Abstract
Today, one of the most important concepts in terms of human resources is a career. Today, many people are setting individual career goals for their work life and trying to improve their performance in order to achieve them, and many businesses are making great efforts to create career plans for the personnel that they employ and to implement them successfully. Career may not hold the same meaning for everyone. For some, a career is advancing in their work, for some achieving higher positions, for some improving themselves, and for some realizing themselves. In today's competitive conditions, where career is becoming more and more important both in terms of businesses and employees, tourism enterprises that want to gain an advantage over the target market and professional tourist guides representing countries, cultures, and people of the country must place importance on career management. Focusing on the importance of career management and career development practices in terms of tourist guides, this study assesses career management practices that can be used to improve the personal accomplishments and performances of tourist guides, as well as perform their profession correctly and promote employee and tourist satisfaction.
TopCareer Concept
The word career is used in French as “carriers” (car road), in Latin “carrus” (horse carriage) and English “career” (profession) (Aytaç, 2005). According to the Turkish Language Association (TDK) career is the “stage, success and expertise acquired in a profession with time and work” (TDK, 2017). In general, a career is an individual's ability to progress, experience and gain skills in any field of work throughout his working life. It is used in everyday life career is used in terms of progress, profession, work life, success, a role that an individual has in his / her work life and experiences related to this role (Bullock-Yowell, Peterson, Reardon, Leierer & Reed, 2011).
It seems that the basis of the career concept that emerged in the business world since the 1970s is based on the 16th century. Although the 16th century is considered the start date, being accepted as a scientific concept for the business world began with the book “Psychology of Occupations” by Anne Roe published in 1956. Later, many books were written by different authors about the subject and the subject of a career became debatable (Şimşek, Çelik &Akatay, 2007). Career Psychology, written by Donald E. Supper in 1957, was published in 1963 by Trideman and O'Hara, Career Development Selection and Adaptation and Individual Career Development Theory, and in addition, Profession Choice Theory written by John Holland in 1966 has made the career concept debatable. Since the 1970s, scientists have become more interested in how career and human life develops and changes. After the 1980s, managerial approaches emerged as a result of globalization, bringing career issues to the forefront (Çelik, 2004: p. 5).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Tourist Guide: Professional person who guides tourists in an area, who organizes a tour or who leads tourists on a tour.
Counselling: Something that provides direction or advice as to a decision or course of action.
Career: An individual’s work and life roles over their lifespan.
Career Management: It is the combination of structured planning and the active management choice of one's own professional career.