Career Self-Management Competencies: Conceptualization and Measurement Based on a Career Self-Regulation Framework

In a labor market characterized by augmented dynamics and uncertainties, people increasingly need competencies to self-manage their career across their working lives. Based on a career self-regulation framework and an iterative process including researchers, career counselors, and stakeholders from education, business, and labor associations, we specified key career self-management competencies (CSM-C) in the domains of (a) goal setting, (b) mapping resources and barriers, (c) formulating and implementing action plans, and (d) monitoring and revising career management. We then developed and validated a new short 8-item measurement scale to assess self-perceived CSM-C. In two studies with two independent samples in Germany, we confirmed the new scale’s positive relation with measures of professional skills, personality traits, perceived social and organizational support, career attitudes and orientations, and career adaptability. We moreover established incremental validity for engagement in career behaviors, workplace status, employability, and career satisfaction beyond a range of constructs and a prominent existing career competencies scale. We outline how future research and career assessment practice can use the presented framework and measure to obtain a better understanding of what allows people to successfully manage their careers in an adaptable, self-directed way.