Boundaryless careers in the personal management of professional transition: a study of former employees of a privatized institution

Current professional options are different from those that were envisioned in the early career plans of certain people, such as former employees of Banespa, privatized in 2000. The research presented in this article aimed to identify whether and how boundaryless careers are manifested in the management of the professional transition of these workers. The methodological approach was quantitative, submitting a closed questionnaire to a random proportionate sample, stratified into two groups: those who remained in the institution following privatization and those who accepted voluntary redundancy in 2001. The assumption raised by hypothesis 3 that the two groups' responses would differ, was rejected. The results, which led to the acceptance of hypothesis 2, indicated that the way in which one manages one's career while employed by a stable organization influences the personal management of one's professional transition, and also influences the manifestation of boundaryless careers. It was impossible to establish a pattern for this manifestation during the professional transition; thus, hypothesis 1 was accepted. We concluded that boundaryless careers may not correspond to the absolute reality of current careers, but is certainly helpful when attempting to understand them.