Career construction theory: tools, interventions, and future trends

With the emergence of the borderless career era in the 21st century, career coaching has experienced a change from career guidance and career education to career counseling. Career construction theory has been widely used in career counseling and has substantial application value. Introducing career construct theory's assessment tools and intervention strategies is necessary and meaningful. In this mini-review, the qualitative assessment tools and intervention approaches of career construct theory are introduced and analyzed; the qualitative assessment tools include the Career Construction Interview and "My Career Story" workbook, and the intervention approaches include the Computer-Assisted Career Counseling System, workshops, group counseling, and individual counseling. Finally, future research directions are proposed, including an analysis of what kinds of career construction interventions are most effective for which groups and under what conditions, career intervention in the digital age, and the standardization of assessment tools. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact that it purposefully proposes future directions for career construction theory from the perspectives of assessment tools and intervention approaches and that research on the assessment tools and intervention approaches of career construction theory still needs further attention.

Narrative potential and career counseling under quantity, quality, and mixed interventions: An emphasis on university students

Although robust evidence has been accumulating over the last decades supporting the effectiveness of career counseling in various populations, yet there are scarce conceptual or empirical studies investigating the impact of distinct approaches, such as traditional-“psychometric,” narrative, or a mixed (integrative) one. The primary aim of this paper is to make a contribution in the field, providing a synthetic overview of contemporary research findings regarding the effectiveness of narrative and mixed career counseling approaches with a special focus on university students. The recent trend of utilizing mixed approaches in career assessment and intervention is also emphasized in the article, suggesting they may have a great potential in helping young adults advance meaning-making about career and life design. Finally, a discussion of both benefits and challenges relating to narrative and mixed interventions along with recommendations for extending research in the area of assessing career interventions’ effectiveness for university students is provided.

Life Design Counseling: Theory, Methodology, Challenges, and Future Trends

With the rapid development of society and the dramatic change of environment, previous career counseling focusing on personal choice has been difficult to meet individuals’ needs. It is very meaningful and valuable to introduce the ideology of Life Design Counseling (LDC). In this mini review, we introduce and analyze the theory and methodology of LDC. This review puts forward challenges in the field of LDC, including the lack of attention to clients from multiple backgrounds and professional counselors, the lack of diversified methods in the intervention process, and the lack of diversified research. The theoretical research, practical research, and the integration of theory and practice of LDC still need to be further concerned by researchers.

In the same boat? An online group career counseling with a group of young adults in the time of COVID-19

An online group of career counseling for unemployed young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic was developed. Twelve participants were involved in online group career counseling intervention, based on the Life Design for an inclusive and sustainable future. Results indicated at post-test on increased scores on career adaptability, resilience, future orientation, and propensity to identify inclusive and sustainable actions for the future than pre-test. Overall, the online group career counseling intervention effectively promoted particular aspects of young adults' life design for an inclusive e-sustainable future.

Career Counseling as a Science, a Skill, and an Art: Drawing on the Inspiring Career-Life Story of Dolly Parton to Demonstrate How Theory Building in Career Construction Counseling is Premised on Practice

This chapter draws on the inspiring life story of the amazing Dolly Parton to demonstrate the remarkable overlap between multiple facets of Mark Savickas’ counseling for self- and career construction theory and how this theory is practically and “naturally” enacted in numerous real-life contexts. First, a brief background to Dolly Parton’s life is presented, and the overlap between her career-life story and the theory of career construction counseling is outlined. A truncated biography of Dolly Parton follows, after which the focus shifts to an elaboration of how she developed herself as a career project ( Cochran, 1992). The outcomes of a “virtual” self- and career construction counseling-based interview conducted with her (based on information gathered from numerous publications and interviews) are used to uncover her key life themes. This interview is subsequently analyzed, and mission and vision statements are proposed for her. Next, the chapter discusses how Dolly Parton enacted her mission and vision and influenced the lives of countless other people positively (and continues to do so). More particularly, she provided and continues to provide a holding environment for millions of people. I explain how self- and career construction principles are realized in Dolly Parton’s career-life story before the chapter is concluded.