Navigating career insecurity: resource-based interventions for practitioners Open Access

Career insecurity describes an individual's thoughts and worries that important aspects of their future career might possibly develop in an undesired manner (Spurk et al., 2022, p. 253). As operationalised by Spurk et al. (2022) in the Multidimensional Career Insecurity Scale (MU-CI-S), career insecurity is not a single feeling or cognition but an array of feelings and concerns across eight dimensions (Spurk et al., 2022, p. 253): (1) CI-Career opportunities; (2) CI-Decreased prestige and qualification requirements of the employment; (3) CI-Contractual employment conditions; (4) CI-Unemployment; (5) CI-Change of workplace; (6) CI-Retirement; (7) CI-Work-nonwork interactions; and (8) CI-Discrepancy between individual resources and work demands.

Four features are central and matter for practice. First, career insecurity always has an insecurity component — it is both cognitive and affective (i.e. worries, anticipatory concerns), not merely an objective risk. Second, it is oriented to the future (mid-to long-term). Third, it is multidimensional: different clients worry and think about different combinations of the eight MU-CI-S dimensions. Finally, its roots and remedies are both intra- and extra-organizational (i.e. insecurity perceptions extend beyond the current job)—workplace policies, labour markets, and broader social protections shape what clients feel and think.

The Career Resources Model (Hirschi, 2012; Hirschi et al., 2018) offers a useful integrative framework for understanding how individuals can cope with and overcome career insecurity. It identifies four broad categories of career resources: Human capital career resources (e.g. occupational expertise, job market knowledge), environmental career resources (e.g. career opportunities, organizational and social career support), motivational career resources (e.g. career clarity), and career management behaviours (e.g. networking, career exploration, learning), that enable people to pursue self-directed and sustainable careers.

In the following, I outline two central practitioner-oriented tasks: first, identifying which dimensions of career insecurity are most salient to the client, and second, focusing on strengthening the relevant career resources to address these worries and concerns effectively.

For career counsellors and career coaches, the first step is to acknowledge career insecurity as a multidimensional phenomenon. This requires identifying which insecurity dimensions (Spurk et al., 2022) are most salient for the client — for example, worries about unemployment, retirement, or work–nonwork balance — and understanding how these concerns play out across intra- and extra-organisational contexts. Mapping these concerns provides a structured picture of the insecurity profile, helping to avoid treating career insecurity as a vague or one-size-fits-all problem.

For a more precise assessment, practitioners can draw on a valid and reliable measurement tool: the MU-CI-S developed by Spurk et al. (2022). The MU-CI-S captures career insecurity across eight distinct dimensions, each measured with four items, resulting in a total of 32 items that respondents complete. Completing the full MU-CI-S typically takes about 5–8 min and is therefore not time-consuming. While a short form of MU-CI-S (i.e. selection of one item per dimension from the original MU-CI-S scale by Spurk et al., 2022) has been proposed by Cai et al. (2024), it is important to note that selecting a single item per dimension of the original MU-CI-S may capture only a narrow aspect of a dimension. To adequately reflect each dimension's full content, any valid and reliable short form to assess multidimensional career insecurity as conceptualized and defined by Spurk et al. (2022) would need to ensure that each item represents the full breadth of the respective dimension (Example CI-Career opportunities: central aspects are promotions, increased responsibilities, and further development, instead of only one aspect [i.e. promotions as used in Cai et al., 2024]).

Using the MU-CI-S (Spurk et al., 2022) is a structured approach that allows career counsellors and coaches to quantify the specific areas in which a client experiences the highest levels of career insecurity, rather than relying solely on general impressions of insecurity. The MU-CI-S items are available in German, English, and other languages, making the instrument suitable for international applications and cross-cultural research (Spurk et al., 2022). In practice, practitioners who cannot administer all 32 items may first identify, in conversation with the client, which dimensions are most relevant. They can then focus on the selected dimensions using the MU-CI-S items for those dimensions, ensuring a targeted yet valid assessment (Spurk et al., 2022). In addition, the selection of relevant career insecurity dimensions can also be guided by the client's primary concern or counselling goal (Spurk et al., 2022). For example, when the focus lies on issues related to health (e.g. physical symptoms), dimensions such as CI-Discrepancy between individual resources/work demands may be particularly informative. In contrast, concerns about career satisfaction may call for a closer examination of CI-Career opportunities (Spurk et al., 2022). In these ways, the assessment can be aligned with the desired outcome, ensuring that interventions target the most relevant aspects of the client's career insecurity profile.

