Definition of Boundaryless Career

Boundaryless career is defined as the career where individuals are not restricted to be employed to one employer in a single organization or to work within a specific field (Presti et al., 2019). In boundaryless career, individuals are free to explore different expertise and genre of work. Boundaryless career provides the concept of opting for different range of career across the organization. It is not only associated with the change of employers, can be expanded to varied career opportunities available in the market. The career opportunities can be derived by external networks, outsourcing, or freelancing. Boundaryless career draws in validation, worth and marketability of the employee from outside the current organization (Wiernik & Kostal, 2019). Individuals who are more family centric or influenced by personal reasons based their opinion of choosing internal career opportunities than external career. Boundaryless career challenges the influences of large organizations on the career of people in a large scale. The corporate restricting has focused more on employment relationship that is considered to be insecure and transactional instead of long-term employment. Employees serving full time to the same organization nowadays lacks psychological connection to the organization. It reflects the lack of employee loyalty to a single employer than of gaining employability as marketing one’s knowledge and skills in the external market. Boundaryless career can be availed in an opportunistic and unforeseeable market. The career is flexible and not constrained to the social structure of being exclusively employed to one organization, it also has helped in earning extra revenue in the market by selling off skills. The development of the career needs to reinforce individuals’ adaptability and direction towards the context of transactional employment. More employment opportunities can be sought by improving mobility in career through networks and relevant competencies (Duggan et al., 2021). The expansion in boundaryless career can be possible with the accumulation and possession of unique competencies, abilities in knowing “why, how and whom” for finding career in ambiguous market. Developing career competencies can help individuals identify and evaluate their skills, network, knowledge, expertise which can be useful in the market and the competencies that can be obsolete.

Boundaryless career takes place when an employee is forced to leave the job either voluntarily or involuntarily and move forward the organization (Locahb & Nath, 2019). During Covid-19, a pandemic broke out collapsing the economy of the entire world. In 2020, it hampered the global labor market. Organizations suffered great losses and to compensate the loss the organizations were forced to let go of their employees where millions of employees were furloughed (Hirschi, 2018). People were laid off from their respective jobs and the working pattern changed to work from home due to the imposition of lockdown which forced the offices to be closed to reduce physical contact. Certain industries like hospitals, nursing homes, grocery stores, warehouses, pharmacies kept on operating during Covid considered as essential services. Pandemic had a long impact on the economy and the market models of labour. Covid 198 affected the traditional work arrangements for full time employees. Covid 19 hindered the work involved in development of new technologies and trade links. In the past few years, there has been significant increase in the flexible employment of employees or workers across the world (Kost et al., 2020). Covid 19 affected the potential work and career relevant variables such as (a) working conditions (b) development of career (c) health and well -being (d) work motivations and behavior. The pandemic has affected the salaries and wages earned by the employees or workers. 27% employees only received an increment within the organization in the last 1 years. Almost 26% employees planned to switch from their current jobs whereas 80 % continued with their current jobs for career advancement and 38 % employees feel they are stuck at their career ladder with the onset of pandemic. People felt that they have not been provided enough opportunities to professionally advance in their career in the existing company. With the increase in issues like exuberant debt, loss of jobs, exhaustion of emergency savings led to the search of job opportunities where people can earn more from different work place. As society is grappled under the impact of Covid and remained standstill in the economy, technology has evolved as a saviour tool. Technology has helped people to work from home and shift to boundaryless career (Stauffer et al., 2019). There are job opportunities that can be availed as a boundaryless career without any objection from the employers.

Factors Influencing Boundaryless Career

Lockdowns left people with access to technology only. People became more active socially on digital platforms. It became a source of bulk marketing for the companies to promote and earn revenue. Digital marketing worked wonders using e-commerce platform increasing the demand for brand managers, content creator, SEO experts, marketing specialists and CRM.

The rate of the profession of online teaching increased during the Covid-19. All the schools and colleges were shut down as per the government guidelines which forced the student to avail the online classes. Online teaching flourished as students needed assistance with their educational curriculum and teachers came forward working online providing tutorial services beside other employment (Beigi et al., 2018)

Freelancing opens opportunities for different work type like content writing, graphic designing, fashion designing, public relations, photography. translator or marketing. These fields demand a specific set of skills which could be developed with little time and effort. It offers individual with a broad prospect of expanding their portfolio by exploring diverse nature of work. The unemployment rate can be sustained by the new job roles undertaken as a boundaryless career with the help of digitalization. Companies are seeking for employees with technological knowledge, digital literacy, agility and soft skills to have the ability for adapting to the dynamic environment (Duggan et al, 2021). It is important to skill up for thriving in the challenging environment where the competition has increased and the economy is plagued by inflation and increased unemployment rate.

