bias toward positivistic, linear, logically anticipatory of
career satisfaction (money, upward mobility) in the current HRD
conversations (see McDonald and Hite 2008). However, there are
other dimensions of career development that are helpful, broadening,
and sensitizing for HRD professionals about the current realities.
Hertneky (2012) critiqued the linear, upward, competitive ideal of
career success, and noted that women’s careers are framed by larger
CAREER SUCCESS IS SUBJECTIVE 55
contexts including familial relationships and priorities. Additionally,

Hertneky observed that “even though there is increasing attention on
women’s career development, the linear, hierarchical, traditional
career path continued to dominate organizational practice”
(p. 141). LaPointe’s (2013) ideas are consistent with Herneky’s:
As feminist research has shown, theories and discourses of career have been
based on the experiences of a limited, elite group of white middle-class
men . . . On the other hand, new gendered boundaries are constructed
through the norms of mobility and entrepreneurialism . . . Even though
value-based careers are placed at centre stage, only some values (self-expres-
sion, autonomy) are desired while others (service, security, loyalty) are
ignored. (p. 134)
Hall and Mirvis (1995, p. 272) offer a liberating perspective about career
success, arguing for the importance of individuality: “Rather than focusing
outward on some ideal generalized career ‘path’, since it is driven by the
person’s unique set of personal needs, the protean career is unique to each
person—the ‘career fingerprint’.” Just as the notion of a stable job has
become replaced by the construct of the protean career, the notion of
linear, upward progression accompanied by increased material wealth and
status has been replaced by alternative understandings of “success.”
Increasingly, those who engage in employment, or who seek
employment, face the prospect that they cannot assume any particular
length of time in a position in an organization. There are, certainly,
exceptions to this. Employees who are represented by bargaining units,
and have union protections that are explicitly stated in the language of
labor management negotiated union contracts, can fundamentally rely
on the terms of those contracts and upon the shields of their unions.
Those who have employment contracts (not to be confused with
employee handbooks, which are more often than not, not employment
contracts) enjoy the protections or at least have the assurance of, when
indicated, a particular length of time in a position at a certain rate of
pay with a certain mixture of benefits.
Alvesson (2010, p. 197) highlights the construct of personal agency:
My other key dimension is the degree of agency—the individual being active

and guided by both meaning and goals, over which there is at least an
element of control. This is a “classic” key theme in social science.
Humanistic researchers tend to give prior-ity to meaning and intention and

view the individual as a meaning-maker.
Feminist Theory and Queer theory can contribute to the ways that career
development and in particular, career success are characterized in the
literature on career development, as has been earlier explained. Feminist
theory suggests that the polarization of male and female, with male as
subject—the entity who decides, controls, asserts, and evaluates—and
with female as object—the entity who is controlled, evaluated, decided
upon, and asserted upon and who exists in order to nurture and caretake—
provide some scaffolding for the problematizing of the notions of “sub-
jective” and “objective” career success. Subjective career success has tra-
ditionally been viewed as internal and objective success has been viewed as
measurable; implicit in these definitions is the suggestion that objective
career success, since it is tangible and measurable, is somehow the ultimate
goal of a career and somehow superior to subjective career success. It is
time for those in human resources, and for those in the world of work, or
entering the world of work, to consider this paradigm to be peripherally
useful, but not the sole way of assessing “success.” In fact, the traditional
definition of subjective and objective career success should be put in its
place, which is that it is of certain use, but not ultimate use.
Career success can be defined as the real or perceived achievements indivi-

duals have accumulated as a result of their work experiences (Judge et al.
1995). Career success has two dimensions: external or objective career
success and subjective or internal career success (Abele and Spurk 2009).
External career success is concerned with measurable and verifiable attain-
ments such as pay. Internal career success is expressed in career satisfaction
(Ng et al. 2005) and is broadly defined as “an individual’s reactions to his or
her unfolding career experiences” (Heslin 2005, p. 114). It has been argued
that the subjective interpretation of one’s career status, instead of the
objective way of assessing this, is necessary since objective career success
neglects valuable subjective outcomes like the development of new skills,
work-life balance, challenge, and a sense of achievement (Zopiatis 2010).
Meta-analyses revealed that correlations between objective and subjective
success are not higher than 0.30 (Ng and Feldman 2012). In order to
increase the readability, throughout the article we refer to “career satisfac-
tion” when talking about intrinsic career success and to “career success”
when referring to extrinsic career success. (Hennekam 2016, p. 15)
Formal definitions in the career literature are useful as starting points, for
human resource professionals, and for individuals, to acquire some
shared understandings about the representations of internal or intrinsic
meaning, and external or “objective” meaning. The fact that I am
problematizing and challenging the idea that there is an objective,
fixed reality, and perhaps a “catalog” of things or items or trappings
that constitute what success means, does not belie the fact that it is
important to acknowledge and understand how internal and external
successes operate in the career marketplace, or the world of work.
Women, LGBT, older workers, racial minorities, and other marginalized
people have worked long and hard to achieve gains in the classic “objec-
tive” sense. Therefore, when it comes to considering, within an organi-
zation and in the job market more broadly speaking, it is imperative to
take into account salary levels; pay grades; and formal, tangible, upward
career progression, and mobility. For purposes of individual choice,
agency, identity, and meaning, however, my suggestion is that we encou-
rage the overturning of sets of values and priorities placed upon people,
that tell them how and what to value with respect to career development
activities and actions.
In our post-structuralist world, and in the workplace, which is a micro-
cosm of that world, it is imperative that people develop and maintaining a
sense of psychic autonomy that manifests in the tangible ability to discern
individually what matters, why it matters, and how to pursue a career or a
promotion or a job change. In this larger sense, I suggest that career
success is subjective, period. It is an individual construct, always. If an
individual determines that extrinsic factors such as pay, benefits, office and
equipment, designated parking, first-class travel, and electronic “always
on” peripherals (which come, mostly, with “always on” expectations),
then that type of traditionally considered objective career success, is sub-
jectively meaningful for that person. However, as the literature on work–
life and work–family balance has proliferated, and as alternative forms of
working such as part-time, contract, job-sharing, and others, have become
ubiquitous, the notion that a fixed, linear, material path serves as the
marker of career success, is one way but not the only way of defining
career success. On a meta-level, then, career success is always subjective;
subjective career success (traditionally considered) and objective career
success (traditionally considered) are sub-sets of the larger “Subjective”
career success. Feminist theory rejects the masculine, competitive, win at
all costs, aggressive and zero-sum characteristics of Western capitalism and

replaces it with alternative forms of being in the world.
More than half of all women in the United States are in the workforce . . . When
reformist feminist thinkers from privileged class backgrounds whose primary
agenda was achieving social equality with men of their class equated work with
liberation they meant high-paying careers . . . Their vision of work had little
relevance for masses of women. Importantly the aspect of feminist emphasis on
work which did affect all women was the demand for equal pay for equal work.
Women gained more rights in relation to salaries and positions as a result of
feminist protect but it has not completed eliminated gender discrimination.
(Hooks 2000, pp. 48–49)
In their analysis of feminism, gender, and HRD, Metcalfe and Rees

(2007) indicate that “the concept of reflexivity is key to understanding
post-structural critiques of organization and management since it is
acknowledged that the researcher contributes to knowledge-generating
processes” (p. 101). This “radically reflexive stance” (p. 101) provides
additional support and scaffolding for the notion that career success is an
individual and subjective construct because it brings to light the impor-
tance of the individual as agent and co-constructor of what constitutes
knowledge, structures and power. Rather than be acted upon, then, a
career seeker and/or worker, is someone who can and should have
agency and autonomy and self-determination over what constitutes a
desired state of career. The question of who owns knowledge, and of
who determines what is attractive in terms of types of careers, is a
reflexive one and should be a shared question, not strictly identified
and established by an organization or employer. It is also important to
note that certainly, and employer/organization has to, by definition,
determine what the needs of the organization are in terms of positions,
skills required, qualifications, and working conditions. There is no argu-
ment there. The argument is that, in a macrocosmic, societal sense, what
is considered success in terms of career, should be a determination that is
established and maintained at the individual level, rather than the orga-
nizational or societal level.
The emergence of environmental sustainability and the concomitant
interest in stakeholder versus stockholder theory and action, is generally
consistent with feminist theory because it rejects the idea that there is one
way to define organizational or corporate success (profit, stockholder

wealth) at the cost of other considerations such as stakeholders.
Environmentalism takes into account anyone affected by the actions of a
corporation; it highlights the urgency of acting in ways that are less self-
seeking and more expansive, more long term, and broadly conceived. In
the next chapter, specific aspects of identity will be interrogated; in spe-
cific, demographics of age, gender, race, and social class (as manifested
through educational level and social capital in particular).
CHAPTER 4
Demographics, Identity, and the Matrixed

Nature of Identity
INTRODUCTION
This chapter explores the demographics and the matrixed nature of iden-
tity, and it provides insights for the ways that matrices can facilitate career
development and career success, as defined by the individual. By examin-
ing different aspects of demographics, this chapter contributes to the
overall construct that permeates the book—that is, that identity is socially
constructed, fluid, and matrixed.
The metaphor of “the closet” refers to the hiding or concealing of an
aspect of one’s identity (see Butler 1990; and Sedgwick 2008). It usually
refers to the strategic concealment of one’s sexual minority status. Coming
out of the closet means to disclose one’s sexual minority status. With respect
to several of the aspects of identity that I highlight, such as recovery from
alcoholism, formerly incarcerated status, perhaps even military and veteran
status, it is useful to think about concealment and disclosure in a more
nuanced way. The closet represents a fixed, discrete image. A closet has a
door (which is ostensibly opaque). With respect to these different aspects of
identity, it is perhaps more accurate to think of a person in a shadow. A
shadow can be dark, or semi-transparent. One can move in and out of the
cover of a shadow; and be visible or invisible. HRD practitioners interested
in career development are well served to consider the fact that people are
complex and their identities and experiences cannot be reduced and cate-
gorized to a simple algorithm, which provides an easily predictable set of

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_4
62 4 DEMOGRAPHICS, IDENTITY, AND THE MATRIXED NATURE OF IDENTITY
responses to prospective employee, applicant, current employee, former

employee, or other type of career development “client.”
AGE
The research related to older workers and career development is relatively
thin, and Hennekam (2016, p. 24) notes that even though employers invest
more in their younger employees than in their older employees, that “in the
light of the aging workforce worldwide organizations have now started to
realize that an increasingly part of their workforce will consist of older
workers. More insights in what makes them perform well, be satisfied with
their career and which of them will climb up the hierarchical ladder is thus
needed.” Age and aging presents an aspect of identity that results in some
marginalization and invisibility. It has been noted that resources and gui-
dance for career development across the lifespan and in particular, toward the
latter stages of one’s career, is lacking and that this presents an opportunity
for career development scholars and practitioners for further exploration.
There are practical, instrumental reasons for the need for a greater focus and
awareness on career development and these reasons include the fact that
people are living longer and deciding in many cases to work longer; also,
reasons include employer needs for skills and experienced employees. There
are also humanist and social justice-related needs for this type of work, which
include the importance of reducing stereotypes about older workers, equip-
ping older workers with strength-based types of ways of conceiving of their
abilities and promise in their careers, and creating larger spaces in which older
workers can imagine new careers, or develop new avenues of growth and
satisfaction in their present occupational contexts.
The potential of career guidance for supporting longer and more satisfying
careers in ageing societies internationally has been recognised (Cedefop
2011). Yet most formal career support has been framed within the position
of traditional and mainly psychological career theories, developed in rela-
tively homogenous Western capitalist contexts that were strongly individua-
lised, masculine, secular, and action and future focused (Bimrose 2001,
2008). Such theories have largely failed to address the complex contextual
and relational nature of women’s career development (August 2011;
Bimrose 2008), including that of older women, resulting in a paucity of
relevant frameworks to inform practice for this particular group. (Bimrose
et al. 2013, p. 588)
AGE 63
Retirement itself, as a part of a career trajectory, is a subjective notion.

Retirement has classically been defined as a disengagement from the world
of work, into a rather passive lifestyle of leisure and volunteer work:
Another career trajectory, retirement, is much more complicated. The term

retirement has been used to refer to a person’s “withdrawal from an organiza-
tional position or career path of considerable duration . . . taken with the inten-
tion of reduced psychological commitment to work thereafter” (Feldman 1994,
p. 287). Although this definition might fit for some older workers, it fails to
account for the 14.3 million older workers who intend to pursue work after
retirement (Bass 2005) or those who feel forced to retire early as a result of
downsizing, early buyouts, or company closings. (Boveda and Metz 2016,
p. 155)
There is no longer a mandatory retirement age, and in certain professions

such as education, professionals continue to work well past a “traditional”
retirement age. The greying of the workforce, alongside of the multi-
generational workforce, has created unprecedented conditions of age
heterogeneity. Older workers, when faced with ageism (tacitly, or expli-
citly), have to arm themselves psychically and emotionally against the
notions that growing older necessarily means that one is becoming slower,
resistant to change, and feeble.
Boveda and Metz (2016 p. 163) determined that educational level
impacts the decision of baby-boom aged workers to retire; the higher
the educational level, the longer an employee remains in the
workforce:
Our findings demonstrate that education may have an impact on retirement

decisions. Older workers with a higher level of education were more likely to
remain employed than to choose bridge employment. It may be that work-
ers with more education desire to continue using their specialized knowl-
edge and skills as well as contribute to their industry. Highly educated older
workers may be considered a valuable asset to their workplace, and employ-
ers may provide them with incentives to remain employed full time. Feeling
valued, in and of itself, could also influence older workers’ desire to maintain
their current occupation. People who have specialized education and train-
ing may have earned a reputation as an expert in their field and may
command respect and esteem. In addition, more highly educated older
workers may desire a further return on their educational investment.
The intersection, therefore, of age and educational level, is representative

of the premise of this book: identity is multifaceted and fluid, and its
relationship to career development is complex and contextual. In the
next section, the intersection of age and gender (female) is explored in
some detail.
A SPECIFIC LENS OF EXAMINATION: THE NEXUS OF AGE

AND GENDER
The literature in Human Resource Development (HRD) and related fields

is reviewed, with a focus on older women and career development. This
literature review assesses HRD, management, and social sciences litera-
ture. After identifying articles that examine the intersection of age, gender,
and career, three themes are discussed. Implications for future research
and interrogation of intersections of demographics and career develop-
ment are presented.
OVERVIEW OF AGE AND GENDER AND HRD

Within the field of HRD, there has been an increasing attentiveness to and
regard for issues of social justice, manifested through studies and publica-
tions that have focused on gender (Bierema 2016; Madsen 2012; Stead
2014) race (Byrd 2012; Rocco 2014), sexual orientation, gender identity
and gender expression (Collins 2012; Gedro 2009; Gedro et al. 2013;
Rocco and Gallagher 2006). The organization that “leads the field of
human resource development through research” (http://www.ahrd.
org), has achieved an increasingly wide embrace of critical theory and its
precepts, as evidenced the creation and maintenance of the Special Interest
Group (SIG) on Critical Theory and Social Justice, and by the introduc-
tion of an award that acknowledges and celebrates the work of scholars
committed to interrogating power structures that privilege a dominant
majority (see https://ahrd.site-ym.com/?award_laura_bierema). The
ground remains mostly untilled, however, with respect to focused exam-
inations of specific intersectional manifestations of identity and the experi-
ences of those who have identities that, when combined, result in
particular ways of experiencing HRD-related subjects. There has been
little scholarship focused on the nexus of gender and age; in specific, on
older women.
OVERVIEW OF AGE AND GENDER AND HRD 65
This chapter takes a close look at the literature on older women and
career development. Toracco (2016) recommended that when writing an
integrative literature review, that that scope and the boundaries are speci-
fied should be specified “to establish the boundaries of the review” (p. 7).
Therefore, this review examines the literature within Human Resource
Development and closely related fields, for scholarship and research exam-
ining the subject of older women and career development. In order to
provide the recommendation boundary, I selected the paradigm of the
“baby boom” (those born in the United States between the years of 1946
and 1964) as the baseline of consideration of what constitutes “older.”
Therefore, someone born in the last year of the baby boom (1964) is
approximately 50 years old at present. Thus, for purposes of this manu-
script, “older woman” means a woman who is 50 years or older. There are
structural, legal, and political issues related to the aging of the workforce.
Thijssen et al. (2014) explained how, in advanced Western economies, the
participation of older workers in the labor force has become an important
consideration. They noted that changing demographics, fueled by declin-
ing birth rates and rising life expectancies have created conditions by
which workers remain in the workforce longer (sometimes) and by
which governments raise the age of retirement benefits (p. 265). They
also noted that negative stereotypes of older workers (such as inflexibility
and declining skill cognition), combined with the need to retain older
workers, presents a significant challenge for HRD.
Despite the increased rate of later life employment among women, there is
remarkably little empirical information about employment experiences in
this demo-graphic group. This is somewhat surprising, considering the
potential value in attracting and retaining talented older employees.
(August 2011, p. 209)
“While there is an increasing amount of research and policy interest in age

and ageing, less focus has been put on the intersection of gender and age”
(Jyrkinen 2014, p. 175)
There are a myriad of ways to represent different aspects of identity, and
different combinations of identity. The reason that I identified age (older)
and gender (female) as an intersection worthy of a career development
literature review, is that all women have their gender in common; and
everyone, barring an early demise, could likely have the experience being
“older” in the workplace. Therefore, because of the applicability of these
two dimensions of identity to a wide swath of the population within the

world of work, gender, and age were selected as the criteria under exam-
ination in the scholarly literature on career development. Someone can be
early in their career, and older. Conversely, someone can be rather or
relatively young, and established and mature in her career. Generally
speaking and unless otherwise indicated, “age” refers to chronology and
not to tenure or length of service in one’s career.
[W]omen approaching retirement frequently face health issues and caring

responsibilities which require them to negotiate reduced working hours. In
view of the relevance of work-related transitions in the career development
of women, especially older women, career adaptability seems a particularly
pertinent construct. Despite this, there has been less research emphasis on
older women’s career development, and on their career adaptability in
particular. (McMahon et al. 2010, p. 763)
The motive underlying this literature review is guided by the fact that
older women represent a disproportionately large segment of the United
States population who face poverty. There are possibly several explana-
tions for this; one of them is the challenges faced by older women in
obtaining employment that provides a living wage; the prevalence of single
mothers who have primary responsibility for child rearing; workplace
sexism; and in general, the subordinated status of women. The workplace
is a microcosm of the larger society, and women’s wages continue to lag
behind men’s. Using a threshold of an annual household income of
$23,834 for a family of four to define “poverty,” the US Bureau of
Labor Statistics (2015) indicated that women were more likely than men
to be among the working poor in its 2015 profile of the working poor.
Older women make up an increasing component of the labor force:
Since the start of the most recent recession in December 2007, the share of
older working women has grown while the percentage of every other
category of U.S. worker—by gender and age—has declined or is flat. In
1992, one in 12 women worked past age 65. That number is now around
one in seven. By 2024, it will grow to almost one in five, or about 6.3
million workers, according to Labor Department projections. (Timiaros
2016, paras 3 and 4)
The literature review focuses on the past decade, in order to examine what
insights have been offered by and within the field of Human Resource
EXAMINING THE LITERATURE ON AGE AND GENDER AND HRD 67
Development, as well as related fields. The intended outcomes of this

interrogation are to, through an examination and review of the literature
of the past ten years dealing specifically with older women and career
development, create a typology of issues that can be used to conceptualize
a research agenda for further exploration. “Because the population of
workers in the United States is increasingly female and over the age of
50 years, research is needed to understand the working lives of older
professional women in the labor force.” (Whiston 2015, p. 98).
EXAMINING THE LITERATURE ON AGE AND GENDER AND HRD

