Career Development for Personal and Societal Well-Being: Building Inclusive and Sustainable Futures

Achieving subjective well-being is one of people’s main goals, and having a successful career is an important source of subjective well-being. Contextual, situational, and personal factors may interfere with career development. Indeed, 21st-century society has been defined as a risky society, where risk, uncertainty, and change are prominent characteristics: globalization, unemployment, job insecurity, social inequalities, and all the technological changes that characterize 21st-century society can act as obstacles in translating one’s individual goal into career trajectories. In the face of these changes, traditional career counseling practices have entered a crisis in favor of holistic approaches that promote advantageous career planning. Life design from an inclusive and sustainable perspective encourages people to recognize that they can positively impact their future and the future of society. This chapter considers career development in today’s changing society, investigates its relationship with well-being, and emphasizes the importance of promoting an inclusive and sustainable approach to designing everyone’s future.