To complement the assessment of career insecurity, practitioners can also evaluate the career resources that individuals draw upon to manage their perceptions of career insecurity. The Career Resources Questionnaire (CRQ), developed by Hirschi et al. (2018), measures both personal and contextual career resources and is also available in German and English for working adults (Hirschi et al., 2018). The questionnaire is freely available online and takes approximately 10 min to complete. Upon completion, respondents receive an individual results report that summarizes their career resource profile. In addition, several complementary working materials are provided to support practical application (Hirschi, n.d.). These include the Career Resources Workbook (available for both students and employees), which helps individuals reflect on and strengthen their resources; the Interview Guide for Professionals, which enables career development practitioners to qualitatively assess clients' career resources and discuss the results of the CRQ in greater depth; and the Career Professional's Guide: How to Use the Career Resources Questionnaire for Career Interventions, which offers step-by-step guidance for integrating the tool into career counselling and coaching processes (Hirschi, n.d.). By integrating insights from the MU-CI-S and the CRQ, practitioners gain a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between career insecurity and career resource availability, enabling them to tailor interventions that address the client's unique profile.

Interpreting MU-CI-S profiles involves examining the pattern of scores across the eight career insecurity dimensions to identify which aspects of career insecurity are most salient for the client. High scores on specific dimensions may indicate areas where targeted support is needed. Career development practitioners can use these profiles as a starting point for dialogue, asking follow-up questions to explore the client's experiences and perceptions in greater depth. For instance, a high score on the CI-Work-nonwork interactions dimension could lead to questions about how work demands interfere with personal life, or which strategies the client has tried to regain balance. By combining the quantitative profile with qualitative exploration, practitioners gain a richer understanding of the client's subjective experience, allowing interventions to be more precisely tailored to their needs.

Future research should investigate the prevalence of different MU-CI-S profiles and, in parallel, develop and rigorously test interventions to make accessible, evidence-based solutions available to practitioners and clients in the long term.

Career insecurity typically signals threatened or insufficient resources. For example, concerns about changing qualification requirements highlight gaps in career capital, fears of unemployment and contractual precarity suggest weak contextual resources, and a perceived discrepancy between personal resources and job demands undermines motivation and well-being. Therefore, the second step is to develop and apply career resource-focused interventions. Therefore, career insecurity can be mitigated by protecting existing resources, replenishing depleted ones, and building new, transferable career resources. Depending on the client's career insecurity and career resource profile, this may involve working on motivational resources such as self-clarity and adaptability, mobilising social support systems, encouraging career management behaviours, or addressing specific needs such as financial security or health maintenance. By shifting the focus from short-term reassurance to active resource building, counsellors and coaches help clients strengthen their long-term capacity for sustainable careers — balancing health, happiness, and productivity over time. This view is consistent with the Sustainable Career Ecosystem Theory (SCET) perspective (Donald and Jackson, 2023; Donald et al., 2024), which conceptualizes career development as a dynamic system shaped by the interactions among multiple actors—such as individuals, organizations, career practitioners, governments, professional associations, and AI—across local, national, and global contexts. From this lens, the client represents one element within a broader ecosystem in which resources are continuously exchanged, supported, or constrained by environmental conditions.

A key avenue for intervention lies in strengthening motivational career resources, particularly those related to career identity. Research has shown that enhancing resources such as self-clarity and career-goal clarity can directly contribute to a reduction in career insecurity. For instance, Ebner (2021) conducted an intervention study to examine the impact of career coaching through the lens of the Career Resources Model (Hirschi, 2012). Their findings indicate that working on clients' self-clarity supports the development of career-goal clarity, which, in turn, fosters career optimism and reduces career insecurity. This study presents a process model for career coaching interventions, where practitioners first help individuals strengthen their understanding of themselves (i.e. self-clarity). By doing so, clients can define clearer career goals, leading to greater confidence and perceived security in managing their career paths. These insights suggest that interventions focusing on motivational resources are not only beneficial for goal setting but can also serve as a protective mechanism against career insecurity. Practitioners can thus design coaching strategies that explicitly target self-concept and goal clarity as prerequisites for career resilience and optimism, creating a structured pathway from personal resource development to reduced career insecurity.

