Carrière (ressources humaines)

The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word "career" as a person's "course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)". This definition relates "career" to a range of aspects of an individual's life, learning, and work. "Career" is also frequently understood to relate to the working aspects of an individual's life - as in "career woman", for example. A third way in which the term "career" is used describes an occupation or a profession that usually involves special training or formal education, considered to be a person's lifework. In this case "a career" is seen as a sequence of related jobs, usually pursued within a single industry or sector: one can speak for example of "a career in education", of "a criminal career" or of "a career in the building trade". A career has been defined by organizational behavior researchers as "an individual's work-related and other relevant experiences, both inside and outside of organizations, that form a unique pattern over the individual's life span." The word "career" ultimately derives from Latin carrus, referring to a chariot. The Online Etymology Dictionary claims the semantic extension whereby "career" came to mean "course of one's public or professional life" appears from 1803. It is used in dozens of books published in the year 1800, in reference to Goethe's "literary career," other biographical figures' "business career" and "professional career," so the phrase likely was in regular use by the year 1800. For a pre-modernist notion of "career", compare cursus honorum. By the late 20th century, a wide range of variations (especially in the range of potential professions) and more widespread education had allowed it to become possible to plan (or design) a career: In this respect the careers of the career counselor and of the career advisor have grown up.