Toracco (2016) explained the purpose of a literature review as “a distinct
form of research that generates new knowledge about the topic reviewed.
It reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in
such a way that new frameworks or perspectives on the topic are gener-
ated” (p. 2). This part of the chapter critiques the literature of career
development, by examining and analyzing the research that has been
published on older women and career development, and it highlights
the paucity of work that has been done on the subject. Toracco noted
Cooper’s (1988, in Toracco) taxonomy of literature reviews, that organize
the practice and presentation of a literature review according to focus,
goals, perspective, coverage, organization and audience (p. 2). The focus
of this discussion is mainly on the career development and related theories
presented in the literature, as well as on the methods used and implications
presented by the research. The coverage of the literature is intended to be
comprehensive; the researcher used an expanse of related disciplines in an
aggregated library database (EBSCOHost), and using a ten-year window
of time between 2006 and 2016. The perspective of this discussion is
through the lens of feminism, post-structuralism, and critical theory.
Feminism and critical theory generally assert that dominant theories and
paradigms should be questioned and must not be taken for granted as
fixed, fair, and neutral. Feminism in particular, questions the way that
males are privileged and that females are subordinated. Feminism strives
for equity for all people, male and female. Critical theory confronts the
status quo, and it questions systems and structures that either overly or
tacitly serve as gatekeepers of inequity and injustice. Metcalfe and Rees
(2007) explained how post-structuralism interrogates how women’s
bodies are controlled, subjugated, and disciplined in “historically and
culturally specific ways” (p. 94), and that “female disciplinary regimes
are part of the patriarchal process through which the ideal feminized body
is created” (p. 94). Processes through which women are regulated include
the expectation for the ideal body size; the expectations for women to be
demure and modest; and the expectations that women are attractive
through the use, for example, of cosmetics (Metcalfe and Rees 2007,
p. 95). As will be shown later in the discussion, themes emerged from
the literature that align with feminism, post-structuralism, and critical
theory. The intended audience is mostly scholars, but also, human
resource development practitioners who work in career development,
whether as a primary job or as more peripheral function and responsibility.
The structure of the discussion is conceptual. Toracco suggests that a
“conceptual structure is organized around the main topics of the work
design, which because they are dominant constructs, are represented in
some way in all the literature on this topic” (p. 10). The intention of this
analysis is to offer some guidance for older women who are in the work-
force, because the point of view that I hold is that aspects of identity that
might appear to be deficiencies or weaknesses, often hold the potential to
be strengths. Therefore, this final part of the explanation of the intended
audience also admittedly reflects my own point of view, which is that every
person has a choice to focus on what is positive about their situation and
identity, or on what is negative and limiting about their situation and
identity.
I used the search terms “older” and “women” and “career” through
EBSCOHost, searching the following disciplines: Psychology,
Education, Sociology, Business and Management, Women’s Studies
and Feminism, and Social Science and Humanities. I limited the time-
frame to the search, from 2006 to the present. There were 86,457 initial
results. I scanned titles to determine which articles were focused on the
subject of older women and careers, or career development. Several
articles had “women” and “career” but did not focus on older women
and career. Based upon that criteria, there were 27 articles that seemed
to be focused on older women and career. I then read the abstracts of
each article to determine if they met the criteria for this paper. Slightly
skeptical of the paucity of results, I also accessed Google Scholar using
the following keywords: “older women and work,” and “older women
and career development.” For “older women and work,” there were no
results that dealt with older women and career development. The
Google Scholar search corroborated the unanticipated proposition that
there has been little research conducted on the issue of older women and
career development, particularly within the last ten years. Table 4.1
provides information about the 11 articles that were identified as dealing
directly with the subject of older women and career development. It also
presents information about six articles selected, that provide supporting
information for the subject of older women and career development but
to not deal directly with this intersectionality. The table presents the
name of the journal, the title of the manuscript, year of publication, type
of research method, and general focus of the article. Noteworthy is the
absence of HRD journals in this table, and also, the relatively interna-
tional scope of the research. The journals include career development-
related journals, gender-related journals, sociology- and management-
related journals. Of the 11 articles, there were nine qualitative studies
and two conceptual manuscripts. Given the fact that there are demo-
graphic data (such as presented earlier in this manuscript by the US
Bureau of Labor Statistics) that demonstrate the increasing presence of
older women in the workforce combined with the disproportionate
representation of women in poverty, there is a need for research on
this topic that can help both individuals as well as organizations address
the career development needs of older women workers. This analysis
does not assume that women aspire to climb career ladders, and compete
for the material, objective “trophies” of success. In fact, I suggest that
these kinds of assumptions: of a competitive, individualized, win at all
costs, materialistic orientation are antithetical to the tenets of feminism
and critical theory. What I do assume is that it is a good and worthwhile
investment in resources, for HRD scholars who are interested in career
development, to conduct research on sub-populations such as the one
examined in this literature review. Therefore, Table 4.1 presents a visual
of the results of the literature search and in so doing, tells the story of the
dearth of scholarship on this topic by virtue of the absence of HRD-
related journals and the lack of quantitative research that could help
inform career development efforts.
There is a gap in the HRD literature that deals directly with the
challenges, and opportunities that face older women with respect to career
development. Bimrose et al. (2013, p. 588) highlighted that “intersec-
tionality can contribute to a fuller understanding of the complexity of the
different career support needs of women, particularly older women.” The
next section will discuss the findings of the review of this literature.
Table 4.1 Overview of peer-reviewed manuscripts dealing with older women

and career development
Name of Title of manuscript Date, Author Type of Focus
journal method
Career Older Professional 2015 Qualitative Identity

Development Women’s Views on Whiston, S. C.,
Quarterly Work: A Qualitative Feldwisch, R. P.,
Analysis Evans, K. M.,
Blackman, C. S.,
& Gilman, L.
British Career Trajectories 2013 Qualitative Career
Journal of of Older Women: Bimrose, J., counseling
Guidance & Implications for McMahon, M. & or model
Counselling Career Guidance Watson, M
Journal of Career Adaptability: 2012 Qualitative Career
Vocational A Qualitative McMahon, M., counseling
Behavior Understanding Watson, M. & or model
From the Stories of Bimrose, J.
Older Women
Gender, Work Exploring Women’s 2014 Qualitative Retirement
& Retirement: Duberly, J., transitions
Organization Continuity, Carmichael, F.,
Context and Career & Szmigin, I.
Transition.
Journal of Women’s Later Life 2011 Qualitative Career
Career Career August, R.A. counseling
Development Development: or model
Looking Through
the lens of the
Kaleidoscope
Career Model
Qualitative Constructing the 2015 Qualitative Retirement
Sociology Boundaries of van den transitions
Review Retirement for Hoonaard, D.K
Baby-Boomer
Women: Like
Turning Off the Tap
Scandinavian Women Managers, 2014 Qualitative Ageism and
Journal of Careers and Jyrkinen, M. sexism
Management Gendered Ageism issues
Monthly Labor Older Women: 2012 Conceptual Retirement
Review Pushed into Macunovich, D. transitions
Retirement in the
1970s and 1980s by
the Baby Boomers?

journal method
Educational Exploring the 2013 Qualitative Higher

Gerontology Meaning of Age for Isopahkala- education
Professional Bouret, U. or career
Women who preparation
Acquire Master’s
Degrees in Their
late 40 s and 50 s
Educational Professional 2008 Qualitative Higher
gerontology Preparation for Mahmood, S. education
Older Women: A or career
View from New preparation
Zealand
Australian Older Women’s 2010 Conceptual Higher
Journal of Career McMahon, M., education or
Career Development and Bimrose, J. & career
Development Social Inclusion Watson, M. preparation
The studies below provide context for “older and women and career development,” but do
not deal with the subject directly
Industrial Perceived Gender 2012 Quantitative Ageism and
Relations Discrimination and Herrbach, O., & sexism
Women’s Subjective Mignonac, K. issues
Career Success: The
Moderating Role of
Career Anchors.
Journal of Women, Work, and 2015 Quantitative Health and
Women’s Illness: A Majeed, T., wellness
Health Longitudinal Forder, P., issues
Analysis of Misha, G., &
Workforce Byles, J.
Participation
Patterns for Women
Beyond Middle Age
Journal of Counseling Issues 2012 Conceptual, Career
Employment for Adult Women in Ronzio, C. R. model counseling
Counseling Career Transition presentation or model
Gender, Work Women’s Care/ 2013 Qualitative Career
& Career Changes as Maher, J. counseling
Organization Connection and or model
(continued )

journal method
Resilience:
Challenging
Discourses of
Breakdown and
Conflict
Career Self-Management 2012 Conceptual Retirement
Planning & of Career and Sterns, H., & transitions
Adult Retirement: Culler, K.
Development Changing Issues in
Journal a Changing World
Adultspan Career Adaptation 2014 Conceptual Career
Journal Wheel to Address Killam, W., & counseling
Issues Faced by Weber, B. or model
Older Workers
DISCUSSION OF THIS LITERATURE

After reading and reviewing the articles that dealt directly with the intersection
of older women and career development, I identified three themes, which are
presented in the next section. The themes include the following: first, include
a critique of current career theories as masculinized, homogenous, and linear;
second, the effects of intersectionality of age and gender; and third, the
positive aspects of aging. There are other miscellaneous themes that were
present, though not a prevalent, as the three freestanding themes.
THEME 1: CRITIQUE OF EXISTING CAREER THEORIES

ASMASCULINIZED, ASSUMING HOMOGENEITY, LINEAR
In several of the studies that comprise this literature review, the critique of
existing career theories as positivistic, linear, masculinized, and relatively
devoid of institutional, environmental and political context was clear.
Across several of these studies, it was noted that women tend to have
career paths that can transition between full time, part time, voluntary, and
un-employment (August 2011; Bimrose et al. 2013; Duberly et al. 2014).
Bimrose et al. (2013, p. 588) noted that that career guidance for those
who are aging is important; and yet career theories tend to assume linear,
traditional, homogenous, Western, capitalist, individualized, secular,
THEME 1: CRITIQUE OF EXISTING CAREER THEORIES . . . 73
action and future-focused. Bimrose et al. note the failure of existing career
theories to adequately take into account the complexities associated with
women’s career development. As a result, Bimrose et al. observe that there
is a dearth of frameworks that can inform career development practice for
women and for older women:
Despite the fluidity and volatility of current labour markets, a dominant

influence on career guidance support continues to be the traditional
“matching paradigm” (Savickas et al. 2009) . . . this . . . assumes a stable
labour market and rational choice, emphases individual autonomy and
marginalises the influence of context. Maximisation of economic benefit to
the individual is assumed to be a common motivator, with career guidance
needs regarded as uniform across different populations. (Bimrose et al.
2013, p. 589)
Duberly et al. (2014, p. 72) stated that “ . . . it has been argued that the
majority of the traditional literature on careers has taken a conventional
male experience as the norm.” Bimrose et al. (2013, p. 589) draw upon
the environmental context of the subject of older women and work, to
emphasize the significance of this research:
The persistence and extent of gendered labor market inequalities, together

with the renewed policy emphasis on workforce ageing, the retention of
older workers and the need for employment support raise legitimate ques-
tions around the type and level of career guidance required. These factors
also challenge the assumption that extant theoretical frameworks can ade-
quately account for the career trajectories of women.
Increasingly it is being argued that the research underpinning career
theories for women needs to be sensitive to their particular circumstances
(Bimrose 2001). It would seem that, while the current policy emphasis on
the provision of adult career guidance (Cedefop 2011) represents an appro-
priate response to the global economic context, career guidance, especially
in the case of women, may not be drawing on appropriate theoretical
frameworks.
It was clear that the current research that has been conducted in the past
ten years, has voiced a need for new ways of thinking about career devel-
opment theory, in order to address the unique needs of older women. The
next theme is related to this first theme because it, too, addresses the issue
of gender.
THEME 2: EFFECTS OF INTERSECTING IDENTITIES OF AGE AND

GENDER OR THE GENDERED NATURE OF THE WORKPLACE
In virtually all of the studies, the issue of childcare and domestic responsibil-
ities, which present in effect, another job or career, was present in some way or
another. This is not a new idea, and it has been covered in feminist studies and
women’s studies. However, it bears highlighting that it was an issue raised in
most of the manuscripts in this literature review. In combination with the
complexities that women negotiate as those mostly responsible for domestic
matters including childbearing and rearing, age and aging presents challenges
for women in ways that are more “punishing” for women than for men.
Ageism refers to negative stereotyping and discrimination based on age,

mainly, but not always, older age. Ageism covers both implicit and explicit
thoughts, feelings and behaviours that are based on prejudices and myths
concerning people of older age. Gendered ageism refers to discriminatory
actions, whether intentional or non-intentional, that are based on the inter-
section of gender and age. Gendered ageism is not limited to relations
between men and women, but manifests also between women as well as
between men. (Jyrkinen 2014, p. 176)
Gedro (2010) noted that in the workplace (and in particular, for those in
leadership positions), appearance and attractiveness matter for both sexes.
However, it matters more for women. There is an expectation for women
to appear attractive in the larger society, and in the workplace.
The idea(l)s of “beauty” are well entrenched in the collective conscience

through different kinds of gendered practice and processes in organisations
and by the globalised media and beauty industries. They impact in particular
upon women, who often encounter pressure concerning their appearances,
especially when getting older. Many women managers in this study felt
obliged to “keep up their looks” in order to be successful in their careers.
On the other hand, even though more senior age often increases rather than
decreases the status of men in organisations and the value of their knowledge,
also men may encounter uncertainties about their ageing bodies when they
exhibit weaknesses, dependency and passivity (Hearn 1995; Sinclair 2005,
2011). Another aspect is that the influence of the beauty industries spills over
to include men in societies where youthful appearances, fitness/slimness and
looks are becoming a collective obsession. (Jyrkinen 2014, p. 182)
THEME 2: EFFECTS OF INTERSECTING IDENTITIES OF AGE . . . 75
Aging is a stigma in the United States. The magazine American

Psychologist (2016) recently devoted an entire special issue to the subject
of “Aging in America: Perspectives from Psychological Science” (Vol. 71,
No. 4). Nelson (2016) noted that ageism, which is prejudice against
someone due to age, manifests in the United States as negativity toward
older people. Much of this negativity is due to beliefs that older people
have declining cognition, memory and declining health (pp. 276–277).
Nelson noted that ageism is pernicious, and that it is one of the most
“institutionalized forms of prejudice today” (p. 278). The literature
reviewed for this manuscript is consistent in its depiction of aging and
moreover, women experience more dramatic and negative reactions than
men, as a result of aging:
In a seminal essay, Susan Sontag (1972) elaborated on the double standard

of aging that evaluates women more harshly than men as they age, particu-
larly regarding their appearance. Older women tend to become socially
invisible regardless of their occupation and background (Arber and Ginn
1991). In a recent study, Clarke and Korotchenko (2010) found that
women felt grey hair was ugly and rendered them invisible. (Van Den
Hoonaard 2015, p. 43)
Women are expected to be young, attractive, and slim (Jyrkinen 2014). It

is beyond the scope of this discussion to explore how issues of body image
play into older women and career, but it does bear mentioning that the
pressures exerted on women to be young, beautiful, thin and feminine are
pervasive (particularly in the United States) (see “Body Image” at http://
www.womenshealth.gov/body-image/eating-disorders/).
Gendered ageism was not encountered only in more mature age: many
interviewed women brought up earlier phases of their careers in which
they had experienced being referred to and treated like “girls” by their
male colleagues and superiors. The “girling phenomenon” is that of calling
adult women “girls” and treating them as such in a disparaging way. It can
sometimes be a benignly-used reference made by older men about women
that unintentionally infantilises women (in leisure time, such as “How are
you girls doing tonight?”). (Jyrkinen 2014, p. 179)
Being female is an issue, and the intersection of female gender identity and
age, whether young or old, presents challenges. On one hand, a young
woman might not be taken as seriously as a male counterpart. On the
other hand, an older woman is invisible. Jyrkinsen (2014, p. 179) noted

that “First women are too young, then they may be limited by child care
responsibilities, and soon after they are too old, thus caught in a trap of
gender and age.” van den Hoonaard’s study of women in retirement
(2015) uncovered a theme of “invisibility” among her research partici-
pants. Ironically, this invisibility was not directly related to the broader
issue in the study that dealt with the issue of work and retirement iden-
tities, but rather, the fact that participants remarked on their invisibility as
older women. In other words, it was not the exit from the world of work
that lessened their visibility in society but rather, their gender and age. The
next theme takes a different tack from these first two. It actually puts a
positive interpretation on being an older woman, and the benefits that
come from experience.
THEME 3: THE POSITIVE ASPECTS OF BEING AN OLDER WOMAN

