Research on the Intelligent Career Framework: Where We Are and Where We Go from Here

The intelligent career framework emerged more than two decades ago when careers began to shift from long-term and secure to temporary and uncertain. Based on this framework, in taking career ownership, individuals develop knowing-why, knowing-how, and knowing-whom competencies that transcend any single employer. We synthesize previous research on this framework and develop a process model that unpacks how career actors make sense of the three ways of knowing in encountering career events and under the influence of situational factors. It also demonstrates the accumulation of the three ways of knowing through the links among them, based on which individuals enact and achieve sensemaking outcomes. Our review suggests directions for future research and has practical implications for career actors and organizations.