Narrative approach to career counselling, Huarahi reo paki mō te tohuora aramahi

Larry Cochran developed Narrative Career Counselling to help people make sense of their lives and careers through the stories they tell. Rather than matching a person only to a job, the approach explores past experiences, present circumstances and preferred futures.

Practitioners work collaboratively with people to identify patterns, meaning and possibilities within their stories. Narrative Theory influenced later approaches, including Career Construction Theory and Life Design Counselling.

Narrative Theory uses spoken, written and visual techniques to explore how career stories shape identity, meaning, agency and future possibilities.

• Story and identity – stories shape how people see themselves and their opportunities.
• Meaning-making – patterns, values, skills and turning points connect past experiences with future possibilities.
• Life themes – recurring interests, relationships, challenges, culture and values reveal purpose and direction.
• Agency – people can make choices, take action and create opportunities.
• Reflection and re-authoring – people examine limiting stories and develop more helpful career narratives.
• Future possibilities – imagining preferred futures supports decisions, goals and purposeful action.

Narrative Theory can be used across life stages. It is particularly helpful when people are exploring options, changing careers, experiencing redundancy, returning to work, lacking confidence or feeling uncertain about their next step.

Techniques used in Narrative Theory

These techniques support reflection, engagement and storytelling.

Narrative approaches shift career counselling away from primarily matching a person’s traits to an occupation. Traditional approaches remain useful for exploring interests, skills and occupational options, but fit alone may not fully explain a person’s career needs or possibilities in an increasingly complex, competitive and uncertain world of work.

Instead, practitioners seek to understand how people see themselves, make meaning from their experiences and imagine their future. Working collaboratively, they explore the stories, relationships, culture and circumstances shaping a person’s career development and support them to develop a meaningful career story that opens new possibilities. This requires careful listening, time for reflection and avoiding imposing the practitioner’s own interpretation.

Cochran, L. (1997). Career Counselling: A Narrative Approach. SAGE Publications

Savickas, M. L. (2019). Career Construction Theory: Life Portraits of Attachment, Adaptability, and Identity. Published by Mark L. Savickas, 2019

Brott, P.E (2019) Narrative Career Counselling: The Storied Approach in Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice, by Nancy Arthur, Roberta Borgen (Neault) and Mary McMahon. Published by CERIC, 2019.