Traditionally, organizational career management programs have been based on the premise that the organization was comprised of individuals who planned to spend their entire work life within that same workplace. This premise stemmed from early career stage models that depicted workers as being focused on upward movement within a clear and stable structure with one or two employers over their life spans (e.g., Super, 1957). Such traditional models suggested that paternalistic employers offer resources to its employees to enable these individuals to repeatedly win rounds in the career tournament (see Ng et al., 2005 for a review; Nicholson and De Waal-Andrew, 2005; Rosenbaum, 1979). Likewise, emphasis was placed on how certain factors, such as having a mentor (Kram, 1985; Forret and de Janasz, 2005), could enhance career outcomes, especially salary and rate of promotion (Feldman, 1990; Sullivan and Arthur, 2006).

However, over the last twenty-five years, the work landscape has dramatically changed (Baruch, 2004; Hall, 2002). Demographic shifts (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2004a&2004b), increased globalization (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989), the increased rate of technological advances (e.g., Friedman, 2005; Kanter, 2001) changes in the psychological employment contract (Rousseau, 1989; Rousseau and Wade-Benzoni, 1995; Conway and Briner, 2005), and the fundamental uncertainty of the career environment have called into question assumptions about traditional linear careers (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996; Cappelli, 1999; Hall, 1996; Osterman, 1996; Weick, 1996).