The interrelated nature of work; and the need to conduct qualitative
research on these issues of older women and work because of the need
to examine systems. We live and work in systems; quantitative methods are
useful, but qualitative methods are more appropriate to examine issues of
age and gender because they allow researchers to acquire insights into the
lived experiences of people.
There is a wisdom that accrues to older women, which is a source of
strength. Whiston et al. (2015, p. 108) note that “we found that negative
conceptions were only a portion of the picture and these women often
voiced positive aspects of aging, such as having a substantial knowledge
base, experiencing less anxiety, and being viewed as a resource.” August’s
(2011) study explored the experiences and reflections of women in their
late careers, and then after they had retired, to learn about their reflections
on authenticity, balance and challenge. August noted that challenge is
mostly remains the same during a younger woman’s career, and an older
women’s career; but that authenticity and balance tend to shift.
Women managers in later stages of their careers expressed a great deal of

satisfaction with their working life derived from greater control of their time,
more freedom and more self-confidence. At the same time, more mature
women interviewees spoke of an obligation to support other women: “lift as
you climb.” They recognised the hurdles young women encounter in man-
agerial careers. (Jyrkinen 2014, p. 181)
OTHER THEMES 77
It is likely that this theme could serve as a foundation for some strength-
based research into the wisdom of older women and their careers. It could
perhaps take the form of ethnography or storytelling; and could draw into
the discourse, theories of adult learning that take a feminist stance.
Admittedly, this analysis has the limitation of being mostly US-based; it
is in the United States that ageing is particularly stigmatized in the larger
society as well as the workplace. There are likely other cultures that
embrace the elderly and perceive them as being wise and valuable.
However, in the United States, that is not the case. Therefore, implica-
tions for future research could also include cross-country comparisons of
older women and work. Moreover, the workplace itself could be con-
tested; because of the ubiquity of the concept of “career ladder,” which
implies that there is a desirable, upward, linear “climb” toward success,
which may or may be the case for women. It may not even be the case for
men in all circumstances. The problematic nature of the concept of “career
ladder” is slightly beyond the scope of this work. However, it deserves
mention as a sub-topic for further exploration because it dislocates the
assumption that career development necessarily involves a unidirectional
climb up a fixed object (a “ladder”). Perhaps images of a spiral staircase, or
a hiking path with multiple routes that vary in their steepness or flatness,
and have certain resting points or certain vistas where the “hiker” can
remain in place, and enjoy the “view” (i.e., enjoy the job that one pre-
sently has, with no preoccupation of anticipation of the next career move).
In addition to the first themes that were rather evident, there were other
themes that presented in the literature selected for this work.
OTHER THEMES
This category represents other themes that were not as pervasive in the
selected articles. Part of the rationale for this “category” of other, is that
it represents issues that are broader than a specific focus on women and
age, and the nexus of sexism and ageism. For example, in McMahon et al.
(2012) study, the researchers conducted qualitative research
interviewing 36 women from South Africa, Australia, and England
between the ages of 45 and 65. The study was framed upon Savickas’
(2009) career construction theory which posits that there are dimensions
of career construction which include concern, control, curiosity, confi-
dence and cooperation (in McMahon, p. 762). The fact that the study
was conducted is significant, as evidenced by the paucity of research in

the last ten years on older women and career development. The study
determined that when the study participants reflected on career transi-
tion, that it was possible to tease out and discuss the five career adapt-
ability dimensions. An opportunity for further research could be an
explicit interrogation of the experiences of the participants’ lived experi-
ences as women in the workforce, negotiating transitions. The authors
established credibility for the career adaptability dimension model
through their ability to identify the presence of concern, control, curi-
osity, confidence, and cooperation. What could be helpful, too, for
career development theory could be a close examination of the experi-
ences of older women and their reflections of their experiences within the
social, political, economic, and cultural milieu as they negotiated their
career transitions. Finally, this same theoretical framework could be used
to explore career transitions of other marginalized groups as they age.
The findings lend support to Savickas’s (2008) suggestion that career adapt-
ability may be understood on three levels, external, internal, and reflexive.
These levels were evident in each of the case studies although there was no
particular sequence evident in their occurrence. However, there was some
sense of cause and effect as reflexivity sometimes seemed to be a conse-
quence of internal or external factors. In essence, the three factors seemed
recursively connected. Of interest were examples of reflexivity prior to,
within and post-transition. Reflexivity enabled participants to make meaning
of their transitions and career development and suggested a mechanism for
learning. However, the retrospective nature of the career stories in the
present research does not address the question about whether career adapt-
ability may also be seen as a predictive or prospective construct. (McMahon,
Watson, & Bimrose 2012, p. 767)
The form of synthesis presented in this work is a research agenda (Toracco

2016) that offers ideas and recommendations for future research on this
topic. One of the reasons for this type of synthesis is the relative thinness of
research to date that serves as an invitation for further research. August’s
(2011) focus was a longitudinal research project involving 21 participants
who were nurses, teachers and therapists. These are all helping professions.
Future research should include a focus on women who are in non-tradi-
tional professions or occupations; older women of color; older lesbians;
and a spectrum of research that examines women in different social strata.
OTHER THEMES 79
Given that there has been so little research conducted on a population

that represents a significant amount, and increasingly so, of the labor
force, the field of HRD, and the sub-field of career development,
needs to address these gaps by encouraging and fostering research
that explores each of these areas. There are primary data that inform
the population and demographics issues; perhaps additional quantita-
tive research could include studies on the population in different parts
of the country; longitudinal data on women’s mobility within a profes-
sion or occupation, or across a span of professions or occupations.
Quantitative research could include studies that interview women and
learn about their experiences and reflections on workplace relation-
ships, since current research has seemed to establish the fact the con-
nections and relationships are important to older women at work.
What can older women contribute to the workplace, that is under-
examined, and not celebrated? Older women can serve as mentors to
younger women; they have endured and perhaps risen above the
challenges that face all women: sexism, marginalization, objectification,
lower wages, sexual harassment.
It is possible, perhaps likely, that examining the experiences of older
women can yield insights for younger women, or other marginalized
groups, and embolden and equip them to be able to negotiate the
workplace with a stronger sense of identity as a woman, and a refusal
to accept marginal and invisible status in an organization. Older
women can serve as role models for younger women. Conducting
career development related research with older women also can con-
tribute to our understanding of the how the larger social milieu
impacts the world of work, and vice versa. Women in the United
States have achieved greater visibility, and they have greater power
than perhaps ever before.
There is an unevenness (at least in the United States) in the ways that
men, as they age, are regarded versus women as they age are regarded.
Men often are perceived as becoming more powerful and dignified as they
age; women are often perceived as becoming more frail and vulnerable and
invisible.
We do not know how women who reflect greater racial, ethnic, and social
class diversity would experience the process of retiring. There is a great need
for future work to include the experiences and perspectives of the majority of
baby-boomer women retirees who were not professionals during their work-
ing lives and who, therefore, might be more committed to a firm boundary
between work and retirement, if they can afford it, and considerably less
attached to their work identities. (Van Den Hoonaard 2015, p. 56)
Women’s retirement is different—in terms of women’s experiences of it,

and also, their abilities to do so due to their subordinated status in the paid
labor market, resulting in lower wages than men, and their (in Duberly et al.
2014) later starts in employer pension programs. In their treatise on critical
feminism and HRD, Bierema and Cseh (2014) indicated that “there is
no shortage of issues . . . as HRD scholars and practitioners can examine
areas such as oppression, marginality . . . sexism . . . publication trends and
practices . . . There is plenty of work to do” (p. 139). The subject of older
women and career development represents part of the agenda suggested by
Bierema and Cseh, and presents a crucial subject of further investigation.
There are multiple ways that scholars can approach the issues of gender
and age. For example, sexual orientation can be interrogated and proble-
matized. What are the experiences, for example, of lesbians as they age?
Do they get a “pass” from the gendered expectations for femininity and
modesty that subjugate heterosexual women? Or, do they experience
altogether different forms of subjugation as they age? All of the research
conducted on this subject assumed heterosexuality. This presents yet
another venue for research. Older lesbians, or bisexuals, or those who do
not choose to have partners, spouses, or children, may have different
experiences and paths in their careers. It would be helpful to interrogate
this subject with more granularity.
Other categories that intersect with gender and age, that present ripe
and fertile ground for research, include ability and disability; social class,
religion, ethnicity, race and education. While some of these areas, when
combined, might produce similar or resonant types of insights and recom-
mendations, each combination holds the potential for providing leading
edge research that could be developed into new career theories that
disrupt the status quo and provide tools and empowerment for women
who could benefit greatly. The field of HRD has certainly progressed, and
continues to progress. In no way does this analysis intend to castigate.
Rather, it intends to instigate further research. The field of HRD can
become enlivened, and can become more and more helpful to organiza-
tions as well as individuals, through the examination of combinations of
SEXUAL ORIENTATION IDENTITY 81
identity, and through the development of new career theories that take
critical stances toward HRD. These theories can help propel practitioners
forward into new and exciting vistas, that stretch beyond a focus on
compliance with laws that prohibit discrimination against, for example,
those who have disabilities, or older worker, or minorities. These vistas can
help create workplaces that embrace those who do not conform to histor-
ical and cultural stereotypes of an “ideal worker” and instead, replace these
images with images of what is possible when minds and hearts are
expanded and when people feel equipped to negotiate their careers unen-
cumbered by limiting beliefs held by others for them, or by themselves.
RACIAL IDENTITY
Maree (2014) used Savickas’ life design and career construction theories
to research and explore the experiences of a black man, which represents
an important and underexplored identify composite.
Fouad and Byars-Winston (2005) have called on career counseling practi-

tioners and theorists to consider the idiosyncratic cultural contexts of racially
diverse clients and their views on factors that promote and inhibit success.
According to Pope (2011), the career counseling needs of culturally diverse
clients are indeed receiving increased attention, but their position in the
workplace is still substantially less favorable than that of their counterparts
from dominant cultures (Ali et al. 2014). Despite some improvements in
career counseling in recent years, members of minority groups (including
people at a major socioeconomic disadvantage) are still receiving unequal
career counseling. (Maree 2014, p. 21)
Maree (2014) brings to light the invisibility of minorities in career coun-

seling, and notes that is harmful for disadvantaged populations; Watson
(2013, in Maree, 2016, p. 20) contends that career theories represent the
needs and interests of “limited cultural, gender, and socioeconomic popu-
lations” (p. 4) and cannot be generalized to the majority of other groups.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION IDENTITY

There are models of sexual orientation identity development (Collins
2012; Gedro 2009) that help to provide some context for how sexual
minorities realize and then come to terms with their sexual minority
identity. Not all identities are created equally, however. For example, for
heterosexual people, there is no corresponding work on identity theory,
because heterosexuality is assumed to be the norm, whereas homosexu-
ality is seen as “other.” The population of older sexual minorities is doubly
invisible in the career development literature:
Despite tremendous social and cultural change, most LGBT older adults
remain invisible in aging and health services, policies, and research. Yet, this
invisibility is being challenged by LGBT older adults who are raising their
voices, and by cross-generational efforts to transform our communities and
society. An ongoing challenge must be embraced: to address the risks and
manifestations of marginalization and concurrently support the resilience
and strengths these individuals have forged in moving forward to build their
lives and communities. (Fredriksen-Goldstein 2016, p. 13)
Moreover, Fredriksen-Goldstein notes that it is crucial to examine the

heterogeneous nature of the LGBT community to identify those most at
risk and to learn from those experiencing optimal aging and health out-
comes and that research (2016, p. 13). “This research is designed to
comprehensively address the diversity and sub-groups within LGBT
older adult communities, and to identify underlying mechanisms of risk
and resilience—the aim being to design and test the effectiveness of
culturally appropriate, community-based interventions” (Fredriksen-
Goldstein 2016, p. 13).
ABILITY/DISABILITY
The topic of ability and disability presents a contested area of exploration
of identity for several reasons. What constitutes a disability is somewhat
subject to interpretation; it may be physical, it may be psychological, it
may be a condition with which a person is born and it may be a condition
that occurs during one’s working years. There is federal legislation that
addresses disability, and there is a legal definition of disability. The
Americans with Disabilities Act set forth the following:
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination

and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment,
State and local government services, public accommodations, commercial
ABILITY/DISABILITY 83
facilities, and transportation. It also mandates the establishment of TDD/

telephone relay services. (https://www.ada.gov/2010_regs.htm, para 1)
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a disability “is any
condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult
for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limita-
tion) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions)”
(CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability.
html, para 1).
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a disability is defined
as a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more
major life activities of such individual; a record of impairment, or being
regarded as having such an impairment (as described in paragraph (3)).”
The phrase “major life activities” is unpacked in the Act, and it refers to:
“activities include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing
manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting,
bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking,
communicating, and working” (retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/
pubs/adastatute08.htm#12102)
The phrase “major bodily functions” means the following:
For purposes of paragraph (1), a major life activity also includes the opera-
tion of a major bodily function, including but not limited to, functions of
the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neuro-
logical, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive func-
tions. (retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.
htm#12102)
The Americans with Disabilities Act further set forth a multi-part defini-
tion of what constitutes discrimination. The following are considered
discrimination against a person with disabilities:
1. A covered employer treats a qualified employee or applicant with a

disability less favorably because she or he has a disability;
2. A covered employer treats a qualified employee or applicant less
favorably because she or he has a history of a disability or because
she or he is believed to have a disability;
3. A covered employer treats a qualified employee or applicant differ-

ently because of her or his relationship to a person with a disability;
and
4. A covered employer fails to provide reasonable accommodations,
absent significant difficulty or expense, for a qualified employee or
applicant with a disability or a history of a disability (Iyer and
Masling 2015, p. 22).
Iyer and Masling emphasize the importance of ensure that career devel-
opment programs for employees with disabilities are accessible for those
employees and their suggestions include holding supervisors accountable
for supporting diversity, making sure that online career development
resources are accessible, allocating a proportion of training and develop-
ment budgets toward accommodations for disabled employees, providing
leadership development programs that are specialized for employees with
disabilities, and making sure that workplace-related events are accessible
(p. 14).
Although anti-discrimination legislation exists in the form of the ADA,
having a disability presents challenges for one’s identity, and by extension,
for one’s career. Ebener et al. (2016) observe that a person’s adaptation to
a disability affects career development for that individual in a myriad of
ways. People with disabilities, according to Ebener et al. have lower
graduation rates from secondary and post-secondary educational institu-
tions; they have narrower choices for careers, and they have higher rates of
unemployment than those without disabilities. Additionally, disability has
an unevenly deleterious impact on the career development women, who
have lower rates of affirmative attitudes towards them than men (Weisel
and Florian 1990, in Ebener et al. p. 121). Men with disabilities face
challenges regarding their identities as men; having a disability presents a
challenge to one’s masculinity, because having a disability can reduce a
man’s image and perception as someone who is strong (Ebener et al).
One’s identity is a composite of different facets. Today, more so than ever,
have characteristics that were once stigmatized, brought increasingly out
in the open. For example, LGBT issues are now part of the national
discourse. There are still controversies, and there remains no explicit
federal law prohibiting discrimination based upon sexual orientation.
Disabilities are now protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Not all disabilities are alike in terms of acceptance, inclusion, and under-
standing. Mental illness remains, for example, stigmatized. Meinert
(2014, p. 28) indicates that there are 41 million people in the United
States who experience some form of mental illness and that worldwide,
illnesses such as depression and other mental health illnesses are increasing
(p. 28). Meinert further notes that workplace stigmas surrounding mental
illness present obstacles for employees who suffer with these sorts of
afflictions and that such stigma is perpetuated in part by the media
(p. 28). The Employee Assistance Resource Network (n.d., retrieved
from http://www.askearn.org/wp-content/uploads/docs/research_
summaries/risingthroughtheranks-acc.pdf) published an article that offers
a helpful and insightful overview of the employment landscape and the
importance of human resource professionals in acquiring competency
around recruiting, hiring, training, and developing people with disabil-
ities. Additionally, the subject of people with disabilities and career develop-
ment is an area that clearly deserve further exploration in human resource
management and development:
According to the most recently published data from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, there are 5.5 million workers with disabilities employed in the
United States, comprising roughly 3.7 percent of all employed Americans as
of June 2015. Workers with disabilities tend to be older than workers
without disabilities, as 46.3 percent were age 55 or over in 2014 compared
to only 21.3 percent of workers without disabilities. Workers with disabil-
ities are also somewhat more likely to have lower levels of educational
attainment than workers with no disabilities; 25.7 percent of those age 25
and above had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2014 compared to 38.7
percent of workers without disabilities. This is, however, at least partially
attributable to the fact that workers with disabilities tend to be older, as
younger workers are significantly more likely to have graduated from college
than are older workers regardless of disability status. (retrieved from
https://blog.dol.gov/2015/07/11/taking-a-look-at-workers-with-disabil
ities-on-the-25th-anniversary-of-the-americans-with-disabilities-act/, para
1 and 2)
In some ways, one is “one their own” when it comes to developing a disability
later in life. Adults who have disabilities; there are no special education
programs when it comes to adults with disabilities or workplace special
education; there are no “IEPs” for adults who enter and try to maintain
careers. The focus is on legal compliance and there is a lot of room for
interpretation. There is a lot of frontier space with respect to adults who
have disabilities who are trying to negotiate the world of work. For example,
what if someone develops hearing or sight disabilities later in life? How do

they adapt? What resources are there to help them figure out how to keep
them re-career, or advocate within the workplace in which they current work?
Those who come out as LGBT later in life face a similar set of challenges; they
are not quite as, there is less urgency for them to identify resources to help
them actually do their jobs. Certainly, being a sexual minority is not a
disability but nevertheless realizing that one is a sexual minority, or coming
to terms with that identity, can present challenges in the workplace.
There are a myriad of disabilities that present particular types of
challenges because of the possibilities of the stigma attached to that
disability. Disabilities present an uneven landscape. There are ergo-
nomic issues and types of mobility issues. Requesting a piece of ergo-
nomic office equipment for example, is a rather commonplace request
that is perhaps unlikely to raise issues related to stigma. However, the
extent to which one needs accommodations and the visibility and
investment attached to those accommodations, could place the
employee in an uncomfortable position. In order to receive an accom-
modation, an employee must ask for an accommodation (Job
Accommodation Network n.d., p. 8). This sounds logical and straight-
forward. An employer may ask for medical documentation and if an
employee does not provide it, it is possible that the employer could
deny the request (Job Accommodation Network, p. 8). However, what
if the disability, such as a mental or emotional disability, presents a set
of challenges that are equal to or worse, than the disability itself? The
Americans with Disabilities Act insists that those with disabilities not be
discriminated against if they can perform the essential functions of a job
with or without a reasonable accommodation. However, there is no
legal prohibition against stigma.
Dunn and Andrews (2015) explore the issue of person-first versus
identity first language in disability studies, and they observed that there
are differences in appreciation and understanding of the disability rights
movement:
[T]here is no research examining the effects intersecting diverse identities or

preferences for terminology. For example, do women or people of color
consider these identities to be primary to their disability identity? How does
identity development across multiple demographic characteristics affect
choices about person-first or identity- first language? (p. 260).
Dunn and Andrews note that identity plays a significant role in the evolu-
tion and history of the disabled community, and that there are emergent
views about disabled identity that focus on a strength-based perspective,
rather than deficiency or stigmatized identity. Stigma is a challenging con-
struct because it is difficult to identify and difficult to address. Meinert
(2014) notes that “each year, more than 41 million Americans—18 percent
of the U.S. population- experience some type of mental illness, according to
data released by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration in December 2013” (p. 28). Meinert provides a sobering
message regarding the magnitude of depression, too, indicating that depres-
sion is on the rise all over the world and that it “has become the world’s
second-leading cause of disability” (p. 28). However, if human resource
professionals acquire a deep level of awareness, education, and acuity to
these issues, they can become better equipped to help those who are
disabled, and who might be excellent employees, and thriving employees,
to overcome any challenges that they face:
Human resource development professionals can help with structured socia-

lization programs such that those with a disability can initiate relationships
with possible mentors and others who can give them instrumental advice
and other psychosocial support. Such ties will help minority employees
assimilate faster and better into the overall social network. Such support
can also be extended by employers during periods of role transitions.
Assigned mentors can help their protégés with a disability as well as ensure
that they know enough to navigate the organizational social landscape
independently. (Kulkarni 2012, p. 149)
Each one of us has personal characteristics that we consider as part of our

identity. These characteristics span a variety of demographic, personality,
educational, social connections, family of origin, nationality, ethnicity,
religious affiliation (or lack thereof), educational level, hobbies and inter-
ests, passions, politics, dreams, hopes, wishes, and heartaches. The main
point of this chapter is to give voice to the fact that people are complex;
and we are each a composite of qualities and characteristics that comprise
our uniqueness. As has been discussed (or will be) in this book, one’s
personal identity is how one considers the self. It is intellectually and
academically appropriate to tease out and explore individual constructs
of identity; this is done to a great extent in the literature of diversity.
However, there are likely exhaustive combinations of identity that people

possess and value to greater or lesser extents.
[H]uman resource development professionals can build modules for peri-

odic and focused sensitivity training. Such training can be aimed at building
cohesion among all employees and for creating an organization-specific
identity. Such cohesion and a common identity may lead to feelings of
homophily or similarity and, thus, may lead to a sense of true inclusion.
Instrumental or work-related help giving and seeking may improve given
these efforts and thereby enhance career outcomes of minorities, such as
those with a disability. (Kulkarni 2012, p. 150)
The next chapter will examine the ways that life events can impact career
development.
CHAPTER 5
Life Events that Impact Identity
INTRODUCTION
This chapter examines different aspects and types of life events and the
ways that they can impact career development. Examples of these events
include marriage, divorce, coming out as an LGBT person, financial issues,
and recovering from addiction or alcoholism. The purpose of the chapter
is to explicate different ways that life events can manifest, and different
ways that they can impact one’s career development, in order to give
“voice” to what might be sources of shame or stigma. The purpose of
the chapter is to bring these issues to the forefront, so that HRD practi-
tioners can develop acuity around “undiscussables” and as a result,
become aware, sensitive, and equipped to design programs that are
attuned to these issues.
Career development is not a generalizable construct across a tacitly
homogenous population but rather, it can emerge as a more comprehen-
sive examination of sub-groups, and in particular, of people who have
experienced life and worklife as minorities. The term “minorities” takes a
slightly different meaning for purposes of this chapter because although it
does not exclude the way that the legal context of employment considers
minorities (in the United States, e.g., minorities are those who are pro-
tected from discrimination in employment based upon race, gender, reli-
gion, ethnicity, age, veteran status, and disability). Rather, for purposes of

