Career decisions are amongst the most important we make. Unsurprisingly, much published research exists on this particular aspect of career behaviour. However, the overwhelming majority of studies have been carried out on young people making initial career decisions. This paper extends our understanding by examining how mid-career adults in three…

The drivers of learning for mid-career workers with few initial qualifications from the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy and Poland are examined. The focus in this article is upon the learning pathways and experience of the low-qualified drawn from empirical research which gathered and analysed the strategic career and…

The transition from tertiary education to work involves substantial uncertainty and changes between education programmes, jobs and industries. The current major disruption in the labour market is only going to increase this uncertainty, making it essential for graduates to be prepared for it. Graduates with more dynamic career trajectories are…

In France, trade union officers are former shop stewards who have chosen to work full-time for the union for several years. This research investigates the career transitions of former union officers who have returned to the labour market following extended experience with high-level responsibilities in the union. Semi-directed interviews were…

This article considers four interviews conducted with French citizens by a team of researchers as part of the research project "Learning for Career and Labour Market Transitions: individual biographies". Funded by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), this study sought to contribute to the development…

The study, upon which this special issue focuses, used narrative interviews to investigate how learning can support workers' transitions in the labour market in five European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain). The five countries were chosen to represent very different contexts in the way learning can support career and labour…

This article focuses on the methodological approaches used in the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) research project "Learning for Career and Labour Market Transitions--individual biographies". In particular, it illuminates how biographical approaches were employed to help the in-depth understanding of…

Undertrained workers, not dislocated workers, are the real problem in the American economy. The vast majority of the workers affected by structural change in the American economy appear to make employment transitions fairly swiftly and smoothly, with no need for public intervention. Undertrained workers, mostly employed and scattered in all…

Introduced in 1971, the French "Continuing Vocational Training (CVT)" system was designed to promote workers'"socio-professional promotion." The contribution of its induced mobility to the fulfillment of this objective has always been considered as one of its key performance indicators. Outcomes of the CVT over the last 3…

This book draws upon and extends a number of existing debates in the area of careers and opens additional dialogues on the future of working life. The book contains 13 papers, organized in three parts and an Introduction. The Introduction contains one paper, "Topics for Conversation: Career Themes Old and New" (Maury A. Peiperl and…