Managing Career Transitions using Career Construction Theory COLORADO CAREER DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE OCTOBER 23, 2015 KEVIN GLAVIN, PHD., (RESEARCH PROGRAM MANAGER CU – BOULDER) JILLIAN STERNS (GRADUATE STUDENT – CU DENVER)

Agenda Career Counseling in The New World of Work Exploring Interests: Traditional Approach Career Construction Theory: Post Modern Approach Live Demo: Career Construction Interview (CCI) Q &A Resources and References

Career Counseling in The New World The world has changed… Stuck between the old and the new, where the old no longer works and the new has not yet arrived – Savickas

Career Counseling in The New World of Work Multiple occupational transitions is the new norm

Work as a Holding Environment Work is an integral part of life: Work no longer loves you back What do we do?

Exploring Interests: Traditional Approach Matching - “Test them and tell them”

Content vs Process What: individual differences (Holland) How: Psychology of development (Super) Why: Narrative psychology (Savickas) What? How? Why?

Career Construction: Rationale Current theories: ◦Necessary, but not sufficient ◦Too simplistic ◦Need for adaptability/flexibility Career Construction – provides a framework to understand why people choose their work Career is the imposition of meaning on vocational development – Savickas, 2005

Career Construction: Rationale Comprehensive Integrates theories – what, how, why Flexible & adaptable Careers do not unfold – they are actively constructed

Social Construction Theory Meta-theory for career construction Social construction ◦No one truth ◦What is real =what we agree is real Deconstruction & Reconstruction Multiple future possible selves

Career Construction Theory Meaning and mattering Search for stories ◦Revealing patterns ◦Revealing themes ◦Revealing purpose, i.e. the why? Private vs. public

Career Construction Theory Positive and negative experiences Internalized painful experiences Work resolves the pain Actively master what you passively suffer

The Career Construction Interview 1)How may I be of use to you? ◦Becomes our contract, and keeps both of us on track ◦This is better than saying “How can I help you?” ◦Takes pressure off of the counselor.

The Career Construction Interview 2)Who was your role model growing up? Who did you admire? Who would you like to pattern your life after? Why? ◦Don’t accept parents. Parents are guiding lines. The role model is the person we want to model our life after ◦We are looking for a role model when they were around 6-8 yrs old as that is when we start making up our mind about life and we structure it. Even at this early stage they are beginning to form a picture of ‘the self’ and create their own identity. ◦Role models represent those individuals we were imitating when we were making up our mind about life ◦Growing up, we face life situations/issues/ problems. ◦Represent those people who have solved the problems we were facing ◦So, when we are faced with an ambiguous situation, problem, we need a ‘model’ to determine how we should react ◦They are blueprints for us and represent our first career choice ◦Up to age of 25 ◦25 and beyond we get into mentors

The Career Construction Interview 3)Do you read any magazines regularly? Which ones? What do you like about these magazines? Do you have any favorite TV shows? Who is your favorite character, and why? ◦Magazines represent the Preferred environments we would like to be in. When we read a magazine for 15 minutes, we are immersing ourselves in a type of environment. ◦Choosing to lose ourselves for a period of time ◦Could also use websites instead of magazines. In fact any environmental choices could be used

The Career Construction Interview Favorite Book/movie ◦We are looking for the script ◦How is the person extracting a life script for themselves from that book/movie

The Career Construction Interview 4)What do you like to do in your free time? What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy about these hobbies? ◦Hobbies are half way between work and play. What we cannot fulfill during work, we attempt to fulfill during our free time. Hobbies represent the time that we are freest to be ourselves

The Career Construction Interview 5)Do you have a favorite saying or motto? ◦Favorite sayings represent the advice that we need to hear ourselves at that particular point in time. ◦Auto therapeutic

The Career Construction Interview 6)Early Recollections. What are your earliest childhood memories? Give each a headline. ◦Early recollections may differ from time to time, but they represent the stories we need to hear at a specific point in time. ◦We can draw a line from past stories to the role models. The stories represent the current problem, while the role models represent the solution.

Q & A

Resources ◦Life Design Counseling Manual ◦Career Construction Interview ◦My Career Story Workbook ◦Vocopher Resource Library ◦Savickas, Super, Holland, Crites, Krumboltz ◦Career Counseling - Theories of Psychotherapy, APA, 2011 (ISBN: ) ◦Career Counseling Over Time (DVD)