Constructivist Career Counseling

Paradigm Shift for Career Theory

Constructivist career theory represents a paradigm shift from these modernist principles toward postmodern ideology. Postmodernists believe that multiple realities exist simultaneously rather than the presumption of one measurable truth. Reality and truth are matters of individual perception and are constructed by individuals as a way of organizing complex information about themselves and the world. Human behavior, then, can be understood only in the context in which it occurs. People use personal constructs or theories they have created about life to organize and account for their experiences and associate meaning through decisions and actions. Individuals use these constructs to evaluate themselves and others, make judgments about the world, and predict the future. As active agents in their lives, people refine their constructs over time based on their life experiences and their reactions to and processing of those experiences.

Implications for Career Counseling

This core conceptual change has strong implications for the theory and practice of career counseling. Operating under the new assumption that individuals [Page 1515]actively participate in the creation of their own reality, career is viewed as an individual construct. The meaning people attach to career is reflective of their social, psychological, historical, and cultural relationships and experiences. Traditional vocational psychology with its emphasis on stable personal traits and measurable characteristics of occupations becomes less relevant within the context of changing realities.

Specifically, constructivist career counseling requires a paradigm shift from examining behavioral traits to looking at action, meaning, and life themes. In addition, it requires a shift from assessment of causation to more reflective processing. It also encourages counselors and clients to see the self as progressively constructed or a work in progress rather than predetermined. Instead of quantifying traits, career counseling involves exploration of how clients construct meaning from present actions and past experiences. As a construct itself, career accounts for connectedness between actions, accommodates roles and relationships in a variety of settings, reflects purposeful efforts toward planning and goal setting, as well as reflecting internal states such as emotion, arousal, passion, and personality. An individual's construct of career is an overarching framework for understanding and organizing complex patterns of intentional actions over the lifespan. The career development process therefore involves individuals intentionally engaged in acquiring meaning within the constructs of their lives. Life and career transitions, whether purposeful or in reaction to unexpected change, stimulate changes in personal constructs.

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