Abstract
In this working paper we explore the effects of COVID-19 on the careers of UK medics to advance understandings of theories of career shock. . COVID-19 came as a forceful career shock at a time when career theorists through the concept of sustainable careers (de Vos et al., 2020) have been arguing to broaden the current agentic and individualistic focus of career research to also include the dynamic interplay of contextual factors (e.g. institutional, occupational, organizational). Drawing on the sustainable careers (SC) framework and career shocks literature, we sample mid-career trainee doctors by gender and nationality in all specialties of the NHS in England and career adaptations prior to, and during the COVID years. By applying the SC framework, we will firstly be adding to sustainable careers knowledge for a specific eco-system (the NHS) in a specific national context (the UK) and in two timeframes, pre and post-pandemic for groups of junior doctors with different intersectional identities. Secondly, our study will contribute to career shocks theory from a diversity perspective. Thirdly, our findings have policy implications for promoting sustainable careers in NHS in the UK, especially for underrepresented groups of junior doctors. On the basis of our findings we argue that COVID-19 has been a shock for medical careers, but its effects are complex and multifaceted. such a forceful career shock to relate to structural shifts in the social stratification of opportunities within the NHS. But we are limited in potential insight. Moving forward with this work, it is our intention to associate career adaptations with information about the job satisfaction of NHS doctors to explore whether a contextual and relational perspective of career adaptations and shocks can be empirically substantiated.