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Army civilians exhibit a diverse array of career trajectories, and most entrants into the Army civilian workforce spend a relatively short amount of time there

• The researchers identified seven common career patterns among Army civilians.
• Nearly two-thirds of all individuals in the cluster analysis were identified with a career pattern characterized as "Short-Term"; individuals in this career pattern spend an average of 5 years in the Department of Defense (DoD) civilian workforce.

Career patterns are related to a variety of individual and job characteristics

• Women are more likely to be in career patterns that include short-term service, service in low grades, and a long gap in service.
• Black and Hispanic individuals are more likely to be in one of the low-grade career patterns and less likely to be in the higher-grade patterns, relative to white individuals.
• The youngest and oldest entrants into the DoD civilian workforce are more likely to be in the short-term pattern. However, young entrants are also more likely to be in career patterns characterized by eventual promotion to the highest grades, in the Army as well as in other parts of DoD.
• More-educated individuals are more likely to be found in higher-grade patterns, which is consistent with higher educational requirements for positions at higher pay grades.
• Individuals with prior military service are much less likely to be in the short-term pattern. They are also more likely to be mobile across DoD components and to exhibit a gap in service.