Environmental career resources, particularly social resources, play a crucial role in alleviating career insecurity by providing individuals with supportive networks (i.e. social career support) and organizational career support. Research has consistently highlighted the buffering effects of career support against perceptions of insecurity. For example, Hofer et al. (2021) demonstrated that organizational career support can serve as a protective factor against job insecurity, enabling employees to maintain career optimism and motivation even in uncertain circumstances. Similarly, Probst et al. (2018) suggested support as a potential starting point for interventions addressing job insecurity, emphasizing that social networks can help mitigate the perceived threats associated with employment instability. The Career Resources Questionnaire (CRQ; Hirschi, 2012; Hirschi et al., 2018) further underscores the theoretical significance of social and organizational career support. Within this model, environmental resources are seen as key enablers for managing career challenges. By assessing social and organizational career support, practitioners can identify leverage points for intervention, such as enhancing access to mentorship, strengthening peer networks, or facilitating organizational initiatives aimed at career development. Such interventions can mitigate the negative impact of insecurity and foster a more resilient career environment, enabling clients to plan and navigate their career trajectories effectively. This systemic interplay between individual and environmental resources further underscores the dynamic nature of sustainable career ecosystems (Donald et al., 2024), where the effectiveness of interventions depends not only on the client's internal resources but also on the responsiveness and support of surrounding actors.

In addition to motivational and environmental career resources, practitioners can also work on other career resources to strengthen clients' capacity to manage career insecurity. These include career management behaviours, such as networking, career exploration, and continuous learning, which enable individuals to proactively shape their career paths. Moreover, human capital career resources, including occupational expertise, job market knowledge, and soft skills, are critical assets that enhance employability and career resilience (Hirschi et al., 2018). By integrating interventions that target the different dimensions of career insecurity and career resources, practitioners can create a comprehensive approach. This enables clients not only to reduce insecurity through internal clarity and goal setting but also to actively build support systems and tangible career resources, thereby fostering both confidence and agency in navigating their careers.

Increasing career adaptability represents another promising avenue for reducing career insecurity, particularly over the medium to long term (Spurk et al., 2016, 2025). Spurk et al. (2016) have shown that enhancing an individual's career adaptability can increase marketability, which in turn is associated with lower levels of career insecurity. By developing career adaptability, individuals become more capable of responding to evolving labour market demands, thereby strengthening their career resilience. Similarly, interventions aimed at enhancing employability can serve a preventive function. As Probst et al. (2018) highlighted in the context of job insecurity, proactively seeking opportunities for skills development and training helps individuals maintain competitiveness in the labour market. By combining career adaptability interventions with marketability-focused and employability-focused strategies, practitioners can provide clients with tools to actively shape and secure their career trajectories, reducing the likelihood that future uncertainty will translate into heightened career insecurity. In this sense, fostering career adaptability not only addresses existing concerns but also functions as a preventive strategy, preparing individuals to manage potential career disruptions and challenges before they become critical stressors. Integrating these approaches within a SCET (Donald et al., 2024) highlights that lasting reductions in career insecurity depend on coordinated efforts across multiple system levels—linking individual adaptability with organizational, societal, and policy-level support.

Career insecurity not only reflects individual worries and concerns regarding career development but is also associated with tangible negative consequences for both the individuals (i.e. the clients) and the organizations. Spurk et al. (2022) demonstrate that career insecurity undermines key indicators of sustainable careers. At the individual level, career insecurity is negatively related to career satisfaction and job satisfaction, reducing people's sense of meaning and fulfilment in their work. It also erodes career attitudes: insecure individuals are less committed to their careers and more likely to develop intentions to leave the chosen career path, creating insecurity for their professional development trajectories.

Career insecurity also has significant implications for health and well-being (Spurk et al., 2022). Higher levels of career insecurity are linked with physical symptoms such as stress-related complaints and burnout exhaustion. These outcomes not only diminish quality of life for the individual but also undermine their ability to sustain motivation and productivity over time.

For organizations, the consequences are equally critical. Career insecurity is associated with lower in-role performance and higher levels of counterproductive work behaviour (Spurk et al., 2022). This means that employees experiencing career insecurity are less likely to perform effectively in their jobs and more likely to engage in behaviours that disrupt workflows or damage organizational climate. Combined with elevated turnover intentions, these effects can weaken organizational stability, increase costs related to recruitment and absenteeism, and erode overall productivity.

