Dear Colleagues,

Career construction refers to the process through which individuals actively construct and manage their careers over the course of their lives. It is a dynamic and ongoing process that involves making career choices, setting career goals, adapting to environment changes, and navigating various career transitions. Recently, researchers have been exploring the relationships between career and sustainability (IAEVG 2022, 2023), and some researchers  have emphasized that career counseling can be a valuable support for sustainability (Cohen-Scali, 2018; Guichard, 2016), encouraging clients to reflect not only on their personal needs but also on global needs (Winn, 2014). In the seminal work of De Vos et al. (2020), the concept of sustainable career has been defined in terms of happiness (subjective feeling of satisfaction with one's career), and productivity (perception of having good performance and high career potential), health (physical and mental well-being). Expanding on this paradigm, Russo et al. (2023) introduce the novel dimension of social impact to this model of sustainable careers, underlining that sustainable careers contribute meaningfully to societal conditions. Consistently, Romero-Rodríguez et al. (2022) emphasized the significance of ethics and social justice in sustainable careers. Similarly, Rochat and Masdonati (2019) underscore that ethical considerations are integral to sustainable career decisions, with far-reaching implications for addressing global needs and urgent societal issues. Career construction and sustainability go hand in hand, empowering individuals to take control of their career trajectories and pursue paths that align with their values and goals while also contributing to a sustainable and thriving future (Di Maggio et al., 2022).

This special issue seeks to shed light on the importance of equipping adolescents and young adults with the adaptively resources mindset necessary to construct sustainable careers in an ever-changing world. In particular, the special issue aims to investigate the factors that can promote (or hinder) the construction of sustainable careers and propose interventions in educational and/or work contexts that can foster them.

We welcome a diversity of articles, such as conceptual and empirical articles, reviews, critical comments, qualitative and quantitative research, and meta-analyses, for submission to this Special Issue. We will accept manuscripts from different disciplines, addressing topics related to the scope.

Dr. Anna Parola

Dr. Andrea Zammitti

Prof. Dr. Jenny Marcionetti

Dr. Angela Russo

Guest Editors