Editorial

The first 2026 issue of the Australian Journal of Career Development (AJCD) is particularly significant because it will include the Special Editorial “Memorial Piece for Peter Creed” by Wendy Patton (AJCD Editor Emerita). This issue highlights how every process of genuine advancement involves both reflexivity and the actions that follow from it. Reflexivity (Guichard, 2016) regards meaningful construction processes from the past, into the present, and towards the future (Di Fabio & Tsuda, 2018); thus, reflexivity requires us to remain anchored to the past of our Journal and to the careful work carried out by previous Editors, who have progressively built its development and advancement over time. Recognizing and valuing this legacy is fundamental to enhancing the future success of the journal. It is also worth considering a distinctive feature of AJCD: its courage to give voice to new perspectives and to welcome innovative developments within the field.

Thanks to the work of previous editors (Peter Creed, Peter McIlveen, James Athanasou, Wendy Patton, and Meredith Shears), AJCD has progressively maintained a high scholarly profile. From the very beginning of this editorial journey, the journal's tradition of rigor and openness has served as a key source of pathway and inspiration for us.

Regarding the structure of the present issue, it opens with two invited articles which contribute valuable perspectives regarding the broad theme of sustainability and sustainable development science (Komiyama & Takeuchi, 2006; Sahle et al., 2025; Takeuchi et al., 2017) in the career development field.

The first invited article by Mohandas P. Mimmi, Beatrice Van der Heijden, Asha S. Kutty, Anitha Thomas, and Gerardo Petruzziello situates employability within the framework of sustainable careers (Baruch et al., 2023; De Vos et al., 2020; Donald et al., 2024; Van der Heijden & De Vos et al., 2015), emphasizing that career development extends beyond short-term labor market outcomes. Sustainable employability involves developing capacities to maintain meaningful, productive, and healthy participation in work overtime, including continuous skill development, engagement with learning and work contexts, and adaptability to changing career conditions while preserving well-being and purpose.

Within this framework, academic engagement emerges as a key resource. Active participation in learning environments can foster patterns of initiative, involvement, and proactive career behavior, helping students manage their career trajectories in a sustainable way. This issue is particularly relevant in management education, where competition for industry placements and internships is intense. To enable students to flourish under such pressure, business schools increasingly invest in focused training, mentoring, and innovative approaches aimed at strengthening students’ employability and preparing them for both immediate and long-term career opportunities. By encouraging students to take ownership of their career development, higher education institutions contribute to forming graduates equipped to navigate complex and evolving career landscapes. Overall, the study highlights, using a two-wave research design and a quantitative survey-based analysis, the interplay between engagement, career-related behaviors, and employability processes. The findings also provide practical insights for professionals to enhance student engagement through well-defined expectations, systematic evaluation, and constructive feedback, supporting sustainable employability and long-term career development.

The second invited article by Kobus Maree regards perspectives for advancing career construction and eco-awareness for constructing sustainable futures. This article contributes to current debates on new opportunities for the discipline connected to the Sustainable Development Goals of the Agenda 2023 (United Nations, 2015), a topic particularly valued by AJCD. In particular, Sustainability Science represents an important pillar in contemporary literature, offering stimulating perspectives. This transdisciplinary field examines the interactions between natural and social systems in addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; United Nations, 2015). Within this framework, the Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development (PSSD; Di Fabio & Cooper, 2023; Di Fabio & Peiró, 2018, 2023; Di Fabio & Rosen, 2018, 2020; Rosen & Di Fabio, 2023) offers psychological lenses that help illuminate these complex dynamics and enrich the broader transdisciplinary approach. This invited article by Maree offers a forward-looking reflection on the evolving role of career counseling in contemporary societies. Building on earlier position theories and on recent developments in career theory such as sustainable development as fourth paradigm for twenty-first century careers (Hartung & Di Fabio, 2024), and the aligned new perspectives for life-design interventions in the anthropocene context (Cohen-Scali et al., 2025), the author outlines a renewed conceptual framework (Maree, 2024, 2025) that situates career counseling within the broader transformations characterizing the current historical moment, including technological change, social inequalities, and environmental concerns. By reviewing and integrating recent contributions in the literature, the article highlights the need for approaches that go beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. In this perspective, career counseling is a practice that can support individuals in actively shaping their career trajectories while remaining attentive to issues of social justice and sustainability issues. Particular emphasis is placed on strengthening personal agency, fostering hope and adaptability, and encouraging greater awareness of the connections between individual career choices and wider societal and environmental challenges.