From a practitioner perspective, these findings underline the dual value of addressing career insecurity. For clients, counselling and coaching interventions that reduce career insecurity and strengthen career resources foster greater happiness, health, and productivity. For organizations, supporting employees in managing career insecurity can lead to improved performance, reduced turnover, and a healthier, more engaged workforce. Investing in interventions that acknowledge the multidimensional nature of career insecurity and build individual resources is therefore not only beneficial for the career sustainability of individuals but also strategically relevant for organizational effectiveness and long-term competitiveness.

While this paper provides a general framework for addressing career insecurity, it is important to note that cultural factors may influence how career insecurity manifests and how clients respond to interventions. In line with the SCET, which distinguishes between local, national, and global levels of context (Donald et al., 2024), cultural factors may interact with these contextual layers to shape clients' experiences and perceptions of career insecurity. Future research could explore cross-cultural variations across these levels to enhance the applicability of the proposed model.

Career insecurity is inherently complex, as it involves insecurity about future career trajectories that often extend beyond the boundaries of a single organization. Career development practitioners must recognize that many influencing factors—such as labour market trends, organizational policies, national regulations like retirement age, and emerging technological shifts (e.g. STARA: Smart Technology, AI, Robotics, and Algorithms)—are largely outside the client's direct control. Ethical practice, therefore, requires a context-sensitive approach that balances realistic guidance with the promotion of career resources. This view is further supported by the SCET (Donald et al., 2024), which situates individual experiences of career insecurity within broader, interdependent systems operating across local, national, and global levels. From this perspective, career insecurity emerges not only from personal or organizational circumstances but also from the dynamics of the broader career ecosystem.

Practitioners should ensure clients are fully informed about both opportunities and structural limitations, emphasizing transparency regarding the aspects of career development that cannot be directly influenced. Therefore, interventions must be evidence-based, culturally and contextually appropriate, and designed to empower clients to navigate an evolving landscape while maintaining confidentiality, fairness, and respect for their autonomy.

Career insecurity represents a fundamental challenge of the contemporary labour market, shaped by rapid technological, organizational, and societal changes. As careers become more nonlinear and less predictable, the role of career development practitioners, such as career counsellors and coaches, extends beyond immediate support to fostering long-term career adaptability and resilience. By focusing on the development of transferable career resources, practitioners help clients navigate career insecurity with agency, rather than relying solely on temporary reassurance or reactive coping strategies.

A resource-based approach emphasizes the importance of treating career insecurity as a multifaceted phenomenon. Clients' worries and concerns may range from short-term to mid- and long-term reflections on different topics. Interventions that identify the importance of the eight dimensions for the client and map them against available personal, social, and organizational resources enable targeted, effective support. Strengthening depleted resources, protecting existing ones, and cultivating new capabilities allows clients to act proactively, making informed decisions that sustain happiness, health, and productivity (i.e. sustainable career development; De Vos et al., 2020) across different contexts.

Importantly, career insecurity is shaped by factors often beyond an individual's control, such as labour market conditions, national regulations, organizational practices, and emerging technological trends—including Smart Technology, AI, Robotics, and Algorithms (STARA) (Hofer and Spurk, 2025, in press). This systemic perspective resonates with Donald et al.’s (2024) SCET, which highlights how multiple contextual layers interact to influence career trajectories, reinforcing the need for interventions that consider both individual agency and broader structural factors. Therefore, ethical career practice requires acknowledging these constraints while equipping clients to maximize their influence. This perspective emphasizes transparency, contextual awareness, and culturally sensitive guidance, all while empowering clients to act strategically and maintain confidence in their capacity to navigate career insecurity.

Career counsellors and coaches contribute to sustainable career development not by eliminating career insecurity—which is largely inevitable—but by enhancing the client's ability to respond constructively to it. This approach is consistent with the SCET (Donald et al., 2024), which emphasizes the interplay between practitioners and other ecosystem actors in supporting adaptive, resilient, and sustainable career pathways. Resource-oriented interventions cultivate resilience, agency, and adaptability, enabling individuals to maintain a balance between health, well-being, and performance over time. This approach ensures that career development support remains relevant, ethical, and effective, ultimately fostering careers that are both sustainable and fulfilling.