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_5
90 5 LIFE EVENTS THAT IMPACT IDENTITY
this discussion, a minority is a person who has characteristics or experi-

ences that are not considered to be “mainstream.”
When a career or job is disrupted by events that an individual experi-
ences such as divorce, mental illness, rehabilitation from addiction or
alcoholism, or a sudden serious illness, there are potential consequences
for the person’s career trajectory. Depending on the circumstance and
specifics surrounding the event, there may be elements of delicacy and
stigma. This means that the person who has experienced a career disrupt-
ing event in life, faces the prospect of rebuilding one’s career, or re-
stabilizing one’s job. Clark (2015) explains and argues that the organiza-
tion career, which means a substantive amount of one’s career trajectory at
a single organization, with the organization as the primary locus of provi-
sion of career development opportunities. This flies in the face of the more
recent career theories that depict the career as one that is not necessarily
tethered to a single employer, and one that is relatively unstable, dynamic,
and in the control and responsibility of the individual. This paradigm has
already been presented in this book. However, in the interest of modeling
the type of expansive thinking and considering that provides much of my
underlying premise regarding post-structuralism, antiessentialism, and the
rejection of fixed ways of thinking and being, it is imperative to explore the
counterargument that careers are “dead” and that individuals are primarily
responsible for their career development. Clarke provides an oppositional
stance, arguing that there is a paucity of empirical evidence to support
these claims:
In fact, despite widespread acceptance there is surprisingly little empirical

evidence to support the notion that the organizational career has disap-
peared, or even that it is no longer the desired model. While proponents of
the new forms of career as replacements for organizational careers dominate
much of the current research, their evidence tends to be limited to assertion,
citing each others’ assertions, special case studies and anecdotes (Inkson
et al. 2008). (Clarke 2015, p. 687)
What can we learn from the research on change management to help

inform and help equip people for the changes that come, both on a
voluntary level and an involuntary level, in their careers? The concept
of “success” can change over the life course. The concept of “career”
can change over the life course. The concept of self, and of identity, can
change over the life course. These are not linear processes; they are
INTRODUCTION 91
individual and subjective. Since lifespan increases, the concept of retire-

ment has changed significantly as well. There are different modalities of
retirement. There is not necessarily a “cliff” down which a person tra-
verses, which is clean, planned, orderly, and finite. Rather, retirement can
be a staged endeavor. It can also come about quickly. For example, the
legendary basketball coach Pat Summit retired because of early onset
Alzheimer and later died at 64. This was a high profile example of an
involuntary career change (retirement) due to life circumstances; in spe-
cific, the circumstances were health circumstances. It bears highlighting
that in addition to serving, sadly, as a high profile example of the unanti-
cipated and deleterious ways that a health crisis can impact one’s career,
that Pat Summit served as a remarkable example of the matrixed nature of
identity and how an individual can surmount the challenges presented by
identity. Pat Summit was the legendary basketball coach of the University
of Tennessee women’s basketball team; she was an exceptional basketball
player who became a coach, in the era that preceded Title IX (Posnanski,
n.d.) This meant that there was no mandate for funding or related support
for women’s sports. She was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2011,
and then retired in 2012. She passed on July 1, 2016 (Berlinger and
Willingham 2016). Pat Summit was a pioneer in women’s sports, and
she was a high profile example of the role that health and unexpected
events impact career development. Another high profile example of the
disruptive effects of health related events is that of musician Glen
Campbell, who also developed Alzeimers in 2011 and is now in the final
stages of the disease, living in a memory care facility in Nashville,
Tennessee (Rolling Stone 2016). While both of these examples, admit-
tedly, are that of high profile celebrities (one in sports and the other in
music), they do provide illustration of the way that heath can dramatically
impact and then cut short one’s career.
When one experiences a decline in function, how might that impact
identity, and how might that shift impact one’s career? For example, the
use of assistance such as glasses or canes, or ergonomic equipment? How
does one see the self, and how does one manage the impression that is
made on others? A leader, for example, is supposed to be strong (the
“warrior” or “fighter” image particularly for corporations and other types
of for-profit organizations). What happens when someone, for example,
has a heart attack or stroke? Impression management and symbolic inter-
actionism are helpful ways to understand the relationships between and
among different ways of thinking about ability and disability because of
the ways that technology and other types of modern interventions can help
mediate the impact of a disability. For example, when teaching an online
training seminar of course, the instructor can modulate or control how
much information students learn about the identities (plural is intentional
here) of the instructor. In a virtual, asynchronous environment, the
instructor can determine how much of the “self” to display, versus an in-
person meeting or conference. Also, one can manipulate an ear piece
volume dial to increase hearing, versus an in-person meeting. Questions
remain about (physical) ability and career development that make the
conversation about aging and its affects more nuanced and complex. For
example, to what extent does the decline of the physical faculties impact
one’s career? Also, to what extent is it appropriate to indicate to collea-
gues, customers, or others, the extent of one’s disability? There are formal
means through which to signal disability, such as the necessary disclosure
that an employee or a prospective employee must initiate in order to
request a job accommodation. What if, however, it is not in the person’s
favor or to their advantage to go “on the record” with such a request?
These are practical and philosophical decisions that an individual must
negotiate. At some time or another in life, one might experience a decline
or a disruption in some kind of ability. How does one negotiate the re-
entrance of a career, after an accident or other type of health event? What
resources exist for someone to draw upon, to get coaching or assistance in
making these decisions?
It is important to incorporate information about the importance of
negotiating changes and transitions as part of identity and career success.
An “industry” of career development that has emerged, that responds to
the changed and changing nature of careers. Career models and career
theories have not caught up entirely with the current reality of the diversity
of the workplace (and the world). Technology and its implications for how
we work and our identities; the fact that sexual minorities have become
more visible, racial minorities have become more visible, or the presence of
multiple generations (see Titi Amayah and Gedro 2014) and the myths
and stereotypes that emerge.
Changes to one’s identity can be voluntary and proactive and they can
also be thrust upon us with little to no invitation or welcome. It is crucial
to acquire strategic planning capacity, to acquire resilience and optimism,
and to be able to embrace diversity of demographics, styles, cultures, ways
of thinking and being in the world. This is challenging and it is also what is
terribly exciting about the world of work today. Even though the
INTRODUCTION 93
boundaries between jobs and workers have shifted (becoming more

blurry), and even though the traditional (I would even say historical)
notion of “job for life” is an artifact in all but the smallest of occupational
circles, the world of work is an exciting environment. The reason I say this
is because technology, mobility (see Gedro et al. 2013) and the dynamic
nature of the workplace provides the conditions through which people can
self-actualize. Social media, job sites, and primary sites of employers, for
example, afford job seekers unprecedented access to information about
jobs, careers, and employers. There is a level of transparency and access
that has never been afforded to people. I am old enough to remember
looking at the hardcopy newspaper for job ads, and filling out hardcopy
employment applications.
Today, technology has not only provided unprecedented access to
information, it has the capacity to provide unprecedented communication
between job seekers and prospective employers, or others who are in
positions to provide information and assistance. There are resume
resources, and cover letter resources. Now, I am sensitive to the fact that
this characterization of the benefits and advantages of technology are
rather privileged. Jobs that require less skill, that pay minimum wage,
and are seasonal or temporary or otherwise transitory, likely do not align
with this discussion. However, I see those jobs are stepping stones to
further career moves. I leave the debate around minimum wage policy to
others who are better equipped to engage and determine the updates to
minimum wage policy. For purposes of this discussion, the emphasis is on
the benefits that our present environment offers to those in career devel-
opment—whether job seekers, career changers, or human resource and
career development practitioners. Technology allows us to see how inter-
connected all of us are, which means it is easier to understand how to
“objectively” well someone is doing, it also facilities our understanding of
human suffering in this world. In his New York Times article, Lieber
(2015, Jan. 29) argues for the merits of having family conversations and
deliberations of household budgets and spending in order to, among
other benefits, provide children with financial literacy and an appreciation
of money. Additionally, Lieber notes that information about money and
wealth is already relatively easy to access: “If your child knows how to use
the Internet, you might be shocked by how much financial information
about your family he or she may already possess. Search your home
address: Did the approximate value of your home pop up? Mine, too,
and it will happen when many children search their addresses for the first
time and find the Zillow estimates. Once a child discovers this, it’s a quick
step to looking up the address of every friend” (para. 18). There is little
research to date on the role that technology and social media play in
facilitating career development, and this represents an area for future
research. A search of business, management, education, economics, and
women’s and feminist studies databases, using search terms “career” and
“development” and “technology” uses the Boolean operator “and” in
between each term, yielded results related to technology careers, or high
school and college students and higher education and career development.
Given the ubiquitous nature of social media in the world today, however,
and given the plethora of websites and the ease of communication that is
virtually free (understanding, too, the gap in technology “haves” and
“have nots”), it is probably safe to observe that technology does play a
significant role in career development, from a job seeker side as well as
from an employer side. Applicant tracking systems, free resume and cover
letter resources (including templates offered through word processing
software such as MS-Word), and job search sites, are evidence of this
claim. It warrants further exploration, the role that technology, applicant
tracking, email, social media, and online career resources (both free and
proprietary), play in career development. In particular, areas of research
could include investigation into the way that job seekers are perceived in
the digital space, and whether or how that impacts the face to face or
onsite interview and the decision around moving a candidate forward in a
job search.
An example of the complex and interwoven nature of identity and the
issues that can surround identity, was brought to the forefront of our
awareness as a result of the Orlando massacre, which was “the deadliest
mass shooting in U.S. history” (Reyes 2016, photo caption). Latino and
Latina LGBT people face a particular conundrum of marginalization
within the LGBT community, as well as marginalization within their
culture. Reyes notes that “Many Americans are aware of the challenges
involved in growing up LGBT. Now amplify those challenges for anyone
growing up in a culture rooted in machismo, religion and rigid gender
norms. As adults, LGBT Latinos can feel isolated from their families,
yet simultaneously isolated from the larger LGBT community as well”
(para. 5). LGBT Latinos have to traverse the challenges of being margin-
alized in the Latino community and in the LGBT community. There are
some cultures that are less inclusive than others, as evidenced by this
example. Another culture that has historically presented challenges for
INTRODUCTION 95
LGBT youth is the African American community. The issues are some-
what similar to the Latino community because there are, generally speak-
ing, gender role expectations particularly for men, which create particular
challenges and stigma for gay men of color. In her study of black gay and
bisexual men, and their experiences of intersectionality, Bowleg observes:
Thus, one identity alone (e.g., gender) cannot explain unequal or disparate
outcomes without the intersection of the other multiple social identity (ies)
(e.g., race, gender and sexual identity). Black men in the U.S. provide an apt
example. Indeed many of the presumed privileges associated with being a
man in the U.S., such as being financially, politically, and socially successful
(see Levant et al. 1998) evaporate when Black men’s gender is intersected
with race and low socioeconomic status (SES). (Bowleg 2013, p. 754)
As the construct or paradigm of organization career, protean career,

boundaryless career, encore careers, and re-careers become more and
more prevalent in career development theory and practice, so should the
fields of Human Resource Development and Management develop an
ability to flex in the ways they respond to the needs of stakeholders. If
the focus of Human Resource Development is to attend to the needs and
interests of senior executives or others whose sole foci are about corporate,
short-term profits, then an organization-centric focus along is sufficient.
Given the dynamic, post-structural nature of the environment of the
workplace, however, human resources can in both research and practice,
response in a more comprehensive way to the needs of a broader set of
stakeholders than a single organization and that organizations’ short-term
needs and interests.
The ability to empathize with the human condition and the ways that
life and circumstances can facilitate a person’s “success” (broadly defined)
or lack thereof, is one way that human resource professionals can become
both more skilled and more compassionate. The acquisition of awareness
of another’s situation, hopes, dreams, insecurities, struggles, or even
shame (in varying degrees of subtlety and intensity) and the concomitant
ability to create an environment between the two (the human resource
professional and the employee), that lets the employee know that it is safe
to disclose or express a facet of identity that may, through its disclosure,
create the opportunities for greater and more authentic communication
between the employee and the manager or human resource professional or
other person in a position of supervision. An employee, for example, who
is a person in recovery (meaning, a person who has self-identified as being

someone who is problematically addicted to drugs or alcohol, and now, as
a matter of personal survival and well-being, lives a life of abstinence from
the substance that was heretofore the drug or drink causing the problem),
may feel uncomfortable at organizational events that include or perhaps
even hinge around drinking. That person may feel that it is in his or her
best interest to not attend the event or attend the event for a cursory
amount of time. The inability and discomfort around disclosing one’s
identity as a person in recovery may impede that person’s ability to access
career opportunities within that organization, because of the limitations
that (likely indirectly) arise because of the mismatch between the person’s
status as someone in recovery, and organizational cultures and norms
around events including alcohol. This is no trivial matter. Access and
completion to higher education is a major facet not only of identity, but
in access to good jobs and the corresponding advantages that are related to
employment opportunities. There are competing perspectives, granted,
around the generalization that higher education necessarily translates
into material advantages such as employment opportunities and economic
mobility. However, there is substantive evidence to demonstrate the value
of a college degree for individuals, as well as for society.
Americans have always seen education, and especially higher education, as

the principal engine of economic and social mobility. Most high schools no
longer divide students into “college-bound” and “work-bound” tracks.
People speak of “college for all” as an unmitigated social good, and under-
standably so: Americans have been bombarded with a steady barrage of
media stories showing the growing differential in lifetime earnings between
those with a four-year college degree and those without, and about the
disappearance of manufacturing and the accompanying loss of well-paying
jobs that do not require a college degree. It seems to follow that everyone
should have the chance to go to college if American is to remain the land of
opportunity. (Schwartz and Hoffman, 2015, p. 21 para 3 in web article,
2017)
The next chapter will examine other factors that impact identity and, by
extension, impact career development.
CHAPTER 6
Other Factors that Impact Identity
INTRODUCTION
This chapter examines factors such as veteran and military status, educa-
tional attainment, and serious avocational pursuits. It presents the idea
that there are aspects of identity that might not be obvious in relation to
career development, but that do impact career development. The chapter
includes information about military and veterans and career development.
It includes information about education, including the decision to return
to school for additional college education.
Education as a Contested Area of Identity and Career Development

In a significant sense, the attainment of a college degree has an impact on one’s
identity, and an impact on the extent to which one has access to the job
market; in particular, to the job market of jobs involving judgment. Employees
who have higher levels of education have higher career stability, as evidenced
by the longer tenure of those with a high school degree versus those who do
not. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36 percent of workers
who have 10 have at least a high school degree, whereas among those who
do not have at least a high school degree, 27 percent have 10 years or more at
an employer (see http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2013/tenure/).
Family background (in specific, socioeconomic status) is a facet of identity
that has significant though indirect, impact on career development.

