Exploring Boundaryless Careers in the French Context

Abstract In the past few years, research in careers has questioned the supremacy of the organizational career, and proposed a new concept to refer to the discontinuities and new forms of mobility experienced by an increasing number of people in their professional lives. This ‘new career’ has also been called the ‘boundaryless career’ (Arthur and Rousseau 1996) and the ‘post¬ corporate career’ (Peiperl and Baruch 1997). In a similar way to the ‘protean career’ (Hall 1976), the new career is no longer shaped by organizational needs but emerges from actions and choices of individuals, who act as inter-organizational players in the market for competencies (Arthur et al. 1999). They manage their careers in a more autonomous fashion, moving between jobs, companies, or professions, in order to accumulate competencies and increase their employment value.