The traditional career is an organizational one. The foundation of traditional careers is built on the pillars of loyalty and security. Traditional employees remain loyal to their employers and in return are rewarded with continued job security. Other characteristics of traditional careers include a sense of predictability and an emphasis on hierarchical growth. The metaphor of a career ladder within an organization in a linear progression, step by step, epitomizes the traditional career. A by-product of this is that individuals do not need to manage their own career development.

The organization knows what it needs and makes sure that the employees slated for promotion get the training and development required. While the traditional career model may have competition, many employees still continue to desire and pursue it, but this can be problematic. Today, organizations often lack the ability and/or desire to support such traditional careers. Organizations often require more from their employees than just loyalty and, in more competitive and turbulent environments, cannot offer the same level of job security as they did in the past.

Organizations want to be more flexible than what is required by static career ladders and may no longer be as confident in directing the training and development of their employees. However, they still need to be cognizant of the fact that not every talented worker will be protean or boundaryless, and therefore should accommodate the career needs of all employees.