Answer:

The types of career patterns are different from the concept of life stages. It is in

terms of the nature of the chosen career in terms of time period. Davidson and

Anderson (1937) FOUND four types of career patterns in this regard. They are:

i) The Stable Career Pattern: This pattern is applicable on those persons

who have gone directly from school or college into a type of work that they

have consistently followed, i.e., they have skipped the trial work period. A

person chooses a career and sticks to that till he retires. A few examples of

people having stable career patterns can be Defence Services, Banking,

Civil Services, Central Services, Income-tax, Teaching, Secretarial Services,

Chartered ACCOUNTANCY and so on.

ii) The Conventional Career Pattern: In this CASE the typical progression is

from initial through trial to stable employment as Managerial, Clerical,

MBA, Computer Engineering, Executives and so on. The person has not

taken up a stable career. He tries his fortunes in different careers, before he

finally takes up any stable or enduring one, which is satisfying to him.

iii) The Unstable Career Pattern: Here, the sequence trial-stable-trial is

followed. In this category, we may consider careers related to various crafts

as career in fashion technology, dance, music, etc. The person moves from

one to another career or business or part-time job, as Consultant, Property

Dealer etc.

iv) The Multiple-Trial Career Pattern: In this pattern frequent change of

employment takes place with no one type SUFFICIENTLY prolonged or dominant

to justify calling the person established in a career. Examples may be quoted

from Consultant, Technical Assistants’ etc