Developing Sustainable Careers Across the Lifespan: European Social Fund Network on 'Career and AGE (Age, Generations, Experience)

This book offers insights into facilitating sustainable careers through the study of a wide interdisciplinary range of policy investigations and assessment of ongoing practices in the field. By assessing and comparing the transferability of policies and good practices between firms in ten countries and regions of the European Union this book considers the development of sustainable careers across the lifespan at the levels of individuals, organizations and systems. This book is the culmination of a research project from the international European Social Fund network on ‘Career and Age, Generation, Experience(AGE)’. It discusses and offers observations on key concerns at the European level: How to make people work longer,  remain employable, develop sustainable competencies ? How to adapt the work environment and human resource management policies at employer’s level ? And finally, how can public authorities take measures and incentives to support sustainable careers for individuals?

Ans De Vos, PhD, holds the SD Worx chair “Next generation work: Creating sustainable careers” at Antwerp Management School, Antwerp, Belgium and is full professor at the University of Antwerp, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. She is also a research fellow at the Faculty of Business and Economics, KU Leuven. Her focal areas of interest are career development, sustainable career management and psychological contracts, which she approaches both from an individual and organizational perspective. She is academic director of the “Leadership & Career Development” track of all fulltime master programs organized at Antwerp Management School. 

Jean-Marie DUJARDIN holds a Ph. D. in Business Administration from University of Liège. He is Professor at HEC-Management School of University of Liège: he teaches Human Resource Management, competencies management, leadership and didactic of economics. He is academic responsible of the Research Unit in the Management of Competencies at HEC-Liège. This research unit has carried out researches on the management of competencies in the firms, on the competencies of leaders and managers, on forecasting the necessary qualifications in the labour market for a region, on assessment of competencies in the firms and on recognition of prior learning. 

Tim Gielens is Researcher at the Antwerp Management School in the Competence Center ‘Next Generation Work’. He holds a Master degree in Industrial Psychology (KULeuven) and an additional Master degree in Human Resources Management (Antwerp Management School). His current field of research is situated at the intersection of people and organization focusing on making careers and career management more sustainable, identifying the mechanisms of the new ways of working and finally facilitating the social dialogue in organizations by means of co-creation. 

Caroline MEYERS holds a Master in Political and Social Sciences, a Master of  Arts in European Studies from KU Leuven (Belgium) and a European Master of Public Administration from K.U.Leuven (Belgium) and Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer (Germany). In her present position, she is Expert transnational cooperation within the ESF-Agency-Flanders.  She is responsible within the European Social Fund Flanders for the co-ordination of transnational cooperation and contact point with the EC, responsible within the European Social Fund Flanders for the support structure and coaching of colleagues on transnational cooperation, Member or coordinator of several European networks (e.g.  the European network on gendermainstreaming, coordinated career and age) and member in the UNDP Roster of Experts in Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Public Administration (GEPA) since 2014.