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_6
98 6 OTHER FACTORS THAT IMPACT IDENTITY
The environment in which a child is raised plays a major role in influencing, if

not determining, the economic mobility of that child. Economic mobility “is
a measure of how much a person’s income changes over time” (Butler et al.
2008, p. 2). There are different factors that influence economic mobility
including social capital and human capital (Butler et al.). Social capital
represents the “nonfinancial resources available through relationships to
people and institutions, including family, neighborhood, and other social
influences, that appear to shape a person’s path of economic mobility. Social
capital seems to interact with and reinforce other factors that influence
mobility, such as educational opportunities. Social capital indicators include
both family and community factors such as family structure, educational level
of parents” (Butler et al. 2008, p. 3). The extent to which a person can “see”
themselves in a situation, which is often based upon seeing others with whom
they identify (otherwise known as role models), determines to a large extent,
the likelihood of imagining oneself in such a position. Children who are
raised by parents who are not college educated are less likely than those who
are, to attend college:
Children of low-income families tend to have lower levels of college enroll-

ment and graduation. Although the college wage premium has risen over
the last few decades, those raised in families with low incomes have not
responded by going to college at higher rates. In fact, those in the bottom
quartile have been graduating from college at the lowest rate in 30
years . . . Family income also seems correlated with whether an individual
will go to a two- or a four-year college. (Butler et al. 2008, p. 23)
Because a college degree plays such a significant role in the quality of life of
a person, and because of the role that family context and in particular,
educational levels of parents, plays in determining the likelihood of a
young person attempting college and obtaining a college degree, it is
crucial to interrogate higher education and to critically assess the uneven
landscape of identity and college education. In other words, students who
take it for granted, because they are raised in environments in which it is
taken for granted that the children will identify, evaluate, apply to, deter-
mine which, and then attend college have a rather built-in identity with
respect to college. That is, it is not a “leap” for them to think of themselves
as college-bound. For children raised in homes, whether single or two
parent, that are not headed by college graduates, these children (called
“first generation” college students) have a greater climb to make both in
INTRODUCTION 99
terms of material access to college (funding) as well as social and psychic

access to college. They are, in effect, trailblazers within their families
of origin.
Many FGCSs are the first in their families to attend college; others are the
hope in their families to be the first to graduate from a four-year college. The
US Department of Education defined first-generation college student
(FGCS) in the Higher Education Act of 1965 as an individual whose parents
did not complete a Bachelor’s degree. Often described in the literature as
pioneers (Bui 2002; Gloria and Castellanos 2012; Orbe 2004), these stu-
dents are acutely aware of their unique position in and responsibility to their
families indicating bringing honor to their families, gaining respect and/or
status, and helping their families out financially as reasons for attending
college (Bui 2002). Other FGCSs have reported attending college to pursue
careers they would not have the qualifications to pursue without a
Bachelor’s degree (Byrd and MacDonald 2005; Coffman 2011; Gibbons
and Woodside 2014; Martinez et al. 2009; in Wheeler 2016, p. 112).
Pelco et al. (2014) highlighted some characteristics and challenges of first

generation college students; these challenges include lack of preparation,
lower standardized test scores, a lack of effective study skills, and lower
academic self-efficacy than their peers who have college educated parents
(p. 50). These challenges represent issues of preparation and habit, and
can and are addressed through academic interventions such as academic
support and remediation (Pelco et al.). However, there are also likely
issues of identity and identification as a college student that are less
tangible and more psychological and/or emotional. That is, the lack of
immediate role modeling is also likely to be a hurdle for first generation
college students to address and overcome. They are, as Wheeler noted,
pioneers. They are assuming identities that were not provided for them
through their environmental, childhood circumstances. It is encouraging
that there are formal mechanisms such as academic support to address the
issues of academic preparation and study skills. It remains less obvious,
though, how a young person addresses the social and environmental
transition (ostensibly upward) of attending college. This is probably
even more challenging for minority first generation college students. In
their examination of counseling issues for first generation college students,
Stebleton et al. (2011) recommend that “high impact” (p. 17) counseling
practices such as learning communities, study abroad programs, writing
intensive courses, and first year seminars (p. 17) can facilitate FGCS
success. With respect to college students today, there are further complex-
ities because of the emergence of “non-traditional” students. The next
section will explore issues related to non-traditional college students and
the myriad of challenges related to discernment about the decision (for
those who have either begun college and not completed a degree, or for
those who have never attended college) to attend or resume college. Much
of the literature on FGCS focuses on “traditional” (18-year-old high school
graduates who attend an on-campus, residential college program) popula-
tion. There is a burgeoning market, however, for non-traditional students,
and there is a concomitant emergence of professional associations, research,
and practice related to serving adult students who are reentering college, or
beginning college for the first time. Clearly, there are issues related to
identity with respect to reentry college students and other types of non-
traditional students. The next section of this chapter explores the constella-
tion of issues related to higher education, and adults who have not com-
pleted their college degrees. Shapiro et al. (2014) note that in the past 20
years, there are 31 million adult students who have enrolled in college but
have not completed a college degree. Given the significance of this figure,
combined with the fact that a college degree tends to have a positive effect
on a person’s earning potential, as well as a reduced likelihood of unem-
ployment (Shapiro et al.), there is a population worthy of focus and research
with respect to identity. Even though there is a significant population of
adults who have enrolled in college who have not completed their degrees,
there is relatively little examination of adult student identity. Kasworm
(2010) notes the “limited research concerning adult undergraduate stu-
dents and their student identity role” (p. 145); and she indicates that
research on adult college students is characterized as a “looking-glass self:”
A number of studies have examined adult student self-beliefs in the collegi-

ate inter-generational classroom. Constructed to consider the presence and
participation of older adult students in predominantly younger undergrad-
uate student classrooms, these studies presumed a conceptual frame of the
looking glass self, in which we come to know ourselves from our interactions
with others and from societal expectations of age-related roles. In these
studies, older adults reported entering the classroom with anxiety and self-
consciousness about their place in a youth-oriented leaming setting and
about their ability to perform; they considered themselves deficient because
they were too old and perhaps no longer capable of the intellectual demands
of the class-room. (Chism et al. 1989; Lynch and Bishop-Clark 1993)
CAREER DEVELOPMENT: IDENTIFYING, NEGOTIATING . . . 101
Given, then, the presence of adult reentry college students, the relatively
scarcity of research that has been conducted on their identities, and the
number of adult college students who have enrolled but not (or never)
completed their degrees, it would be helpful to examine the environment
of higher education in which adults who do not have college degrees but
are considering enrolling in college (for the first time, or as a reentry
college student).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT: IDENTIFYING, NEGOTIATING,

AND DISCERNING THE “MARKETPLACE” OF HIGHER EDUCATION
FOR NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS
Introduction
Education level is an aspect of identity, and in particular, career identity,
that merits exploration. With respect to career development and higher
education, there are two mutually informing patterns involved and I will
propose a conceptual schema intended to synthesize those patterns and
highlight the importance of higher education and credentialing as a
significant component of career development in our increasingly com-
plex and dynamic world. The first pattern is the unstable world of work,
which has placed responsibility for career development upon the indivi-
dual rather than the organization. The second pattern is the proliferation
of college programs that are intended to serve non-traditional students.
For purposes of this analysis, I use the definition of non-traditional
students as presented by the National Center for Education Statistics
(n.d., para 1). A non-traditional student is one who is over the age of
24 who has “work and/or family responsibilities as well as other life
circumstances that can interfere with successful completion of educa-
tional objectives.”
This section of the chapter mostly conceptual (Callahan 2014; Jabareen
2009) and it necessarily integrates multiple disciplines, which include
higher education, human resource development, career counseling, eco-
nomics, public policy, sociology, psychology, and finance in order to
suggest the multi-level implications of exploring the subject of nontradi-
tional students in higher education. Cameron (2009) and McDonald
and Hite (2008) have called for multi-level theory building in career
development. This section responds to those calls.
As has been previously suggested, McDonald and Hite (2014) dis-

lodged the notion that career development is and/or should be positioned
strictly within the organization. HRD scholars have established the fact
that employees are increasingly responsible for their own career develop-
ment (McDonald 2005; McDonald and Hite 2008), which is a trend that
is resonant with McLean’s (2012, p. 431) observation that the field of
HRD has moved from a “corporate focus alone.” Instead, concepts of the
“protean career” or “boundaryless career” (Hite and Mcdonald 2008)
replace the expectation that career development is an organizational con-
struct with the new reality that career development is increasingly
an individual responsibility (McDonald and Hite 2008).
The world of work is dynamic and unpredictable, and the concept
of “career” has morphed and transitioned over time. There are differ-
ing perspectives about the extent to which individuals are and should
be responsible for their own career development, and it is important to
includes these differing perspectives in this discussion. The first per-
spective, drawn from primary data, is that the median length of tenure
has declined in the United States; this data comes from the US Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) According to the BLS (2016), the average
length of tenure declined from 4.6 years in 2014, to 4.2 years in 2016.
This report noted that average length of tenure differs according to
gender (length of tenure is higher for men than women); older work-
ers (those aged 44–61 had average lengths of tenure from of 10.1
years which is approximately three times that of younger workers aged
25–34 years of 2.8 years). Notable or purposes, too, of this discussion
about education and identity, is the data from the BLS that indicates
not only that men have longer tenure than women, and that older
workers have longer tenure than younger, is that average length of
tenure also varies by race and ethnicity, by occupation, and by educa-
tional level.
Again referring to the BLS, for men and women with college degrees,
the average length of tenure was 5.2 (men) and 5.1 (women) years, versus
those with high school diplomas (4.8 for men and 4.4 for women). For
workers in managerial and professional occupations, length of tenure is
longer (5.1) than for those in service occupations (2.9). Because the
preparation for managerial and professional occupations includes, to a
large extent, a college degree (at a minimum), a college degree represents
one of the ways that someone creates some stability and access themselves.
Before I leave this discussion about length of tenure in order to focus on
CAREER DEVELOPMENT: IDENTIFYING, NEGOTIATING . . . 103
the discussion of higher education, it is important to acknowledge the

differences in the lengths of time that workers have in their jobs (tenure)
which, proximally, supplements the idea that identity (in this case, mostly
demographic) impacts, or at least correlates with, job security. For older
(demographic), white (demographic) men (demographic) in managerial
and professional jobs, the average length of tenure is the highest. It would
be an over-simplification and also, inaccurate, to suggest that there is
necessarily a causality for this employment trend. However, it bears men-
tioning because it does augment the longstanding reality that generally
speaking, heterosexual white men tend to have greater privilege, access,
resources and power from which to draw, than sexual minorities, women,
racial minorities, and ethnic minorities. Although there are many reason-
able, plausible factors that explain employment trends that are not neces-
sarily related to demographic, access, power, social class, or privilege but
rather through other less value or access laden explanations, the uneven
landscape of length of employment tenure is important to highlight
because it enriches an understanding of why career development efforts
that are sensitive to identity are valuable. If all things were equal, with
respect to access to career preparation including education, credentialing,
job seeking, career mobility, and career progression, then the stratification
of career outcomes including length of tenure, would not be quite as
informative or even relevant. However, because employment and employ-
ment outcomes such as length of tenure, income, wages, benefits, pro-
gression and mobility are crucial to creating and sustaining life that is safe,
secure, and hopeful, it remains important to keep attention focused upon
demographics and identity characteristics when gathering, examining and
analyzing employment related information.
The emergence and proliferation of higher educational offerings that
cater to non-traditional students is attributable to, among other lesser
factors, the increasing population of non-traditional students and the
ability that technology affords colleges to offer programs at a distance
(Deming et al. 2012).
Reasons cited by these nontraditional students for returning to college seem

to indicate that the majority of them have unmet needs in the career
development domain (Aslanian and Brickell 1980; Galliano and Gildea
1982; Healy et al. 1987; Tharp 1989). Career counseling programs targeted
at meeting the diverse career development needs of returning students are
lacking. Before effective services can be designed for these non-traditional
students, however, their specific career development needs must be identi-

fied. One way to initiate the process of identifying these needs is to clarify
the career development differences between traditional and non-traditional
college students differences between traditional and non-traditional college
students (Luzzo 1993, p. 113)
One of the main reasons that it is crucial to interrogate the complexity of

the higher education landscape is because without some guidance around
the choices, and some understandable criteria by which returning adult
students can discern the appropriate institution and program that meets
individual needs, aspirations, and objectives, is that without such gui-
dance, this “marketplace” is laden with risks. These risks include applying
to a college and enrolling in a program that will not help the student
achieve his or her goals. Additionally, there is an added layer of considera-
tion, which is the financial layer. Tuition, fees, books, and other related
expenses can accumulate quickly, and can result in perilous levels of debt
for the adult student. This issue can apply to any student of any age, and it
is particularly challenging for an adult reentry student who wants and
needs to upskill or reskill (or simply, keep the job that he or she already
has). Kasworm explains it this way:
It is hypothesized that over 1 million U.S. adults have participated in a

questionable tertiary online provider seeking a credential to help them in the
job market. Many of these negligent companies perceive that posting infor-
mation is a “learning experience.” Thus, a highly discussed concern is
demonstrated quality and impact of the learning experience beyond instruc-
tor or provider credentials or numbers of completed course participants.
(Kasworm 2011, p. 106)
There are several factors that have created the need for individuals to
assume responsibility for their career development and in particular, for
their education, training and credentialing. These factors include: the end
of the notion that a worker will remain at one organization for an entire
career; the increased dynamism of labor markets, in which workers are
displaced and/or workers voluntarily change jobs; the creation new indus-
tries, which results in the creation of new jobs, brought about through
new technologies (e.g., renewable energy); the emergence and prolifera-
tion of offerings of continuing higher education or college degree
completion programs. This proliferation is facilitated in part by the
INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT . . . 105
preponderance of online courses and asynchronous technologies that

remove the limitations of time and location for students. In addition to
choices related to obtaining a college degree, are choices regarding cre-
dentialing such as professional credentialing or licensure. Schwartz and
Hoffman (2015, p. 23) for example, note that that is research that sug-
gests that these types of programs might be a more suitable choice for
students than bachelor’s or associate’s degree programs. The reason for
this claim is that such types of credentialing programs might be better
matches for the types of training and professional preparation needed;
also, the costs of such programs might be less prohibitive than college.
There are different levels of consideration with respect to career devel-
opment and higher education. The following sections will explore each
level, beginning with the lowest level (the individual) and then ending
with the highest level (the society). There is a nesting of these levels, that
implies that they are intertwined and mutually informing. The individual is
faced, in other words, with choices regarding types of college, certificate,
license (or a combination thereof); this then impacts and can be impacted
by the organization (or employer), who may or may not support the
individual with funding or other types of supports. In turn, there are
gains to an employer or prospective employer, for an individual who
takes the initiative to obtain additional education and/or credentialing.
At the societal level, a society benefits from having organizations/corpora-
tions/institutions that have skilled, educated, credentialed employees; and
at the macro level, too, a society benefits from having an educated, skills
populace. In these ways, there is a nesting and an interrelatedness to the
issues related to higher education and credentialing and adult students.
INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT

AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Individual Decisions
At the individual level, there are decisions related to the selection of
college, type of degree, major, financing, and related issues such as
whether to enroll as a part-time or full-time student.
The proliferation of higher educational offerings that cater or target to
non-traditional students has, fundamentally, two results. On one hand,
there are clearly more ways that adults who either never went to college, or
have gone to college and have to completed a college degree, to do so.

This is inherently a good thing, because choice has an undertone of free-
dom and access built into it. Kasworm notes that “With the ubiquitous
nature of the digital educational environment, adult higher education has
become an more entrepreneurial, market-oriented, and revenue-generat-
ing effort based within this digital economy” (2011, p. 106). On the other
hand, though, the array of choices, in the absence of any tools or resources
to help one determine an optimal path or choice for institution and
program, can be daunting. In particular, for people who do not come
from backgrounds that have socialized them to being able to navigate the
world of higher education, it could likely be so difficult that it is intimidat-
ing. Such intimidation can result in non-action. The interweaving com-
plexity of the “marketplace” of higher education, combined with the
complexity of the job market in which jobs are changing at an accelerating
pace, present particular challenges for adults who are already in the labor
market, and who have not completed (or begun) their college education.
Oblinger (2012, pp. 69–70), puts it this way:
Workers without postsecondary credentials often know that they need more
education to be more employable, to advance in their careers, or to hold on
to a job in a tight labor market. However, today there is a wide variety of
possible occupations and career paths, many of which may not even be
known to the average worker. (Oblinger 2012, pp. 69–70).
Morever, Oblinger notes the “dizzying array” (p. 78) of options with
respect to higher education offerings, as well as career pathways.
“Navigating these choices is nearly impossible without some guidance. A
lucky few have access to professional advisors through work, and other
individuals who understand the need for advice and who have the personal
resources to pay for it might seek out such assistance independently”
(Oblinger 2012, p. 78).
The implications for having a college degree are becoming more pro-
nounced. Although the cost of a college degree is rising, the value of a
college degree is rising compared to the value of a high school degree
(Pew Research Center 2014). In their economic analysis of study of
Millennials, educational attainment levels, and income and employment
levels, the Pew Research Center determined that there has always been a
wage premium for workers with college degrees. However, that premium
INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT . . . 107
is becoming greater. Additionally, those who have college degrees spend

less time unemployed.
Graduating from college seems to make a profound difference in one’s

ability to get ahead. Although just the act of attending college corresponds
with wages that are 16 percent higher than what one would most likely earn
with only a high school diploma, one must graduate in order to maximize
the return on the time and money invested in college (Butler et al. 2008,
p. 22).
Carnevale et al. (2015) note that overall, 35 percent of jobs require a

bachelor’s degree or higher pay more than those that do not, and even
though the lifetime average earnings of a college graduate are $1 million
more than high schools graduates, there is a significant range of earnings
differentials ($3.4 million) among different college majors. Stephenson
(2015) explains that adult students return to school for mostly career
development reasons, and yet the higher education system was not estab-
lished or geared toward the needs of adult students:
More and more students are returning to the academy after a break in their
education, and they are largely returning to advance or restart their
careers. Traditional and nontraditional students have different career devel-
opment needs, and most strategies and resources were developed for
traditionally-aged students (Stephenson, 2015, the Vermont Connection,
p. #112).
This section explained the challenges at the individual level for adult
students who are interested in returning to college to complete a degree,
or for adult reentry college students. Technology enables students to
identify and select from a myriad (depending on program of course) of
options, and technology also disrupts the need for face to face, synchro-
nous interaction between student and educator. What are strengths
(choice and access) are also challenges, because adult students have specific
needs and questions, and in the absence of career development guidance
around higher education programs, modalities and selection, an adult
considering college programs can face confusion, inertia, or perhaps
worst, an expensive mistake. At the next level of analysis is the
organization.
Organizational Considerations for Career Development

and Higher Education
Organizational decisions for career development and higher education
include the decisions around offering institutional supports and incentives
for employees such as tuition reimbursement and flexible scheduling so
that employees can spend time (sometimes perhaps during the workday)
to attend classes. There are human resource decisions and considerations
such as job analysis to determine need for college degree for particular
jobs, career paths, and career development. These decisions also include
policies around the types of courses that are eligible for reimbursement.
For example, does the employer provide tuition reimbursement for
employees to pursue any kind of college program and degree, or are
there restrictions around these choices? Even within a program that has
been deemed as eligible, do electives that are (for example, liberal arts
electives) required within the degree, but not directly related to the
employee’s job, eligible for reimbursement? These kinds of policies impact
the organization, because they can influence employee decisions to return
to college. Having a tuition reimbursement program has the potential to
enhance organizational productivity not only because it might impact the
education and skills of employees, but also, because it might impact
employee retention. Faulk and Wang (2013) indicate that employer pro-
vided tuition reimbursement has been found to increase employee reten-
tion under two circumstances: First, during the time that the student is
enrolled in a course, and second, if the employee who finishes a degree is
promoted.
Policy Issues Related to Adult and Higher Education

There are issues of policy, which include federal and state financial aid,
federal, and state workforce development. As mentioned in the previous
section, tuition reimbursement influences an adult’s decision to return to
school (Stein et al. 2011). Faulk and Wang (2013) noted that the price of
college education has risen disproportionately to the Consumer Price
Index; according to the United State Department of Labor (2011),
the cost of college rose 42 percent while the general price level rose
17 percent.
There are also issues of educational access and completion. According
to the Lumina Foundation (2015 p. 3), degree attainment for those aged
SOCIETAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL ISSUES AND CONSIDERATIONS 109
25–64 is unevenly distributed across racial and ethnicity bounds. Whites

comprise 44.47 percent blacks, 28.14 percent, Hispanic, 20.27; Asian,
60.07; and Native American, 23.86.
There are philosophical issues related to questions such as: What is the
purpose and value of higher education? Is the purpose of higher education
to prepare workers, or it is create and foster an educated citizenry? This is,
arguably, a false dichotomy but the questions are valid, and the range of
answers to these questions present challenges for policy makers and for
higher education leaders. Deming et al. (2012) offer a disproportionately
high number of applied/vocational programs as opposed to liberal arts
programs. They clearly market to those who intend to apply their skills in
the “marketplace” of career and work:
For-profit institutions account for a large and rising share of federal financial
aid . . . For-profit students have much higher default rates than those at other
schools even adjusting for differences in student characteristics. In the most
schools even adjusting for differences in student characteristics. In the most
recent data, they account for 47 percent of defaults. In addition, default
rates recent data, they account for 47 percent of defaults. In addition,
default rates have been rising particularly for the for profit chains (p. 153).
Deming also notes that students who attend for-profit schools have less
satisfaction with their programs and courses of study; they are also more
likely to leave their certificate or degree programs (p. 159). Kasworm
emphasizes the significance, on multiple levels of lifelong learning and
notes that such learning is pivotal to the fates of multiple levels of analysis:
individuals, organizations, and societies (2011, p. 107). The next level of
analysis is the highest, most aggregated level, which is the societal and
global level issues and considerations. It is at this level that the overall
macrocosmic significance of decisions around higher education programs,
funding, access, student engagement, and degree completion become the
most universally important.
SOCIETAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL ISSUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

