Career Perspectives and Decisions: dilemmas between professional and personal life

Abstract

An exemplary son. An outstanding employee of a notable consulting firm. A hardworking and intelligent student graduated in Business Administration and post-graduated in his field. Above all, with many dreams and professional perspectives. Antonio Cataldi is a normal individual, who could easily be mistaken for a close person, or even, the reader himself due to his life story. With a lot of effort and overcoming several barriers, the protagonist managed to establish himself professionally and be a reference in his area. However, such dedication came at a price: he neglected, too much, other aspects of life in the name of building his career. Cataldi needs to strike a balance between personal and professional development and that is his dilemma: but how? Despite being a fictional character, she was built on the basis of dilemmas, anxieties and sharing experiences postgraduate practice before career guidance processes, since 2004, generating great identification in students and participants. The aim this paper was to develop in the readers and authors of the case, mainly graduate students, the capacity for reflection in a critical and contemplative look at their lives and careers. The methodology used was a kind of systematic observation that allows analyzing the reality from observable phenomena. The main practical contribution was in its application to around 3,000 MBA and post-MBA students in executive education, with ages concentrated between the spectrum 25-35 years (90% of the public), to generate the initiative and the execution of a planning personal and professional (about 20% with an orientation professional, through mentoring or coaching, after monitoring the control group career) in a harmonious way, so that your professional growth is not accompanied by future regrets. Many students and young professionals seem to present the same career challenges, same dilemmas and indecisions as the protagonist. The main conclusion is that neglecting or canceling aspects deemed as important in the life of each developing individual can generate dissonance and emotional instability, in addition to affecting future professional choices.