Emerging Adults Embarking on Their Careers: Job and Identity Explorations in the Transition to Work

Abstract

It has been argued that the transition from adolescence to adulthood has been prolonged in many industrialized countries with many young adults pursuing a higher education degree. Accordingly, Arnett introduced a new life phase “emerging adulthood” in which the transition from education to work is a central event. The current systematic literature study aims to provide insight into how young adults experience this life event. Our search strategy revealed 23,966 unique search results. After a thorough selection and quality appraisal of the studies, 29 studies focusing on job and identity explorations were selected. Results show that emerging adults expect to hold different jobs after graduating and indications were found that job mobility does take place in this period. However, it is important to distinguish conscious exploration from floundering. Findings also show that the development of a professional identity is challenging and entails searching for a balance between different aspects of life.