The questions, issues and debates that comprise this domain represent the
most conceptual. On a societal level, the educational level of a nation is a
significant factor in its well-being.
Indeed, the increasing social divide between the educational “haves” and
“have-nots”—and the risks that the latter are excluded from the social
benefits of educational expansion—threatens societies as a whole. In the
past, countries were predominantly concerned with raising their average
level of human capital without paying much attention to the way education
and skills were distributed across the population. Of course, improving the
general level of educational attainment and skills in a population is necessary
for economic growth and social progress. (OECD 2014, p. 14)
Figure 6.1 offers a way to visualize the concentric nature of the issues
that are raised by higher education, and its landscape. At the smallest
level of analysis is the individual, followed by organizational, then policy,
then society, and then global. This visual demonstrates that what affects
an individual, ultimately affects the next level of analysis and it concludes
with affected our global society. It is clear, no doubt, that there is an
inherent bias on my part, as the author, and someone whose career is in
higher education administration, that education is a crucial facet of
career development, and that no one should operate in isolation when
it comes to identifying, negotiating and discerning this “marketplace.”
Making good decisions about academic program and institution can
result in a lifetime of satisfaction, including career satisfaction. It can,
conversely, result in unfinished degrees accompanied by unmanageable
student load debt. Given the complex context of higher education and
the potential for good that it presents, human resource professionals
would be well served to acquire some competency around the issues
raised in this section. It might not be necessary for human resource
professionals to acquire a skill set equivalent to career counselors at
higher educational institutions, or to acquire a deep knowledge of pro-
grams that serve adult learners (although that is not necessarily a bad
idea). However, the overarching suggestion is that human resource
professionals become literate in college programs and their relationship
to their employees. In other words, it benefits all levels of analysis
(individual, organizational, political, societal, and global) when human
resource professionals understand and appreciate the potential that adult
serving higher education programs have to equip their employees with
the ability to start, or resume, their college degrees. It pays off in terms of
workforce development, and it pays off in terms of equipping employees
to have increased capacity for their current positions as well as future
positions.
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HRD 111
Global level: worldwide economic

distribution, public health, environmental
issues
Societal level: national HRD
Policy level: federal financial aid, state-

level funding for higher education
Organizational level: corporate or

organizational human capital
investment
Individual level: career capital

investments
Fig. 6.1 Higher education: The concentric nature of individual, organizational,

policy, societal, and global considerations
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HRD

While it is likely that the landscape of higher education will continue to
change as colleges and universities expand, contract, and reshape them-
selves in response to external pressures such as accreditation standards and
state and federal funding, it is unlikely that this landscape will become any
easier for adult students to navigate. Moreover, the concept and practice
of “lifelong learning” has become mostly ubiquitous with respect to career
development. Even if a worker does not have a formal comprehension or
command of the language of career development and the related concepts

and theories that describe the necessity to keep current in one’s field, it
have become a fact of the world of work. It is not possible to anticipate the
precise skills and competencies that are needed for future jobs and employ-
ment opportunities, but it is possible to become equipped with a mindset
and habits that facilitate continual growth. There are, in other words,
contemporary career competencies that are helpful to develop at the
individual level, for career development. These competencies are career
and job-agnostic; in other words, they are “portable.” And, I would argue,
crucial in today’s workplace context. First, there is the competency of the
ability to identify trends, anticipate layoffs before they happen; and to be
able to identify resources that empower workers to capitalize on a situa-
tion. Second, is the ability to identify ethical dilemmas, and to use an
ethical decision making approach. Third, is the ability to identify skills
needed not just for the job, but for the job search. Fourth, is the ability to
acquire technical skills and finesse. For example, it is crucial in today’s
social and economic context to understand the impact of one’s online
presence. Fifth is the ability to identify and articulate for different audi-
ences, what one knows. In other words, it is important to acquire the
ability to identify one’s audience, and to create and communicate in the
way that matches the situation and the context. Sixth is the ability to
“catch up” and learn the expectations for academic work (when reentering
college), given the variation of student services for academic support in
higher educational contexts. Seventh is the ability to acquire and demon-
strate cross-cultural awareness (which can sometimes be acquired through
employer provided through “diversity” training, and sometimes not).
Eighth is the ability to learn online, and to adapt to different learning
management systems.
This part of the chapter calls for a harmonization between the fields of
career development and counseling, and human resource development as a
response to the increasing destabilization of the workplace and the corre-
sponding shifts of the definition of “career;” combined with the complexity
of the relationship between higher education and career planning and
development and a reconciliation of two pronounced trends and issues in
HRD and CD. First is the need for multilevel theory building, which has
been called for by scholars such as McDonald and Hite (2014, 2008).
Second is the trend toward individual CD that runs parallel with organiza-
tionally sponsored CD. The emergence of the protean, or boundaryless,
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HRD 113
career translates into an increased importance of individual career develop-

ment because it signals a shift away from employment for life, and toward
more fluid, changeable, perhaps even chaotic career trajectories. Luzzo
(1993, p. 113) noted that non-traditional re-entry college students are
motivated, to a large extent, by career development needs. Moreover,
Luzzo highlights the lack of career programs that help these students:
Career counseling programs targeted at meeting the diverse career develop-

ment needs of returning students are lacking. Before effective services can be
designed for these non-traditional students, however, their specific career
development needs must be identified. One way to initiate the process of
identifying these needs is to clarify the career development differences
between traditional and non-traditional college students. (Luzzo 1993,
p. 113)
Admittedly, there are critical and social justice overtones to this schema;
Byrd (2014)’s exploration of critical and social justice paradigms provides
some scaffolding for these explorations. Below are some questions related
to adult higher education and career development:
• What impact does the quality of the college, and/or its reputation,
have on career mobility?
• What impact does a particular major have on career mobility?
• To what extent is a college education necessary?
• Who benefits from adults who return to college? (for the for profits,
it can be shareholders, or highly paid administrators)
• Who bears the costs of college?
For future research, it would be significant for studies of how students

identify colleges to which they will return to be conducted; additionally, it
would be informative to aggregate retention and completion data in order
to inform and provide tools for adult students to use for their decision-
making processes. There are primary sources, such as the feature “Find
your college” on the National Center for Education Statistics at http://
nces.ed.gov/ipeds/Home/FindYourCollege. These types of resources
are a step in the right direction. Kasworm (2011, p. 107) highlights the
importance of lifelong learning:
Given the current turbulent economy and dramatic restructuring of the

work enterprise, there is a new sense of urgency and a concern for growing
obsolescence of information and skill of individuals, workforce outputs, and
societal economies.
A college degree continues to be a, perhaps increasingly so, a significant

factor in social mobility in the United States. The attainment of a college
degree has been linked to higher earnings and job satisfaction (Pew
Research Center).
Professionals who are experiencing difficulty in the labor market are often
highly motivated to complete a bachelor’s degree so they can move back
into their career fields. Prior learning assessment tools can be a boon for
these highly skilled, but undercredentialed adults. Many of these students
are interested in taking courses related to their field and see returning to
school as an opportunity to update skill sets. (Bohonos 2014, p. 29)
The next chapter will examine Human Resource Development, identity,

and career development.
CHAPTER 7
Human Resource Development, Identity,

and Career Development
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the typology of career development related or
impacted dimensions of identity. The chapter builds upon Chapters 1–7
by synthesizing the information about identity, career success, demo-
graphics, and life events, into a model that can be used when thinking
about and designing career development programs. The model presents
the response to each aspect of identity (life events, demographics, and
other dimensions), of both human resource management, as well as
human resource development, practitioners. This chapter necessarily
draws certain aspects of employment law into the discussion, because the
response of human resource management to aspects of identity is custo-
marily through a compliance-based lens. Because the intention and focus
of the book is to comprehensively examine identity and its various man-
ifestations, the book both examines human resource management and
proposes human resource development responses. For example, when an
employee has a close relative who is experiencing a serious illness, the
employer is bound by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to, for a
qualified employee, provide time off to care for the relative. This is an
example of a compliance-based response to an aspect of identity. The
chapter highlights the gaps in the literature about human resource devel-
opment’s response to these different types of (in sometimes, very

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_7
116 7 HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, IDENTITY, AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT
commonly experienced) types of identity, and it closes those gaps by

proposing ways for human resource development practitioners to respond.
HRD career development scholarship has critiqued the relative inatten-
tion in both scholarship and practice to career development, and then
responded by offering publications that seek to engage and capture our
attention and enrich our knowledge. Two articles in particular are note-
worthy for their provocative titles that foreground equally provocative and
compelling content. Egan et al. (2006) wrote Window Dressing or Load
Bearing Wall, and McDonald (2005) wrote Reviving the Relevance of
Career Development. There has been an Advances in Developing Human
Resources (McDonald and Hite 2008), devoted to examining various
facets of career development. In that Advances issue, issues of age
(Callanan and Greenhaus 2008), organizational culture (Gilbreath
2008), positive psychology and career development (Preskill and
Donaldson 2008), women and their unique issues and challenges
(Sullivan and Mainiero 2008), and the stalled careers of middle-aged
white men (Kormanik 2008) were examined. (Egan et al. 2006) compre-
hensively explored and then presented a typology of career development
theories and definitions, as they suggested that HRD scholarship more
consistently, and frequently, include career development perspectives
(p. 469) in research that explores workplace learning, training activities,
and theory building in HRD. (Egan et al. 2006) noted:
HRD can be viewed as emerging from multiple pathways and dimensions.

Further connections between CD theory and literature in HRD will enhance
HRD research and practice. With its rich history and theoretical frameworks,
CD is important to HRD and deserves more attention in HRD literature
(p. 472).
Various journal articles and journal issues in HRD have explored different
facets of identity, mostly related to demographics. For example, (Madsen
2012) edited an Advances in Developing Human Resources volume
entitled “Women and Leadership in Higher Education: Current
Realities, Challenges, and Future Directions.” Rocco et al. (2009) edited
an Advances in Developing Human Resources issue that explored sexual
minority issues in organizational settings. Byrd and Stanley edited an
Advances in Developing Human Resources issue entitled “Giving Voice:
The Socio-cultural Realities of African American Women’s Experiences”
(2009). Roessler and Nafukho (2010) edited an Advances in Developing
IDENTITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT 117
Human Resources issue that explored disability, diversity, and discharge

issues in the workplace. In sum, the extant literature on diversity issues
within HRD journals provides scaffolding for the ideas set forth in this
chapter because identity is a pivotal, if not central, focal point of each type
of interrogation. This chapter goes father and deeper into the construct of
identity, adding two additional layers to the conversation. These layers,
which will be discussed later in the chapter, are (1) identity as constructed
or shaped by life events and (2) identity as constructed in response to
other factors such as veteran/military status, serious avocational pursuits,
or formerly incarcerated status.
IDENTITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Identity is a value-laden construct. Different identities have different
implications. This notion forms the premise of diversity and inclusion
research and practice. There are identities that have historically been
privileged such as white, middle-aged, and male—yet even this assumption
has been problematized by the work of Kormanik (2008). There are
stigmatized identities (former welfare mother, formerly incarcerated,
recovered alcoholic) not directly related to work, that affect career chances
and choices (Gedro et al. 2012). HRD professionals can become better
equipped to work with employees by (1) having awareness of the impor-
tance of identity in career development, (2) being able to demonstrate the
ability to discuss difficult or stigmatized topics, and (3) demonstrating
support and cultivating an attitude of cultural humility. For example, a
heterosexual white male does not have the direct experience of negotiating
the world of work as a lesbian, but he could develop and demonstrate
empathy around the subject, and then take action to facilitate the success
of that (example) lesbian.
Part of the implications for HRD professionals of variability of self-
concept, identity, and career development is the suggestion that a shift
toward identifying and developing competencies, rather than positions
held, might be a valuable, responsive way to practice career development
within organizations. In order to visually represent the way that identity
interweaves with HRD and career development, Table 7.1 presents three
main categories of identity: Life Events, Demographics, and Other. It then
lists the corresponding responses of Human Resource Managers, who
maintain organizations (McLagan 1989; in Mankin 2009) and Human
Resource Developers, who improve organizations (McLagan). The HRM
Table 7.1 A typology of career development related or impacted dimensions of

identity, and human resource management and human resource development
responses
Life events that impact Human resource management Human resource
identity responses development/career
development responses
Marriage Activities impacted: Adjusting None

benefits if the organization provides
healthcare or related benefits for
spouses and dependents.
Having children/child Compliance considerations with the None
rearing Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA)
Activities impacted: Must provide
time off according to FMLA
Divorce Supportive considerations include None
providing
Employee Assistance Programs
Financial issues Supportive considerations include None
providing
Physical illness (self or Compliance Consideration: FMLA None
family member) Activities impacted: Must provide
time off according to FMLA
Mental illness Overarching consideration is None
compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
Supportive considerations:
Coming out (later in No federal legislation that protects None
life) against discrimination
Getting clean and/or Compliance Consideration: ADA None
sober Supportive considerations:
Age Overarching consideration is None
compliance with Age
Discrimination Act
Demographic
Race Overarching consideration is Diversity and inclusion
compliance with Title VII of the efforts
Civil Rights Act
Activities impacted: Recruitment,
selection, compensation and
benefits, performance management
IDENTITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT 119

Life events that impact Human resource management Human resource
identity responses development/career
development responses
Gender Overarching consideration is Diversity and inclusion

Civil Rights Act
Ethnicity Overarching consideration is Diversity and inclusion
Civil Rights Act
Height and weight/ N/A N/A
body image
Sexual orientation No federal legislation that protects Diversity and inclusion
against discrimination efforts
Religion Overarching consideration is Diversity and inclusion
Civil Rights Act
Socio-economic status N/A None
Educational level N/A None
Other
Military /veteran status Overarching consideration is None
compliance with the Uniformed
Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act
Serious hobbies, Activities impacted: None
interests such as sports, Lower rates for healthcare, higher
not for profit work rates for smoking or other risk
Personal habits (such as factors
smoking)
Political affiliation N/A None
Formerly incarcerated Overarching consideration is None
status; arrest and compliance with Title VII of the
conviction record Civil Rights Act*
*A criminal record is not a protected class characteristic, unless it is part of a claim of disparate treatment or
disparate impact
See http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm#IIIB
responses are related to the specific employment laws that govern the
treatment of employees along lines of identity, including the overarching
concerns, the ways that HRM supports these employees, and the activities
that demonstrate HRMs’ response to these employees. The HRD
responses are primarily related to diversity and inclusion efforts. This
table provides some proposed guidance for how HRD professionals
think about the specific contexts and related concerns of employees. It
also highlights some areas for future research. Each facet of identity bears
exploring through research lenses. For example, an employee who has
been married, and then experiences a divorce, might have very real rele-
vant shifts in identity that impact her career and career development.
There are influences on identity that are planned and strategic, and there
are influences that are unplanned and unwelcome. The employee may feel
pressure to increase her earnings potential and as a result, become moti-
vated to return for additional education and training. An employee who
has re-entered the workforce after engaging in alcohol or drug rehabilita-
tion has to integrate his new identity as a clean and/or sober person, with
his career and career development (see Gedro et al. 2012). A sudden
illness that renders one weak or disabled, the untimely death of a spouse
or child, or a layoff—are all types of environmental occurrences that can
indirectly or directly affect one’s identity, career identity, and career
development.
MILITARY AND VETERANS

Military veterans face particular challenges with respect to career develop-
ment because of the transition from military to civilian life that they have
to negotiate. Anderson and Goodman (2014) note that in addition to the
complexities of identifying occupational choices that might be appropriate
or appealing for transitioning military veterans, more immediate chal-
lenges such as post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury can be particu-
larly difficult to negotiate. Anderson and Goodman note that career
development for transitioning military veterans is not a linear process
and that it “takes place over time and includes phases of assimilation and
continuous appraisal as a person moves into and through the changes
occurring in their lives” (p. 41). Moreover, there are cultural shifts that
a person must make from military to civilian life which include the transi-
tion from working in a context characterized by hierarchy, conforming,
MILITARY AND VETERANS 121
rules, and regulations to one of a more self-directed one that is not

permeate by conformity.
Veterans are not a homogeneous group but rather are demographically
diverse in terms of age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, education,
socio-economic status, and geography. They also vary substantially in their
physical and emotional health. While some veterans suffer from significant
physical disabilities and emotional issues associated directly with their
military service, most do not. This is a nuanced spectrum. Humensky
et al. (2013) observed that veterans are not always forthcoming about
their current state of physical and emotional health. These researchers also
found evidence that a veteran’s state of health (physical and psychological)
may have an increasingly negative effect on employment over time. Some
veterans may simply not be able to do the type of work they desire (Risher
2016, para. 3).
Miles (2014) notes that military veterans need assistance with career
development because “meaningful work can add a sense of purpose to
their lives and life-long choices about education and employment cannot
be left to chance” (p. 124). There are likely similarities between any person
transitioning from one employment context to another; so in that regard,
career development with military veterans, and career development with
other populations has similar threads running throughout. The distinc-
tions with respect to military veterans are twofold: first, there is the highly
structured environment of the military in which paychecks and built in
social networks are the norm (Anderson and Goodman 2014); second, in
many cases, there is trauma (mental, emotional, and physical) inflicted by
combat.
In the table that follows, I present a typology of dimensions of identity,
and the corresponding responses of human resource management and
human resource development. The Table 7.1 is presented as an overview,
followed by an explanation of each layer of identity. These layers, or
dimensions, are grouped into categories of life events, demographics,
and other. Table 7.1 presents the constellation of aspects of identity that
are imagined and in fact, inspire this work. The left column, entitled “Life
Events that Impact Identity,” “Demographics,” and “Other” represent
the types of ways that identity is impacted or constructed or influenced.
The middle column, entitled “Human Resource Management Responses”
represents the ways that human resource management responds to these
events; or rather, it represents the ways that human resource management
responds to the people affected by these events. The column on the right,
entitled “Human Resource Management or Development responses”