After these two invited articles, the Journal continues its established approach showcasing a balance between quantitative and qualitative research. In keeping with its international orientation too, the issue features studies from scholars based in a wide range of countries, including Australia, India, Iran, Italy, South Africa, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Turkey. By including a variety of methodological approaches and international perspectives, the issue offers readers a contribution to a comprehensive view of current research trends, while fostering cross-cultural dialogue and comparative insights that are increasingly valuable in an interconnected academic and professional world. The first nucleus includes six quantitative articles.

The first quantitative article by Remya Lathabhavan and Hanan Eid Badwy expresses the Journal's emphasis on promoting SDGs. The integration of sustainability into organizational strategy has become an urgent priority for both researchers and practitioners. A key focus in this area is the role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in advancing the SDGs, turning organizations into agents of meaningful social, environmental, and economic change. This article makes a valuable contribution to this field by examining how HR practices explicitly aligned with SDGs influence employee behavior in the Indian context. The study investigates the mechanisms through which SDG-aligned HR initiatives (such as training, inclusion policies, and employee engagement programs) encourage proactive, responsible behaviors among employees. The research demonstrates that employees’ responses to sustainability-oriented HR practices are effected by the interaction between individual factors and organizational context, echoing the career ecosystem perspective. The findings show that HR practices are more than procedural tools; they can actively shape employees’ behavior in ways that support broader sustainability objectives, including equity and well-being. This work reinforces the notion that sustainable HRM strategies not only advance organizational objectives but also empower employees as active participants in promoting long-term, sustainable outcomes. Overall, this article aligns closely with the journal's emphasis on sustainability and provides both theoretical insights and practical guidance for organizations seeking to integrate SDGs into HR practices, bridging the gap between policy, organizational design, and individual behavior.

The article by Kylie Hillman, Ben Edwards, Daniel Edwards, Ali Radloff, and Jessica Arnup addresses career development frameworks to prepare young Australian people to navigate the growing complexity of the labor market and the diverse post-secondary education pathways available to them. Despite the strong policy emphasis on career education, there is limited systematic evidence on how students actually experience these programs in secondary schools. This article addresses this gap by examining the career-related activities of Year 10 students, drawing on data from a large-scale longitudinal study. The study investigates both the types of career education activities students participate in and the ways participation varies across different student and school characteristics. The analysis reveals that engagement is influenced by multiple factors, including school resources, program design, and individual student circumstances. These findings underscore the crucial need to contextualize career education practices: programs must be sensitive to the particular environment in which they are delivered, while policies and interventions should ensure that all students have equitable access to guidance and career support. Without attention to these contextual and structural factors, disparities in participation and benefit may persist, limiting the effectiveness of career education initiatives. By providing detailed, large-scale empirical evidence, the article offers valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and researchers interested in strengthening career guidance in secondary schools. It highlights how careful design and implementation of career education programs can support students in making informed choices, exploring opportunities, and developing the knowledge and skills necessary for their future pathways. Overall, the study emphasizes the importance of aligning career education with the specific needs and circumstances of students, ensuring that support is accessible, inclusive, and effective across diverse educational settings.

The article by Anna Parola and Jenny Marcionetti explores the role that career-related resources play in supporting pre-service teachers as they move from higher education into the professional world, paying particular attention to both career outcomes and personal well-being during this critical transition. Recognizing that the early stages of a teaching career can involve significant uncertainty and adjustment, the study examines how different combinations of career resources shape individuals’ experiences as they enter the workforce. The research adopts a longitudinal approach, collecting data at two different points in time in order to understand how resources present during teacher education relate to later professional and psychological outcomes. At the first stage, the authors identify distinct configurations of career resources among participants. These resources include a sense of calling toward the teaching profession, levels of career adaptability, and confidence in making career-related decisions. Using a person-centered analytical strategy, the study distinguishes three groups of individuals characterized by low, moderate, or high levels of these resources. The analysis also reveals notable gender differences in the distribution of these profiles, with female participants more frequently represented among those with stronger career resources. In a subsequent step, the study examines how belonging to these different profiles relates to experiences reported at the second data collection point. The results show that individuals with stronger career resources tend to report more favorable career outcomes, such as greater job satisfaction and lower intentions to leave the profession. These individuals also display higher levels of psychological well-being, reflected in greater life satisfaction and a stronger sense of flourishing. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of fostering key career resources within teacher education programs. They also invite further reflection on the role that a sense of calling may play in shaping career choices, professional commitment, and well-being among future teachers.

