A career in professional services: accident, serendipity or something more?

Abstract

As part of a larger study, professional staff from two universities, Australian and British, were asked how they entered into a higher education career and what factors kept them in that career. Many participants reported that they found themselves in professional services almost by accident, or by a fortunate combination of circumstances. However, in addition to the serendipitous recruitment reported in earlier studies, our analysis found a positive value associated with higher education that attracted people to seek out employment opportunities, and to remain in the sector. This suggests that recruitment is not as accidental or serendipitous as might first appear. We argue that while there are many reasons why our participants remained in higher education, the variety offered in day-today roles and responsibilities is a key factor in retaining professional staff. Our findings have implications for policy and practice, for both the recruitment and retention of talented professional staff.

Chance in Career Choice: A Rank-Ordering Study

“…In addition, accidents or health problem, positive and negative work experiences are also defined as chance events. Other studies based on participant opinions about chance report similar results (Kim et al, 2019;Ulas-Kilic et al, 2020;Regan & Graham, 2018). In these studies, chance events frequently reported were personal or business relationship.…”

“…However, talking with family and close relatives was perceived as a chance when asked what chance events were. Similarly, in many studies, the relationships of participants were perceived by them as a chance factor (Betsworth & Hansen, 1996;Bright et al, 2005a;Hirschi, 2010, Kim et al, 2019Korkut-Owen, 2018;Ulas-Kilic et al, 2020;Regan & Graham, 2018). Participants describe it as a chance to have a family that supports them or to benefit from the experiences of family and close friends.…”

“…Unexpected or unplanned events and chances occur without being related to the career preparations and plans (Hirschi, 2010). While many studies revealed that individuals experience chance at different stages of their careers (Betsworth & Hansen, 1996;Bright et al, 2005aBright et al, , 2005bHirschi, 2010, Kim et al, 2019Korkut-Owen, 2018;Magnuson et al, 2003;Ulas-Kilic et al, 2020;Regan & Graham, 2018), our knowledge about chance events is still limited. For this reason, this study aims to investigate the position of chance in career choice, which is an important career decision for individuals.…”

Navigating a career in tertiary education management in an era of unceasing transformation

“…SDT has been used as a lens for understanding the intrinsic motivations of both professional services (Graham, 2013;Regan & Graham, 2018) and academic staff (Fein, Ganguly, Banhazi, & Danaher, 2017). By extension, we argue that SDT can serve as a useful framework for understanding the motivations of TE managers, and for reflecting upon, evaluating and critiquing professional practice, professional development and career progression.…”

How are important career services for Islamic college students?

“…Education is associated with doing good, making a difference, playing an important role, and will therefore be a positive environment for finding work. For some participants, education being a 'public good' matched their personal values, offering a more altruistic alternative to the perceived profit focus of the corporate world [2]. Therefore, higher education has an important role in developing careers and building the mental health of students to achieve a better quality and life planning.…”