Managing Self-management: Successful Transitions to Portfolio Careers

Various economic and social pressures have, arguably, combined to effect a shift in both the reality and perceptions of career structures. Recent debates have centred on the extent to which traditional organizational careers have given way to self-employment for a client portfolio. This article builds on distinctions between `subjective', `objective' and `organizational' careers to analyse how individuals manage the transition from a traditional to a portfolio-based career. It focuses on freelance translators, a group of workers with a long history of working outside organizations, and draws out some of the factors involved in their successful transition from employment to self-employment. It evaluates the constraints on creating portfolio careers, particularly the role of safety nets and professional networks, and explores the `organizing principles' to which translators refer in creating coherent narratives of their working lives. The article concludes that, in the absence of an organizational structure, clear identification of such principles proves to be critical for translators in defining both successful transitions and successful careers.