The article by Lale Oral Atac, Kemal Koksal, Hilmiye Turesin, and Ali Gürsoy draws on career construction theory to explore how university students develop the capacities needed to feel prepared for the labor market. Although higher education institutions typically provide similar educational opportunities to their students, individuals often differ in how confident they feel about their future employability. The study addresses this issue by examining the role of career adaptability in shaping students’ perceptions of employability and by considering whether personality traits influence this relationship. The research is based on data collected from university Turkish students enrolled in the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. Through a quantitative analytical approach, the authors investigate how adaptability-related competencies (such as the ability to plan, adjust, and respond effectively to career challenges) are associated with students’ perceptions of their readiness to enter the workforce. The findings indicate that students who report stronger adaptability resources also tend to feel more confident about their employability prospects. Importantly, the study also highlights the role of individual personality characteristics in shaping this process. In particular, the traits of conscientiousness and extraversion appear to influence how strongly career adaptability translates into positive employability perceptions. These characteristics function as amplifying factors within the adaptive process, strengthening the link between adaptability resources and perceived employability. At the same time, the results suggest that students who display lower levels of these traits may particularly benefit from opportunities to develop adaptability competencies. The findings also carry practical implications, suggesting that career guidance initiatives in higher education should consider individual differences when designing interventions aimed at supporting students’ transition into the labor market.

The article by Rezvan Salehi Najaf Abadi, Marziyeh Malekiha, Samaneh Salimi, Mohammad Rabiee, and Youssof Piltan focuses on the assessment of career goal discrepancy, a concept that plays a significant role in understanding how individuals evaluate their progress toward desired career outcomes. Perceptions of alignment (or misalignment) between career aspirations and actual achievements can influence motivation, self-regulation, and adaptive career behavior. Against this background, the study examines the measurement properties of the Persian version of the Positive Career Goal Discrepancy Scale, with the aim of providing a reliable instrument for research and practice within the Iranian context. The results support a valid instrument with strong internal consistency. The findings also showed that positive career goal discrepancy is associated with variables such as perceived employability and proactive personality, while it is negatively related to measures capturing unfavorable discrepancies between goals and outcomes. These patterns provide empirical support for both convergent and divergent validity. Overall, the study offers an important contribution by providing a validated tool for assessing perceptions of career progress among Persian-speaking populations. The availability of this instrument may facilitate future research on career development processes and support practitioners interested in monitoring how students evaluate their progress toward career goals.

The article by Caner Doğrusever and Mehmet Ali Padır addresses the developmental processes that support young people as they begin to form a vocational identity, facilitating them in shaping their career path and in developing the competencies required for leadership, by engaging in well-informed decision-making processes. Adolescence represents a crucial stage in which individuals start to reflect on their future roles and professional aspirations, often encountering uncertainties that require them to make meaningful educational and career-related choices. Understanding the psychological factors that facilitate this process is therefore particularly important for both researchers and practitioners working in the field of career guidance. The study focuses on the interplay between emotional intelligence, psychological resilience, and career adaptability among adolescents. The authors investigate how emotional competencies may contribute to adolescents’ capacity to cope with career-related challenges and to prepare for future occupational pathways. In particular, the research explores whether resilience acts as a mediating factor linking emotional intelligence to adaptability in career-related contexts. The analysis shows that adolescents who display stronger emotional intelligence tend to report higher levels of resilience, which in turn is associated with greater ability to manage career-related tasks and transitions. In this sense, resilience emerges as a central construct that facilitates the relationships between emotional intelligence and behaviors that enhance adaptability in career pathways. These findings highlight how personal resources interact to support adolescents as they navigate the complexities of career exploration and decision-making during this formative stage of life. Beyond its theoretical contribution, the study offers practical implications for professionals engaged in career counseling and educational guidance. By emphasizing the importance of both emotional competencies and resilience, the findings point to the potential value of interventions targeting these capacities in fostering adolescents’ readiness to manage vocational challenges and to engage in thoughtful career decision-making.

After this nucleus of quantitative articles, the issue includes a review and a qualitative article.

