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CHAPTER 9
Changing patterns of guidance, learning and careers of older workers in Europe 179

both ʻdissatisfaction with work and skill mismatches are widespread, and while
tending to be overcome through career switches, thereby contribute to the
overall prevalence of work flexibilityʼ (Brynin and Longhi, 2007, p. 7). So job
mobility can be viewed as positive for individuals where it leads to progression,
greater satisfaction and personal development or negative if it is considered
forced, unrewarding and involves a ʻsense of lossʼ rather than development.
In nearly all European countries the most common way for people in low-
skilled employment to update their skills was by changing their jobs. This
finding is important in two respects. First, it means that public policy should
encourage people to find more challenging work if they are in undemanding
work – guidance and counselling could play a key role in this respect. Second,
it resonates with several ʻcase historiesʼ of people in our research study where
their personal development took off as they passed through ʻlow-skilled
employmentʼ with the switch to other forms of work opening up opportunities
for learning and development whether these were related to training and/or
more challenging work. For example, in Portugal and Poland some people
worked in assistant or junior positions before finding more challenging work
in the same sector or in a different field altogether (after transferring from work
in for example hotel and catering).
In some cases a shift between different forms of low-skilled work could allow
for greater development within work, improving adaptability and ability to apply
skills, knowledge and understanding in different contexts. For example, one
respondent started out over 40 years ago without any formal qualifications as
an apprentice painter and decorator and then moved through several low-level
jobs in construction and retail and progressed to managing a mobile shop,
travelling to remote communities, then a small travel agency, before becoming
self-employed as a grocery shop owner. Apart from some training and minor
qualifications related to work in a travel agency the driver for development
was always self-directed learning, inside or outside the workplace.
Being able to apply your skills, knowledge and understanding in several
contexts can itself act as a considerable spur to development. Again this has
profound implications for career guidance of older workers – it is possible that
individuals in their early 40s have made considerable progress with their skill
development since entry into employment and now need a slightly different
approach to enable them to make a career transition. It is at this point that
they would value support in helping them make that transition. For some
respondents, career possibilities had broadened since they first entered the
labour market. Helping such individuals to make these changes often seemed
to reenergise their work and learning trajectories.