Discuss how and why careers today are different from those in the past

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: People once viewed careers as a sort of upward stairway from job to job, more often than not with one or at most a few firms. Today, recessions, mergers, outsourcing, consolidations, and more or less endless downsizings have changed the rules. Many people do still move up. But more often employees find themselves having to reinvent themselves. For example, the sales rep, laid off by a publishing firm that's just merged, may reinvent herself as an account executive at a media-oriented advertising firm. Careers today differ in other ways from a few years ago. With more women pursuing professional and managerial careers, families must balance the challenges associated with dual career pressures. At the same time, what people want from their careers is changing. Baby boomers—those retiring in the next few years—tended to be job- and employer-focused. People entering the job market now often value more opportunities for balanced work-family lives.