During Pandemic, Cyber Security also boomed and flourished with a growth rate of 5% and above in the past months which has a promising career growth. Companies are now opting for remote working; hence it is evitable to secure the confidential data, networks, employee operations against security threats. Work sectors such as healthcare, retail, financial institutions, education, private and government organizations to secure private confidential data regarding online payment.

Influencers received an immense opportunity during pandemic as it helped in flourishing their business.  People refrained from going out and socially be in touch with others, they avoided going out. Tips and Tricks recommended by the influences is enormously viewed by people. The brands were able to endorse themselves digitally on online platforms with the help of the influencers and bloggers promoting their product online, Customers availed the product online which increased the sale rate and bloggers or influencers earned massive and it emerged as a prospering job opportunity in the market without being committed to any organization or leaving other job occupation.

Impact of Covid-19 on Economy and Job Market

The concept of boundaryless career emerged the most during pandemic and those who believed in skilling up taking it as an opportunity has been benefitted. It gave the clarity to the people for earning more and earning expertise in various domains with the help of various job opportunities provided in the market. Boundaryless career is beneficial and risky as well as it does not commit full time employment.

Career development is defined as the process of slowly improving and adding to the professional skill set of a working individual as well as gaining more and more experience in their area of work, with the main aim of boosting their financial and occupational status. With experience and effective skills, individuals are often able to climb to a position of power within their field of work (Arthur & McMahon, 2018). This is also a factor that encourages professionals in different industries to continuously look for better job roles. It should be mentioned here that career development is a very important part of the professional career, and therefore a number of different research studies have been conducted in this area of research. The theories derived from these studies are known to be closely associated with the concept of career development.

In order to understand this association, a number of different academic articles and journals were identified on relevant topics, and the same were analysed critically. The theories that are based primarily on relationships and how they impact career development (Arthur & McMahon, 2018). Five such theories were identified that was both authentic and reliable. The same are being outlined and briefly discussed below.

The theory of work adjustment or TWA observes and describes the different ways in which an employee can adopt to or adjust to their work environment. The main reason behind the making this adjustment, even when they can switch to or apply for another job is also included as a part of the theory as well. The theory centres around the process of adjustment by the employees (Bowling, Ball and Bird, 2020). It depicts the interaction with the other employees or people (P) as well as the environment of their work place (E).

• Holland’s theory of vocational personalities in work environment:

John Holland’s Theory of Career Choice claims that when an individual is given the option to choose a career for themselves, they often choose the careers where their co- workers share similar thoughts and values with them. This is because these environments allow them to express themselves freely, without any issues and perform to the best of their ability (Nagy, Froidevaux & Hirschi, 2019). Therefore, it can be said that career development is often based on creating positive professional relationships with like- minded people, in order to get further in their career.

Covid-19 and Traditional Work Arrangements

This theory is very popular in this area of study, and claims that an individual needs to be aware of their self- concept, by gaining clarity regarding the values and identity of their own being. The theory also claims that with time, the self- concept of an individual is changing and evolving continuously (Ponterotto & Park- Taylor, 2021). This highlights the need for career development as a part of an individual’s professional career. With changing self- concepts, they are able to adjust and interact with different types of individuals and allows them to make strong professional relationships with individuals belonging to different fields of work. Thus, this theory claims that the relationships that an individual builds throughout their professional career are one of the most important reasons behind the development and improvement of their own career.

This particular theory claims that the progress of career development of an individual can be divided into four different stages. The first stage of their career development is between the first 3 to 5 years of an individuals’ career. This stage claims that during this phase individuals aim to work with business organizations that are well- spread out in different countries. Thus, the power associated with the same is also an important basis for making this decision (Vondracek, Lerner & Schulenberg, 2019).  The second step usually arise in the 6 to 8- year age as a working professional. Here, the individual is able to identify their own self- concept, and their true calling in terms of their professional life. Step 3 brings out the importance of social valuation to different professionals around 9 to 13 years as a part of the corporate world. And finally, step 4 or once an individual has worked in a particular field of work for more than 13 years, becomes ready to become an effective leader within the same.

