Writing your career story

Mark Savikas is a one of the more modern career theorists, publishing his theory of Life Designing in 2009. He criticises the traditional test-based careers guidance, saying that the world of work, and how we think about work, has changed.

His view is that it’s not possible to think of work in isolation. Our life has a big impact on our work (for example, where we live, family responsibilities and our health may all affect our choice of work). Equally, our work is likely to have an impact on our life (e.g. being stressed from work!).

Savikas also takes the view that we create meaning for ourselves through the stories we tell. There’s not one objective reality. Instead, we form our own reality subjectively.

The consequence of this view is that we don’t have a “true self” which is buried within us and needs to be unearthed (by a test!). Instead, we’re engaged in the project of building our identity, and writing our story. And this identity is formed and influenced by society and the people around us.

Savikas suggests we look within ourselves to reveal recurring life themes behind the the experiences which we have had. One technique he proposes is the “career construction interview”. This is a series of five seemingly offbeat questions (google them!) which seek to unearth meaning and unconscious links between different areas of our life. Through understanding these, we’re better able to design the next chapter of our life and work for ourselves.