The review by Yashi Kapil and Swati Agrawal contributes to the growing debate on sustainable careers, a concept that has gained prominence as work environments become increasingly dynamic and uncertain. As career trajectories evolve and expectations around well-being and long-term employability grow, scholars have progressively moved beyond traditional views of careers to examine how individuals can maintain meaningful and productive participation in work overtime. The authors conduct a systematic literature review, examining a body of 51 contributions. Through a rigorous analytical process, the study reviews and synthesizes existing research in order to identify the main themes, conceptual approaches, and research directions that have shaped the discussion around sustainable careers. This review leads the authors to conceptualize sustainable careers as a dynamic and integrated system shaped by individual, organizational, and contextual factors that evolve across time. Within this perspective, careers develop through the interaction between the individual and their environment, and are maintained through processes such as adaptability, proactive behavior, and ongoing self-reflection. Sustainable careers are reflected in individuals’ health, happiness, and productivity. Furthermore, sustainable careers cannot be understood solely as an individual phenomenon. Rather, they emerge from the interaction between personal resources and broader contextual influences, including organizational practices and strategies, family support systems, and temporal dynamics shaping career development. A key insight highlighted concerns the strong interdependence between individual factors and organizational conditions that enable or constrain the sustainability of careers.

The final article in this issue presents a qualitative study by Salvatore Zappalà, Ferdinando Toscano,

and Simone Donati drawing attention to the importance of the organizational context in shaping employees’ opportunities to recover from work demands. While recovery from work has traditionally been understood as an individual process occurring outside the workplace, the authors argue that organizational conditions can either facilitate or hinder employees’ ability to restore their psychological and physical resources. To address this gap, the paper introduces the concept of Organizational Climate for Recovery (OCR), referring to employees’ shared perceptions of the extent to which recovery-related behaviors are expected, valued, and supported within their organization.

The contribution adopts a conceptual approach enriched by exploratory qualitative evidence. Building on existing theories of recovery and organizational climate, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with employees working in different economic sectors. These conversations provide insights into how workers perceive the organizational environment in relation to rest, detachment from work, and the possibility of regaining energy during and after working hours. The qualitative evidence helps refine the conceptualization of OCR and clarifies the organizational conditions that may contribute to a recovery-supportive climate enhancing a sustainable career development. The analysis highlighted five key organizational dimensions that appear to play a central role in shaping such a climate: the way workload is organized and managed, the presence of supportive relationships among colleagues, the degree of autonomy granted to employees, the availability of resources that facilitate recovery, and the role of leadership in encouraging balanced work practices. Together, these elements illustrate how organizational practices and cultural expectations can influence employees’ capacity to restore energy and maintain well-being. By articulating the notion of Organizational Climate for Recovery, the article advances the discussion on employee well-being and offering practical guidance for managers on fostering recovery-supportive environments. Such climates not only sustain engagement and productivity but also promote career development: well-rested, supported, and motivated employees are more likely to pursue learning opportunities, take on challenging projects, and grow professionally.

Overall, this issue of the Journal highlights a vision of career development that places sustainability and sustainable development at the center of both theory and practice. As the global context continues to evolve, career paths and professional trajectories are increasingly shaped by environmental, social, and economic challenges. By integrating the principles of sustainability into career development (Guichard, 2022; Hartung & Di Fabio, 2024), researchers and practitioners are not only responding to these contemporary demands but are also contributing to the creation of a more responsible and forward-looking world of work.

The aspiration of our Journal is to continue fostering such a perspective, promoting research and interventions that address current and emerging challenges while remaining attentive to their long-term implications. We aim to welcome innovative contributions that explore novel methodological approaches, tools, and frameworks capable of enhancing both the understanding and the practice of career development. By encouraging this combination of scientific rigor and practical relevance, the Journal seeks to support a perspective that is both impactful and sustainable, bridging the gap between research insights and real-world application.

Furthermore, the focus on sustainability and sustainable development opens the door to transdisciplinary collaboration for career development at various stages of its construction. This broad perspective enriches our understanding of how careers develop, not just as individual pathways, but as elements of a larger system that interacts with society and the environment. Such an approach encourages scholars and practitioners alike to think critically about the consequences of career interventions, ensuring they contribute positively to both personal growth and societal and planetary well-being.

This issue represents a step forward in the ongoing effort to align career development with sustainable principles. It is our hope that future contributions to the Journal will continue to explore these themes, embracing both innovative methodologies and current topics that reflect the evolving needs of professionals and communities alike. By doing so, the Journal aspires to be a platform that not only advances research but also provides practical guidance for evidence-based interventions that are socially responsible, environmentally aware, and capable of fostering meaningful career development in a rapidly changing world.