This is a popular and new theory that has been introduced into research studies conducted in different fields. This theory claims that career development is closely associated with three different areas or concepts. The first aspect was that of the interest that an individual had in their academic and professional life. These interests are often related to career development in these areas, through skill adoption and experience. The second factor that influences the career development of an individual is dependent on the process that many individuals use when making decisions and choices as a part of their academic life, or the initial portion of their professional careers (Wehmeyer et al., 2019). This is indicative of the design that an individual uses prior to career development, is reflected within the process of the same. The third factor is the success that an individual has seen as a part of their academic and professional life, is reflected in their career development strategies as well. For example, if an individual has worked extremely hard in their academic endeavours and have come up on top with brilliant results, adopts hard work as the method of improving their career in different aspects. On the other hand, if an individual takes the help of their classmates during a project often forms professional relationships to promote career development.

New Career Paths in Boundaryless Career

Based on the different theories outlined above, it can be seen that career development is a process that is impacted by a number of different factors. It can be clearly seen that the career development plan of a particular individual is partially based on their own personality. However, not all individuals gain self -awareness at a younger stage in their life. Therefore, the constantly changing or evolving self- concept of these individuals influences their corporate choices, and as a result of the same their career development process is impacted in a negative manner as well. Each and every professional has a particular area of operation that they are curious about even before they started their professional careers (Yates, 2019). These choices made at an early age also has a role in shaping the career -based choices that an individual would make. And finally, it was also seen that career development is often disrupted if an individual is not able to find a likeminded work force, so that exchange of ideas and thought is promoted. Thus, every professional aims to work in an industry, where they can interact with other people who have similar values and thoughts.

References

Arthur, N., & McMahon, M. (Eds.). (2018). Contemporary theories of career development: International perspectives. Routledge.

Beigi, M., Shirmohammadi, M., & Arthur, M. (2018). Intelligent career success: The case of distinguished academics. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 107, 261-275.

Bowling, A. M., Ball, A. L., & Bird, W. A. (2020). Exploring Motivational Strategies, Outcomes, and Theories within the Career Development Event Preparation Process. Journal of Agricultural Education, 61(1), 221-234.

Duggan, J., Sherman, U., Carbery, R., & McDonnell, A. (2021). Boundaryless careers and algorithmic constraints in the gig economy. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-31.

Hirschi, A. (2018). The fourth industrial revolution: Issues and implications for career research and practice. The career development quarterly, 66(3), 192-204.

Kost, D., Fieseler, C., & Wong, S. I. (2020). Boundaryless careers in the gig economy: An oxymoron?. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(1), 100-113.

Lochab, A., & Nath, V. (2019). Proactive personality, goal orientation and meta-skills as predictors of protean and boundaryless career attitudes. South Asian Journal of Business Studies.

Nagy, N., Froidevaux, A., & Hirschi, A. (2019). Lifespan perspectives on careers and career development. In Work across the lifespan (pp. 235-259). Academic Press.

Ponterotto, J. G., & Park-Taylor, J. (2021). Careerography: Application of psychobiography to career development. Journal of Career Development, 48(1), 7-19.

Presti, A. L., Manuti, A., & Briscoe, J. P. (2019). Organizational citizenship behaviors in the era of changing employment patterns: The complementary roles of psychological contracts and protean and boundaryless careers. Career Development International.

Stauffer, S. D., Abessolo, M., Zecca, G., & Rossier, J. (2019). French-language translation and validation of the protean and boundaryless career attitudes scales: Relationships to proactive personality, career adaptability, and career satisfaction. Journal of Career Assessment, 27(2), 337-357.

Vondracek, F. W., Lerner, R. M., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2019). Career development: A life-span developmental approach. Routledge.

Wehmeyer, M. L., Nota, L., Soresi, S., Shogren, K. A., Morningstar, M. E., Ferrari, L., … & DiMaggio, I. (2019). A crisis in career development: Life designing and implications for transition. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 42(3), 179-187.

Wiernik, B. M., & Kostal, J. W. (2019). Protean and boundaryless career orientations: A critical review and meta-analysis. Journal of counseling psychology, 66(3), 280.

Yates, J. (2019). Book Review: Contemporary Theories of Career Development: International Perspectives. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 1-2.