represents the ways that training and development, or career development
professionals, respond. For marriage, there are issues related to benefits
enrollment (if the employee wants to include, for example, a spouse on a
benefits package). There might be issues of Family and Medical Leave,
should the employee’s spouse need care by the employee. However, in the
Human Resource Development/Career Development column, there is a
dearth of information there because only peripherally, through perhaps
work/life balance initiatives (if they exist and are offered) that could help
an employee address issues related to a shift in identity from a single
person to a married person. The next event, having children, has the
similar characteristics as getting married because the identity of employee
changes as a result of having children. The event divorce, which could be
an emotionally difficult life event for an employee, could be addressed
through the employer’s offering of employee assistance programs, which
often include counseling. There are no human resource developments or
career development interventions that address the identity shift of an
employee from a married person to a single person. On the surface, this
event and the corresponding shift of identity might only be peripherally
related to career development; but a closer examination might yield a
different conclusion. Changing one’s marital status from married to single
could have cascading effects on one’s career because of the need to, for
example, earn a larger wage or salary because of the shift from being part
of a dual-earner household to a single, head of household. It could also
mean shifting in identity from a two-parent household (if there are chil-
dren at home) to a single earner parent household. This shift in identity is
not only significant on a an emotional or mental level; it is significant on a
material and career level for these reasons. Therefore, human resource
development professionals who are in any way related to career develop-
ment initiatives, have the opportunity to serve in deeper ways, by having
awareness of the ways that life events can impact identity, and then impact
career development.
In a similar vein as divorce, financial issues such as bankruptcy have the
potential to impact an employee’s identity, and there are human resource
management types of responses such as employee assistance programs. It
may sound strange, that an employee’s financial difficulties could (1)
present themselves; after all, the employee by definition has a job; and
(2) could impact identity. However, there are a myriad of reasons that
someone who is employed could face significant financial issues. The
housing crisis of 2008 presents a stark example of how this could happen.
The next three items in the table—physical illness, mental illness, and
coming out—represent events that can (and do) happen that can certainly
impact someone’s individual identity, personal identity, social identity,
and professional identity. Physical and mental illnesses that present them-
selves to an existing employee can and should be addressed, when neces-
sary, by legal responses such as the Family and Medical Leave Act, which
provides for time off for serious illness, and protects the employee’s
position. Coming out as an LGBT person at work, can present a range
of responses from the organization; because there are no explicit federal
protections for LGBT people in the United States in employment, and
because there are a range of ways that states, cities, and counties may or
may not provide such protections for LGBT employees, the legal response
can be quite complex and uneven.1 There are no formal ways that orga-
nizations address, through training and development and/or career devel-
opment responses, these types of events; perhaps peripherally, an
organization that has developed an effective diversity management pro-
gram, and establishes and maintains a culture of inclusion, could be said to
respond to the issue of an employee coming out in the workplace as an
LGBT person. Finally, for the life events such as getting clean or sober (in
other words, for an alcoholic or drug addict who seeks and obtains
treatment through rehabilitation or other means), and for older workers,
there are protections such the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age
Discrimination Act, respectively. These are the human resource manage-
ment responses. There is a dearth of training and development or career
development interventions that address these life events and certainly,
getting clean or sober, and becoming an older worker (which we will all
eventually become) impact one’s identity (in various ways, to be sure) and
impact one’s career. For example, growing older impacts physical strength
and it can impact physical mobility. If a worker has a job that requires
physical strength and/or mobility, and the worker’s eventual physical
decline impacts the ability to perform the job, it presents a complex
circumstance. If an organization is equipped to help counsel or otherwise
support that employee, perhaps taking the initiative to shift the worker
into a job that does not require physical strength or mobility, then that is
one way to address the life event of an employee through a training and
development and career development response.
For the category “Demographics,” there are constructs of race, gender,
ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, height/weight/body image, and
other. For several of these demographic dimensions, there is a human

resource management response; again, these responses are related to
compliance with employment related laws. For example, for the categories
of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, are designed to address and
prohibit discrimination based upon these demographic categories (iden-
tities). Generally speaking, diversity management programs are intended
to present the training and development (and indirectly, career develop-
ment) issues presented by a demographically diverse workforce. Human
resource development professionals who work in the career development
arena could develop a greater capacity and awareness for issues related to
these demographics that extend beyond compliance and go deeper, such
as developing the capacity for sensitivity and empathy for the ways that
these identities present challenges and opportunities for employees.
Finally, for the demographic categories of socio-economic status and
educational level, as Chapter 6 explored in some detail, the issues related
to higher education and the significance of a college degree in creating and
fostering employment (and social and economic, by extension), mobility.
The last section in the table is the category of “Other” which captures
serious vocational pursuits, military and combat service, political affilia-
tion, and formerly incarcerated status. There is a range of human resource
management related responses to these types of identities; again, they are
mostly related to laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of these
categories. For serious hobbies or avocational pursuits, non-discrimination
policies are not as relevant as the less direct types of human resource
management related initiatives such as wellness programs. For example,
a company might have a bike share program; it may have a gym at its
office; it may offer discounts to health clubs. These are just a few examples
of how hobbies and serious avocational pursuits might be addressed
through human resource management related interventions. They are
mostly indirect. From the standpoint of career development, however,
the engagement in a serious pursuit, such as a sports hobby or a nonprofit
volunteer career, clearly play a role in helping to shape identity, and also,
in helping to potentially guide someone toward a different career path.
Having an expansive life outside of work, and the social capital that one
can accumulate as a result, has the potential to open doors of career
opportunity that a more traditional type of job seeking could reach. In
these ways, the “Other” category represents a rather curious panoply of
non-obvious ways that identity can impact career development.
There is a prevalence of “none” in the “HRD Response” column,

particularly with respect to identity characteristics in the Life Events and
Other categories. These represent areas where HR professionals can
acquire a broader and richer skill set, as well as areas that could be explored
through research. There are sets of competencies that are part of a tacit
curriculum, mostly invisible in career development theory. That is, the
ability to negotiate one’s occupational environment when the intersection
of identity, and environment, might be a challenge. The evolution of
employment law response, which is compliance-focused, at least on the
surface, addresses discrimination against minorities. However, the persis-
tent homogeneity of CEOs, top earners, and board seats (see Onley 2016,
as an example) indicates that these laws are have somewhat limited effec-
tiveness in reducing longstanding roadblocks for career mobility. They do
not cure stigma, prejudice, limitations, and lack of opportunities. Laws
address behaviors; education and training open minds and hearts, and
reduce stigma and replace stigma, stereotyping and prejudicial attitudes,
with curiosity, empathy, regard, and inclusion.
Career development and progression can be messy, unpredictable, and
complex. Today, more than ever before, people have to acquire career-
related competencies related to flexibility, transferability of skills, adapt-
ability. There are macro and micro economic forces at work today that
impact individual choices and opportunities for careers. For example,
those who worked as freelancers in New York City were affected by the
events of 9/11, as the city was crippled for months in the aftermath of the
attack. An incoming college president signals the strong possibility that
incumbents in cabinet positions might be relieved of their duties or
transferred to other assignments. Complexity has implications for workers,
and it has concomitant implications for HRD professionals.
Specific examples of career development initiatives include succession
planning, interest inventory tests, mentoring programs (both formal and
informal), job rotation, on the job training, classroom, online or blended
training, educational/tuition reimbursement, employee resource groups
(Githens 2009), networking associations, and career counseling (Preskill
and Donaldson 2008). Whereas career counseling focuses on the indivi-
dual, HRD has responsibility to not only individuals, but ultimately, the
organizations served. Therefore, it might be out of bounds to suggest that
HRD assume responsibility for individual career development. However,
given the now established norm of serial, rather than continuous, employ-
ment, the relationship between self, identity, and career does bear
relevance for HRD. One way that HRD professionals can align their career
development initiatives to the increasingly complex and sometimes over-
whelming challenges that individuals face, is to encourage and equip
individuals to interpret their experiences from a strength-based
perspective:
Autobiographical reasoning and identity work involve the reflexive activities

of forming, maintaining, and revising identity narratives characterized by
distinctiveness, coherence, and continuity. These narrative processes pro-
duce the identity capital of knowing and liking one’s life story. Individuals
may then invest their identity capital and their stories to cope with the
uncertainties prompted by occupational transitions and work traumas. As
workers move from one assignment to the next assignment, they must let go
of what they did yet not who they are. If they let go of everything, then the
loss may overwhelm them. By holding onto the self in the form of a life story
that provides coherence and continuity, they are able to pursue their pur-
pose and projects with integrity and vitality. (Savickas 2012, p. 14)
It benefits organizations to acquire an awareness of the challenges and

opportunities faced by different types of identity such as age, gender,
sexual orientation, and to respond with HRD efforts both at an organiza-
tional level, as well as at an individual level. To not attend to the concerns
that each segment, means that the organization might lose valuable
human capital, as employees—who are more accustomed now to take
career matters into their own hands—leave for workplaces that do recog-
nize, reward, and develop them. This is the flip side of the new landscape
of work is that technology facilities the ability of employees to obtain
career development related information on their own, often times with
little to no cost. Social media has amplified this capacity for career seeking
even further. The implications for this empowerment brought upon
through technology are that in some ways, it is crucial for employers to
demonstrate concern for employees, so that employees feel respected and
that their interests and objectives matter. There are resources now, mostly
due to technology and social media that equip and empower workers like
never before. There are a myriad of resources to help individuals take
control of their career development. There are websites that help with
resume and cover letter writing. There are ways to acquire professional
certifications in different and flexible ways. There are educational
institutions that enable working adults to finish or obtain a college degree.

Just as organizations certainly have power that they exert over the labor
force, to downsize, right-size, or outsource work, employees have
increased capacity for their own individual career development. It benefits
both organizations and individuals, therefore, to “meet in the middle”
with respect to career development. It benefits organizations to provide
opportunities for learning and growth, and the commensurate mobility
and opportunities that such development should open. It benefits indivi-
duals because it enhances their present work lives, as well as increases the
likelihood that even if they are downsized, they will be able to identify and
obtain new opportunities. Institutional knowledge (Callanan and
Greenhaus 2008) is a form of capital, and it is not easily replaced with
new employees. It takes time to develop organizational knowledge, to
learn the culture of an organization, to develop professional relationships
both within and outside the organization.
In so many ways that matter, identity can serve as a limiting factor in
a person’s career development. An obvious example is the myriad of
types of discrimination in employment that have historically occurred in
the workplace, and that continues to occur (though in more tacit
ways). Discrimination based upon certain identity characteristics mostly
relates to demographics, has mostly been addressed through federal
legislation intended to prohibit such discrimination, and to create
employment contexts that are blind to gender, race, nationality, reli-
gion, age, ability/disability, veteran status, and genetic predispositions.
Far from a cure-all, it is, nevertheless, difficult to imagine the discrimi-
nation and marginalization that would persist in the absence of civil
rights legislation.
It is helpful to reconsider the relationship between identity, which can
change over time, and occupational selection and progression. For indivi-
duals, the implications are freedom, flexibility, and choice. For organiza-
tions, the implications are creativity, and the fulfillment of organizational
goals and objectives by identifying, inviting, and engaging talent in ways
that may or may not be obvious. There is, for example, a mythology that
older workers eschew technology; this mythology has been debunked in
Titi Amayah and Gedro (2014). Gedro (2014) established the possibility
to be out and lesbian, and to be successful in business (a bastion of
heterosexuality). When HRD professionals have a wide lens, and a rich
and creative set of insights to identity and groom talent, everyone wins.
NOTE
1. For detailed information about the status of legal protections in the work-
place for LGBT people, the Human Rights Campaign provides a compre-
hensive amount of up to date information.
CHAPTER 8
Conclusions: Where Do We Go from Here?
INTRODUCTION
This concluding chapter offers thoughts about the present and the future
of the field of HRD, particularly with respect to career development. If the
HRD profession can be expanded, to be able to provide career counseling
in the liminal spaces of career, such as career transition (which can leave a
displaced employee on his or her own), to facilitate the successful acquisi-
tion of a new identity, but perhaps also, to offer resources and support that
facilitate someone changing the way that they internalize their identity, to
look at it as a source of strength, then we are a profession that is agile and
nimble. Organizations and corporations benefit, too, as a result of the
increased capacity, increased hopefulness and strength that prospective
and current employees acquire when they learn how to see their identities
from a position of gracefulness and strength.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HRD PRACTICE AND RESEARCH

There is a “business case” to be made for the suggestion that HRD
professionals acquire a greater capacity to respond to issues of identity,
particularly when those issues are impediments. For example, Walker
(2013) notes that there are two kinds of psychological contracts between
employee and employer: transactional and relational. Transactional con-
tracts emphasize “the objective terms of the employment relationship”

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2_8
130 8 CONCLUSIONS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
(p. 122) which include the time that the employee owes the employer, and
the remuneration that the employer owes the employee. On the other
hand, relational contracts emphasize subjective dimensions of the employ-
ment relationship such as “interpersonal and developmental inducements
in return for employees’ loyalty and commitment” (p. 122). HRD profes-
sionals can equip employees by helping them develop what Hall (2004)
calls “metacompetencies”:
[W]e are finding that there are two career “metacompetencies” that help
equip individuals to be more protean: adaptability and identity (or self-
awareness) . . . the world changes too fast for companies to assess people
and develop them against a fixed set of competencies. Rather, it is better
to develop greater adaptability and self-awareness, which we call “meta-
competencies,” as they will equip people to learn from their experience and
develop any new competencies on their own. (Hall 2004, p. 6)
HRD capacity building suggested by this article is a demonstration of an

employer’s investment in a relational psychological contract. Walker found
a negative relationship between a transactional contract and work atti-
tudes. However, she also found that those who had have high career
motivation and commitment, and who take responsibility for their own
career development, are less affected by the impact of a transactional
contract. The implications for HRD professionals are compelling: In an
organization that has a transactional contract, which means that there is
relatively less concern for employee well-being and development, HRD
professionals can indirectly help employees by providing them opportu-
nities to gain self-confidence and to identify their career goals and objec-
tives. This means that whether or not they remain with that particular
organization, they are better equipped to handle and manage their careers.
On the other hand, for organizations characterized by relational contracts,
HRD professionals can offer career development activities that help indi-
viduals to create and pursue career development endeavors that strengthen
and empower the individual, regardless of a limiting identity. Of course,
there is a range in between these two organizational characteristics.
This book implicates several competencies for HRD professionals who
are directly or indirectly involved with career development initiatives.
Understanding and appreciating career development models provides
unquestionably valuable scaffolding for HRD professionals, yet traditional
career models are insufficient to explain the current context of career
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HRD PRACTICE AND RESEARCH 131
development. People are living longer, the workforce is now more diverse
than ever (although there is a persistent tendency for white males to
achieve access to the highest ranks of organizations), and people change
jobs and careers with more alacrity and less social stigma. As such, HRD
professionals who are involved in career development, would be well
served to acquire a larger framework to understand: (i) the self-directed
nature of career development today, (ii) the challenges faced by those
whose identities might be less visible, and therefore, have difficult deci-
sions to make around career choice, and (iii) that relationships are shorter
term, and that jobs are shorter term; this presents a challenge when it
comes to identifying the types of training to provide. How much and
which type of investment in individuals by the organization, in other
words, is appropriate? HRD professionals should be relentlessly com-
mitted to facilitating learning, which takes several forms.
This chapter extends the conversation of career development within the
field of HRD by examining and in some cases, problematizing, and the
notion of a “one size fits all” model for career development, work identity,
and success.
Current career language only names the stations on the journey people pass
(jobs), but not the nature of landscape and destiny (identity, significance),
nor the residues remaining from each stage and taken along (learning,
change). The ephemeral thing people fill their backpacks with is generally
denoted as experience, but when asked for specification, we tend to be back
to job labels again. My hope is that career roles give experience a more
accurate and differentiated face and enable us to describe the individual
career as the way people effectively change and enrich their
repertoire . . . At the same time, career roles describe career significance:
the recognized value of what a person offers to the organization and its
environment. In this sense, career roles illustrate how persons gravitate
towards one or more universally available roles along their working life
track. (Hoekstra 2011, p. 170)
The responses of HRD professionals to the intersection of identity and

career development are not always obvious. For example, workplace civi-
lity training, or anti-bullying training, is a possible response to organiza-
tional environments that might limit the potential for the career
movement or success of some (the targets of bullying, etc.). Diversity
training is another response, however limited, to identity. Any initiative
of HRD that results in the disentangling of one’s demographic and one’s
identity (particularly marginalized identities) when that identity is limit-

ing, is HRD practice that demonstrates an understanding and awareness of
how identity is a nuanced, fluid, and sometimes, difficult construct that
can shroud someone’s career with limitations. Some identities are more
privileged, or facilitative of career success, than others. There is uneven-
ness to identity, with respect to career development. For example, Gedro
(2009) explained how for sexual minorities, the process of career devel-
opment is complicated by the discovery of a minority sexual orientation.
Gender barriers persist (Madsen 2012). Sexual minority barriers persist
(Collins 2012). Racial minority barriers persist (Chrobot-Mason and
Thomas 2002).
There are five characteristics of identity that merit examination because
they have the potential to help guide career development practice and
research efforts that have richer and deeper responsiveness to the realities
of life. First, identity is fluid. Second, identity is constructed. Third,
identity is multi-dimensional and matrixed. One person has multiple
identity characteristics (e.g., a white, middle aged, gay, and Jewish man)
that influence career development actions over the course of the work life
span. Fourth, identity is recognizable and detectable sometimes but cer-
tainly not always. Therefore, disclosure or negotiated boundaries are
relevant. Fifth, identities are value laden, and have capital or costs asso-
ciated with them. Identity capital is the benefit of having an identity that
results in a gain in the market space of work. Identity cost is the loss, or
marginalization that occurs as the result of having a stigmatized identity
that is known to or suspected by others. This is an area that warrants
further exploration.
Therefore, the construct of identity needs to be closely examined by
HRD research through multiple lenses which have been discussed pre-
viously in this book: (i) how identity is constructed; (ii) the relationships
between one’s job and one’s other pursuits, interests, and self-concepts;
(iii) how identity relates to career; and (iv) how identity is re-evaluated and
re-constructed.
A conundrum exists, that this chapter does not presume to rectify, for
HRD professionals who internalize and act on the fundamental premise of
this chapter: when we equip individuals to become empowered, self-
aware, resilient, creative, imaginative, and self-directed, there is the risk
that the individual also becomes less and less willing to compromise in
career situations and organizational environments that are not, as
(Gilbreath 2008) so thoroughly describes, “psychosocially healthy.” If
the HRD profession can be expanded, to be able to provide career

