Protean Career Model and Retirement

Abstract The classic notion of retirement as the complete withdrawal from the workforce does not adequately describe the current career paths of people who are at retirement age. Older people are moving away from the traditional career stage model and to the career mini-cycle model. Continuous career development and learning will continue well into the later years. Retiring from a job is likely to be the beginning of another career, so retirement from one job is just another type of career transition. Based on this understanding of the protean career over the life span, the concept of career mini-cycles is particularly applicable for older workers, and this chapter explores the unique characteristics of these mini-cycles in the later years of adulthood.