Career switching in the 21st century : an extended integrative approach

Abstract

Career switching represents an important component of employee turnover. The scourge of costs associated with employee turnover traverses geographies, organisations and occupations. Despite variations in reported figures, it is estimated that the total cost associated with employee turnover ranges between 120% and 200% of the annual salary of the employee who leaves depending on the skills, experience and level of the employee in the organisation. Whilst a lot of research has been done on job change, much less has been published on career change. In addition to exploring why professionals switch careers, this study aimed to probe differences between career switchers and non-switchers, define typical profiles for the career switcher and non-switcher, as well as predict the propensity of a professional to switch career given an array of input variables.