counseling in all phases of a career, such as career transition (which can
leave a displaced employee on his or her own), to facilitate the successful
acquisition of a new identity, but perhaps also, to offer resources and
support that facilitate someone changing the way that they internalize
their identity, to look at it as a source of strength, then we have progressed
as a profession, to further match what we can offer with some current
needs for practice. Although there are several actions implicated by these
ideas for HRD practitioners, to do work of equipping individuals to
acquire meta-skills (Hall and Mirvis 1995) and meta-competencies (Hall
2004), to provide them with job experiences, training, coaching, and
mentoring that help them with their current positions as well as future
opportunities, it is not realistic to expect that even through the most
exhaustive and effective career development work, that the landscape of
employment become homogenous. In other words, even though the
primary objective of this chapter is to provide impetus for HRD practi-
tioners to embrace career development with an awareness of the role of
individual identity plays, it is important to understand that not all organi-
zations are a good “fit” for all job seekers. There is an aspect of organiza-
tional culture, occupation, and other types of characteristics that are
appropriately wide ranging. Individuals, as part of their career develop-
ment efforts, should understand that they have a responsibility to inspect
and screen prospective employment environments to ensure that there is
enough alignment between the organization’s mission, vision, values, and
culture and theirs, that there is a positive and productive “match.”
As the world of work continues to intensify and become increasingly
complex, HRD professionals have an opportunity to contribute to indivi-
dual career satisfaction as well as organizational productivity through
imagining, designing, and implementing career development efforts that
facilitate the acquisition of meta-skills (Hall and Mirvis 1995) and meta-
competencies (Hall 2004). When individuals learn how to interpret their
career experiences in positive, developmental and strength based ways,
they can become skilled at parlaying their experiences and knowledge into
new jobs within new organizational contexts. When HRD professionals
encourage and facilitate adaptability, lifelong learning, and resourceful-
ness, they are equipping people to thrive.
The extent to which someone identifies with a profession or occupation
is a worthy examination for several reasons. The dynamic nature of careers,
in which people change jobs, organizations, work arrangements, and
professions, necessitates this as an exploration because without such for-

mal interrogation, people are left to their own autodidactic means of
learning and developing. Rather than trial and error, or rather than strug-
gling with the identity shifts, it might be helpful for those who are
changing professions, or are learning how to identify with a profession,
to have some insights that can equip them. How does someone learn to
occupy a role? How does someone learn how to “see” himself or herself as
a member of a community of an occupation? One way is to identity and
engage with professional or occupational organizations so that the person
can socialize, in a relatively low risk manner, with others who may have
experienced similar transitions. It is helpful to network with those outside
one’s present organization because it creates a safer place for conversa-
tions, where the person can try on ideas and new ways of presenting. It is
helpful to think about the work of Goffman (1959), Blumer (1969), and
Ashforth (2016) to gain some formal insights about the relationship
between how one thinks of the self, how one thinks of the self as a member
of a group, how one presents physically, verbally, and even psychically, as a
member of that group. In an age when technology transmits messages that
are instant and rich, it has become increasingly crucial for those who are in
leadership positions or other types of positions of influence, to understand
their roles and to intentionally choose among a spectrum of alternatives of
ways to signal their internalized and externalized sense of self.
There has never been a better time to be authentic, or true to one’s self,
with respect to career development, as it is now. Now, more than any
other time in the post-Industrial Age, has there been more opportunities
for people to conduct research, to take assessments to learn about them-
selves, and to conduct job searches. Technology has reduced the uneven-
ness of the career landscape, and it has given some power and agency to
job seekers. As one example, and this admittedly dates the book likely as
soon as it is publishes, is the Forbes “Top 100 Websites for Your Career”
(Smith 2013, retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelyn
smith/ 20 13 /0 9/ 18/ the-top-10 0-websi tes- fo r-your -career/
#8f9042837070). Technology provides a window on the world of job
searches. It does not necessarily change or impact the supply of jobs that
exist, nor does it change the type of jobs that exist, nor does it directly
impact the problems that those involved in career development (which
means, in essence, everyone who works and plans to work for a foreseeable
future; it means, too, those who plan to retire in a near term) such as
ageism, sexism, racism, poor management, poor leadership. However, it
does provide a portal for people to develop their career. The issue is, that
one must have the means for accessing technology, the ability to use it,
and the motivation (or inspiration, or desperation) to take the initiative.
The ability to create knowledge of one’s “portrait” or “profile” and tell
the story about it; to create a story, and then to match it with a place in the
world of work and career, is an invaluable skill. On the Human Resource
side, it is time for us to progress from acting and thinking in terms of
compliance, and hold compliance as the standard, or the floor, for our
efforts in recruiting, selecting, developing, compensating, and relating
with and to employees. Compliance should be a minimum threshold,
and culture shift could present a wonderful opportunity for HR profes-
sionals to expand their lenses of awareness and sensitivity for addressing
career development interests of those who seek their guidance.
How can people learn to be proactive in how they understand career,
and how they understand (and embrace) identity, and how they decide for
themselves what success means? It is difficult in a competitive, material
society to create the mental and tangible conditions by which one decides
individually what a career means, and what success means. However, the
time is right now, in our current social, economic, political, religious, and
cultural configuration and conditions, for this individual shifts of con-
sciousness to happen. Given that the number of careers and jobs held by
an individual has steadily increased, there is less “stigma” associated with
changes. Given that technology permits research into careers, companies,
types of occupations, types of free tests, types of resume and cover letter
resources, the conditions are ripe to empower individuals to learn and
grow and develop “savvy” as career developers, agents, and seekers.
The expectations—the symbols, signs, and any other representations of
the self that one brings to any interactions with other people—are social
constructions. People bring their own mental models or expectations to
social exchanges and people tend to treat others according to the roles that
we perceived them to hold, and they treat us in turn, according to the roles
that they perceive as ours. This happens at an unconscious level mostly and
they are daily and mundane interactions. For example, we expect a grocery
store clerk to be, hopefully, pleasant, efficient, and effective. We expect a
customer service representative be efficient, effective, and friendly. We
expect a medical doctor to not only hold the appropriate license and
other formal credentials, but also, a certain amount of behavioral and
social gravitas. We expect a professor to act “professorial.” However, all
of these expectations are situated in a social context and social contexts
change; people change; identities change. Therefore, symbolic interac-

tionism is an appropriate way to understand identity and the fluidity of
identity and that it is located in a particular context. Blumer (1969) posits
that “we form our objectives of ourselves through such as process of role-
taking. It follows that we see ourselves through the way in which others
see or define us” (p. 13). It is important to note and be conscious,
however, that these are also social constructions and that identities are
shaped by our interactions with each other, as Blumer (1969) emphasizes.
These interactions are not situated in a fixed, immutable, objective reality.
This can be exciting and can be daunting. If an interaction, and the
shaping that occurs during the interaction between people, works in
someone’s favor based upon a favorable, pleasant, or otherwise desirable
and positive exchange, then a person could rise up to those expectations.
However, if the expectations for that person are that they are limited and
not capable and not able to grow, then those discouraging messages can
impact the person’s chances of growth and success (as defined in subjective
ways, as emphasized in this entire work). This works for the impression
that one has of another, and it also works for the impression and expecta-
tions that one has of himself or herself. Berger and Luckmann (1966) note
that “the origins of any institutional order life in the typification of one’s
own and other’s performances. This implies that one shares with others
specific goals and interlocking phases of performance, and, further, that
not only specific actions but forms of action are typified” (p. 72). With
human resource management responses that are compliance focused and
employment law focused, those are objective constructs; an entity, in this
case, legislation, is mandating what an employer must do. It is objective,
also, because categories such as those set forth by anti-discrimination laws
define and categorize fixed, objective, measurable, and quantifiable
dimensions of identity. A human resource compliance response is neces-
sary; we do, after all, live in the material world of form and its commensu-
rate rules, regulations, and requirements. The laws designed to formally
prohibit discrimination according to categorizations of people based on
identity must be understand and obeyed. An overarching message in this
book, is to encourage both human resource management and human
resource development professionals to address identity in subjective
ways. This does not mean “subjective” as in favoritism, or bias, or as in
not treating people with equity and justice. Quite the contrary, it means
expanding our capacity for empathy, sensitivity, awareness, and compas-
sion to realize that the human condition itself is complex and then as it
manifests in the world of work and career, it is complex. Therefore, a

compliance focus, and objective focus, and objective way of considering
identity and career development that places people in boxes that do not
move and flex and change shape, form, and expectations is insufficient as a
response and a framework.
This chapter, and this book, have been written in order to inspire
Human Resource professionals to see and to consider employees and
prospective employees with greater awareness and sensitivity and under-
standing that humans are complex, and that life can present challenges and
opportunities that impact career development. By thinking more deeply
and compassionately about people and the identities that they negotiate,
Human Resource professionals have an opportunity to respond with
effective services and actions that match the current realities of the world
of work, and of employees. Additionally, this chapter and book have been
intended for individuals, prompting individual employees and job seekers
to consider the ways that their identities can be sources of strength with
respect to career development.
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INDEX
A B
Ability, 8, 36–37, 80, 82–87, 92, 112 Boundaryless career, 102, 113
Advances in Developing Human
Resources, 14, 17, 18, 116
Ageism, 63, 73–75, 77 C
Agency, 42, 44, 55, 58 Capitalism, 41, 58
Aging, 43–44, 118 Career construction theory, 77
“baby boom”, 65 Career counseling, 33, 81, 103, 125,
and career development, 62–64 129, 133
critique of existing career Career development, 32, 33
theories, 72–73 affect and emotions, 52–53
intersecting identities, 73–75 aging and, 62–64
literature on, 67–71 autobiographical reasoning, 126
older women and career counseling, 125
development, 65–66 critical theory in, 16–18
peer-reviewed manuscripts, 70–71 demographics, 118, 123–124
positive aspects of being an older education and, 97–101
woman, 75–77 expectations, 135–136
quantitative research, 78 financial issues and, 122–123
social justice issues, 64 and higher education
women’s retirement, 79 hobbies and, 124
American Psychologist, 74 identity and, 45–46, 117–120
Americans with Disabilities Act of implications, 111–114
1990 (ADA), 82–86 individual considerations, 105–107
Anti-discrimination legislation, 83 institutional knowledge, 127
ATD Competency Model™, 15 LGBT person, 123
Autobiographical reasoning, 126 marriage and, 122
Autonomy, 44, 57, 58 military/veterans, 120–127

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51589-2
156 INDEX
Career development (cont.) Environmentalism, 59

in minorities, 89–90 Essentialism, 7, 29–30, 47
non-traditional students, 101–105 Ethics program, 19–20, 31
one size fits all model, 131 Ethnicity, 16, 27, 80, 119
organizational considerations, 108
physical and mental illnesses, 123
policy issues, 108–109 F
for-profit institutions, 109 Family and Medical Leave Act
and progression, 125 (FMLA), 41, 115, 123
research and practice, 11–12 Feminism, 58, 67–69
scholarship, 116 Feminist theory, 40, 56–58
social media, 126 Financial issues, and career
societal and global level development, 89, 118,
issues, 109–111 122–123
technology and, 18–19, 93, 134–135
Career identity, 45–46
Career ladder, 76 G
Career success, 44, 54–59 Gender, 119
Career transition, 77, 129, 133 “baby boom”, 65
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 82 critique of existing career
Chartered Institute for Personnel and theories, 72–73
Development (CIPD), 14–15 intersecting identities, 73–75
Civility, 18, 22, 31 literature on, 67–71
Civil Rights Act of 1991, 124 older women and career
Coaching, 31 development, 65–66
Compliance training, 31 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 70–71
Constructionism, 47 positive aspects of being an older
Critical theory, 16–18, 64, 67–69 woman, 75–77
quantitative research, 78
social justice issues, 64
D women’s retirement, 79
Demographics, 13–16, 21–22, 118, Google Scholar, 68–69
123–124
Disability, 82–87, 91–92
Diversity program, 17–20, 25, 30, 31,
H
35–36, 112, 131
Higher education
Divorce, 6–7, 89, 118, 120, 122–123
implications, 111–114
individual considerations, 105–107
E non-traditional students, 101–105
Economic mobility, 96, 98 organizational considerations, 108
Education, and career policy issues, 108–109
development, 97–101 for-profit institutions, 109
INDEX 157
societal and global level career-length fascination with, 4

issues, 109–111 career transition, 133
Hobbies, and career Cass’s model, 8
development, 119, 124 characteristics of, 132
Human resource development (HRD) construct of, 48–51, 132
attributes of, 16 critical theory in, 16–18
“baby boom”, 65 education and, 97–101
career development practices (see examining, 16
Career development) as fixed construct, 7
critique of existing career and fluid construct, 46–48
theories, 72–73 gender expression, 37
identity in, 14 gender queer, 9
intersecting identities, 73–75 and human resources, 1
interventions, 22 ideological, 52
literature on, 67–71 immutable characteristics, 10
modalities and identity, 31–32 impacts, 5
older women and career implications, 30–37
development, 65–66 individual identity, 23–25
peer-reviewed manuscripts, 70–71 internalization, 52
performance, 29, 30 matrix, 34, 51–53
positive aspects of being an older methodological approach, 15–16
woman, 75–77 mutable identity, 8, 10
practitioner, 5, 10, 16 mutual expectations between
professionals, 11 employee and employer, 53–54
quantitative research, 78 negotiating identities, 14
recommendations for, 129–137 occupation, 133–134
scholarship, 16 offer, 46–47
sexual minority identity personal identity, 25–27
development, 18 post-Industrial Age, 134
social justice issues, 64 post-structuralism, 40–41
typology, 31 practice, 50
women’s retirement, 79 professional identity, 27–28
Human resource management, 1–2, 4, racial identity, 80–81
115, 118, 121–124, 136 research design, 15–16
salience hierarchy, 34
scholarship on, 22–24
I and self-concept, 28–29
Identity sexual minority development, 9
ability and disability, 82–87 social identity, 27
aging, 43–44, 62–64 stigma, 86
and career development, 45–46, tapestry, 43, 51–53
117–120 Identity theory, 13, 14, 27, 49, 81
158 INDEX
Impression management, 29–30, 91 O

Individual identity, 23–25, 123, 133 Organizational development, 2, 17,
Institutional knowledge, 127 21, 32
Inter-disciplinary, 39
P
J Performance, 29–30, 50, 54, 136
Job search, 46, 94, 112, 134 Personal identity, 20–27, 87
Personalizing, 48–49
Physical and mental illness, 84, 86, 90,
L 118, 123
Leadership development, 2, 18, 21, Professional identity, 27–28, 36, 123
32, 83 Protean career, 55, 95, 102, 113, 130
Learning experience, 104
LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender) people Q
diversity training, 18, 30, 35 Queer theory, 43, 47–49, 56
explorations, 40
identity, 24
marginalization, 94–95 R
older adults, 81–82 Racial identity, 80–81
personal identity, 26 Relational contracts, 130
at work, 123 Religion, 6, 10, 52, 94, 119,
younger generations, 8–9 123–124
Retirement, 63, 65, 75, 79, 91
M
Marriage, and career development, 46, S
118, 122 Scholarship
Mentoring programs, 30, 31, for career development, 4
48, 133 and diversity training, 25
“Mid-range lens” approach, 3 heterogeneity, 35
Military/veterans status, 61, 119, HRD, 14–20, 116
120–127 on identity, 22–24
Minimum wage policy, 42, 93 Self-concept
development, 48
identity and, 28–29
N multidimensional nature, 7
New York Times, 93 process, 50
Non-traditional students, 100–105, shaping, 52
113 variability, 117
INDEX 159
Self-confidence, 33, 76, 130 Trainer, 14, 19

Sexual orientation identity, 81–82 Trainer identity, 15, 17–21
Skills based training, 2, 21, 31 Trainer’s identification
Social identity, 13, 21–23, 27, 36, 123 with “message” of training
Social media, 6, 28, 93, 94, 126 program, 19–20
Social psychology, 21, 34 practical illustrations and
Socio-economic status, 119, 121, 124 examples, 20–22
Sociology, 5, 15, 21, 39 Transactional contracts, 129–130
“Soft skills” training, 31
State University of New York (SUNY)
system, 24
V
Subjective career success, 54–59
Vocational identity, 46
Symbolic interactionism, 40, 91, 136
T W
Technology Women
in career development, 18–19 expectation for, 74–75
and globalization, 54 older women and career
higher education, 107 development, 43, 44
impact, 6 retirement, 76, 79
job searching, 134–135 in the United States, 79
minimum wage, 42 into workforce, 41
and social media, 94, 126
unprecedented access, 93
Tension, 50
Title VII of the Civil Right Act of Z
1964, 4, 124 “Zoom lens” approach, 2–3

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Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma

More information about this series at

Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017937540

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

Cover illustration © Harvey Woods / EyeEm / Getty Images

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

complexity, multiplicity, dynamism, and situated nature of individual

yet immersed in similar careers (albeit with unique trajectories), I began to

of identity and its relevance to HRD theory and practice, drawing on

autoethnographic approaches can be comforted by Julie’s deeply personal

Bangor University, UK Sally Sambrook

identity), has real consequences for career development. Going through a

1 Introduction: Context, Purpose, and Problem 1

2 Examining the Construct of Identity and Its Relevance

3 Identity is Constructed and Career Success is Subjective 39

4 Demographics, Identity, and the Matrixed Nature

5 Life Events that Impact Identity 89

6 Other Factors that Impact Identity 97

7 Human Resource Development, Identity, and Career

8 Conclusions: Where Do We Go from Here? 129

Fig. 6.1 Higher education: The concentric nature of individual,

Table 2.1 A typology of the role of HRD programs, modalities,

Introduction: Context, Purpose,

© The Author(s) 2017 1

purpose, nor my interest. Human resource management includes stafﬁng,

development. I take a “zoom lens” approach to examining the issue of

discrimination and disparities for under-represented groups continue is

accidental appearance or reality of illegal discrimination. Second, the book

bisexual, and transgender) person, having children, or becoming disabled,

Acknowledging the multidimensional nature of the self-concept, Leonard

People’s identities change over time; it is important to resist the notion

people experience identity development. It is important to consider sexual

book problematizes, because career success is subjective). Some aspects of

FOCUS ON RESEARCH AND ON PRACTICE

The book is relevant and signiﬁcant for individuals because addresses

Examining the Construct of Identity and Its

© The Author(s) 2017 13

identity of a trainer plays in program design, delivery, and evaluation. The

“CIPD Profession Map” (located at https://www.cipd.co.uk/learn/

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

To date, there has been little to no research in HRD that examines

THE ROLE OF CRITICAL THEORY IN IDENTITY

practice. This claim is offered by the perspective of an HRD practitioner

THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

THE IMPACT OF TRAINER IDENTIFICATION WITH ORGANIZATION

identity and examining the construct of social cognition, I intend to

PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND EXAMPLES

Through exercising professionalism and artistry these indeterminate situa-

This discussion raises questions related to the very design of a training or

HRD initiatives. Rather, it suggests that having an awareness of the role

Individual identity is concerned with the self; personal identity is con-

Identity can be an explicit construct, illuminated during mundane transac-

State University of New York (SUNY) system: allows students to identify

This act of signaling is a trope, which has a signiﬁcance that it is difﬁcult to

[P]ersonal identity typically refers to unique personal attributes—those

Alvesson et al. (2008, p. 6) offer a helpful deﬁnition of individual identity

One’s personal identity implies certain forms of (often positive) subjectivity

In general, one’s identities are composed of the self-views that emerge

The self . . . is essentially a social structure, and it arises in social experience.

PI as a crucial process through which their respective phenomena unfold—

potentially be a unique dynamic. Each relationship is potentially special