Many scholars define potential in terms of an individual’s career trajectory, or the degree of success an individual is capable of achieving throughout their career. Accordingly, the literature on potential assumes the career trajectories of individuals with potential differ from those with more limited potential. This study marks the first empirical test of this assumption. We hypothesize about the comparative shapes of the career trajectories of individuals with potential and those with more limited potential and highlight gender as a key moderator of the career success trajectories of individuals with potential. We empirically test our ideas in a sample of full-time, for-profit and government workers over forty years in the workforce. Results suggest individuals with potential initiate their career with an advantage, experience more pronounced growth in career success than those with limited potential, and procure increasingly higher career success over time. Women with potential, however, were unable to confer the same levels of career success as men with potential.
