Practice and research in career counseling and Development—2005

Career Development Quarterly, Dec, 2006 by Thomas F. Harrington, Theresa A. Harrigan

Rau and Adams looked at the recruitment of retirees for bridge employment (work after formal retirement). They studied workplace characteristics that may be attractive to the population, specifically, flexible work hours, explicit equal employment opportunity statements regarding mature workers, mentoring opportunities, and various interactions among these three conditions. A questionnaire completed by 120 university retirees, who had responded to job descriptions slightly revised to highlight different workplace characteristics, established that only flexible working arrangements were desirable to them.

Ulrich and Brott studied the experiences and decisions of 24 older workers employed in bridge jobs. Participants were over 62 and retired from long-term employment, and 71% of them had started bridge jobs within 2 months of retiring. The authors found that participants' decisions to pursue bridge employment was based on the desire to work on their terms, meaningful experiences, connections with previous careers, and financial needs. Benefits of bridge employment for participants included feeling better about themselves, a more balanced life, enjoyment of the work, and added financial resources. To transition into bridge jobs, the participants did not seek assistance from career counselors or through career-related workshops.

Recommendations for counseling older workers were provided by Kirk and Belovics (a), who reviewed previous research on career theories, employment counseling concerns, and resources for these clients. Factors that are unique to the older client included health status, physical and mental factors especially relating to occupational safety, visual and auditory issues, and lack of self-confidence and assertiveness. Prejudices and biases of others were issues for older workers, as were training needs. The appropriateness of commonly used assessment methods when working with older adults was also questioned. Kirk and Belovics (b) wrote a supplemental guide of 20 online resources for older adults.

Gender Perspectives

In their study, van der Velde, Bossink, and Jansen examined whether an employee's acceptance of international assignments would be determined by gender-related factors. Gender differences regarding acceptance of an international assignment and the willingness to follow a partner for a position overseas were studied across several variables: level of education, length of time with the employer; previous international experience; family factors; income; impact on career; priority placed on the career; the psychological contract between employee and employer; and role salience of career, partner, and parent. The authors concluded that there were significant gender differences and that rational choice and family power variables were more relevant for men. Of importance to women were life role salience and psychological contract elements. Regarding the willingness to accommodate one's career for a partner's transfer, all sets of variables proved to be significant predictors for men, whereas only rational choice and family power variables were significant for women.