Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484

www.elsevier.com/locate/jvb

Constructing career through narrative

Charles Bujold
D
epartement des fondements et pratiques en
education, Facult
e des sciences de lÕ
education,
Universit
e Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada G1S 4T1
Received 30 July 2002

Abstract

This paper seeks to explain how constructivism addresses career as narrative. First, the nar-
rative approach to career is briefly contrasted with traditional ones. Next, the theory of nar-
rative is outlined, and some of the relevance of narrative for understanding career is presented.
The notion of constructivism is then discussed from the perspective of showing that it seems to
be an adequate means for conceptualizing narrative. Following this discussion, the author il-
lustrates the contribution that constructivism, via narrative, brings to career theory, research,
and practice. He concludes with the presentation of some perspectives regarding the construc-
tivist/narrative approach in each of these areas.
Ó 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

For many years, in courses that I taught on theories of career development, I had
the opportunity (like many other teachers of such courses, I believe) to read papers in
which my students described their own career development, interpreting it in refer-
ence to some of the theories and research studies in the field, and drawing out the
prospects that appeared most plausible to them with regard to their future career.
There was strong evidence in these papers of their value to my students with regard
not only to conceptual integration, but also the opportunity for growth, personal in-
tegration, and transformation that they provided. Sometime ago, I examined the po-
tential contributions of biographical-hermeneutical approaches to the study of career
(Bujold, 1990). More recently, I participated as one of the subjects in a biographical
study of six Canadian counselor educators (Larsen, 1999). All these activities, I

E-mail address: charles.bujold@fse.ulaval.ca.

0001-8791/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2003.12.010
 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484 471

would say, have something to do, each one in a specific way, with narrative, which
reflects my interest in this particular topic, and which has contributed to make me
more sensitive to the importance of narrative for our understanding of career.
Since, as we shall see, we cannot consider narrative without having recourse to the
concept of constructivism, both concepts will be examined here. More specifically, I
will discuss, in this article, the notions of narrative and constructivism in relation to
career, from the perspective of showing how constructivism addresses career as nar-
rative and thus contributes to career theory, research and practice. To this end, I will
refer to sources in which the topics of narrative and constructivism have been ad-
dressed from either a theoretical, research, or applied point of view. Most of these
writings bear directly on career, whereas others do not, although they have obvious
implications for the field of vocational behavior. Because of space limitations, how-
ever, the discussion presented here will focus on the contributions that appear the
most helpful in clarifying the relations between narrative, constructivism, and career.

2. Narrative and traditional approaches to career

Career development theories, including the emerging ones, are essentially in the
objectivist or positivist tradition, as one can see in recent texts (e.g., Bujold & Ging-
ras, 2000; Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). Yet McAdams, Josselson, and Lieblich (2001)
remark that career choice is ‘‘more multilayered and internally contradictory than
univariate studies of vocational choice would suggest’’ (p. xviii).
The narrative approach with regard to career is clearly different from the classic
conceptualization of occupational choice as a process of matching the individualÕs
traits with job requirements. In spite of the fact that this trait-factor approach is,
and will remain, useful from a theoretical, research, and applied point of view, it ob-
viously does not take into account all the complexity of career behavior.
As well, the conceptualization of narrative substantially differs from what other tra-
ditional approaches to career, including developmental conceptions, social, economic,
and cultural perspectives, or social learning theories, propose. For example, one of the
evaluation criteria of a good theory, in the traditional perspective, is its capacity to ex-
plain, and predict a reasonable number of phenomena. Career development, however,
through the multiple decisions that it requires and the risks that it involves, and because
of the individualsÕ unique ways of dealing with obstacles, unforeseen events, various
circumstances, chance, and inner conflicts, can be considered, at least in part, as a cre-
ative process. And unpredictability is by definition part of every creation. If valid pre-
dictions are indeed possible in general terms concerning career behaviors, it must also
be acknowledged that the prediction of individual fates is a very risky enterprise. But
conceptualizing the individual as a project, for instance, as some authors suggest when
discussing narrative, is a departure from traditional ways in career theory.
Besides, human functioning can hardly be understood without having recourse to
the notion of paradox. As examples, for some people, a career may be a planned ad-
venture, or a guided improvisation. Others may lose interest in work in spite of the
self-actualization opportunities that it provides. While some aspects of such careers
472 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484

may be explained by using traditional research methods, the paradoxes that they
reveal may be more easily tackled by resorting to a narrative approach.

3. Narrative

3.1. The theory of narrative

An extensive presentation of the vast literature on narrative is beyond the scope of

this article. But the way Polkinghorne (1988) presents the core of his argument pro-
vides us with some fundamental elements of narrative theory. He writes that
narrative is a scheme by means of which human beings give meaning to their experience of
temporality and personal actions. Narrative meaning functions to give form to the under-
standing of a purpose to life and to join everyday actions and events into episodic units.
It provides a framework for understanding the past events of oneÕs life and for planning fu-
ture actions. It is the primary scheme by means of which human existence is rendered mean-
ingful. Thus, the study of human beings by the human sciences needs to focus on the realm
of meaning in general, and on narrative meaning in particular (p. 11).

On the basis of writings by Polkinghorne, Larsen (1999) discusses the roles of nar-
rative as both a process and a product. As process, it consists of the meaning making
of oneÕs experiences and is a form of self-construction or fluid self-awareness. As
product, it is a story. In LarsenÕs study, the biographies, with the narratorsÕ beliefs
and expectations that they reveal, along with the environmental influences that they
have been exposed to, are products.
Plot, an important aspect of narrative theory, is the organizing theme of a story. It
is around this theme that life events are gathered into the unity of the story, through
it that they gain their significance and that their roles are identified. However, in the
process of the creation of identity, in which the narrative configuration plays a cen-
tral role, the plot must constantly be revised in order to configure the new events
happening in a personÕs life (Polkinghorne, 1988).
In a line of thought similar to PolkinghorneÕs (1988), who sees narratives as ways
of organizing events into wholes with beginnings, middles, and ends, Josselson
(1995) expresses the view that ‘‘personal narrative describes the road to the present
and points the way to the future’’ (p. 35). Further, she adds:
Continuity and change are emplotted in narrative form. A ‘‘good-enough’’ narrative con-
tains the past in terms of the present and points to a future that cannot be predicted, al-
though it contains the elements out of which the future will be created (p. 35).

McAdams (1988) has discussed the concept of narrative as applying to the lives of
people and their social environments, and as having a hermeneutical connotation in
the sense that human lives may be conceived as texts that researchers must interpret.

3.2. The relevance of narrative for understanding career

Identity is an obviously important concept in career theory. Vocational identity,

for instance, is related to constructive beliefs about career decision-making, to career
 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484 473

self-efficacy and career decision-making self-efficacy (Holland, 1997). Identity devel-

opment, conceptualized in terms of narrative, has been discussed by some authors.
In an insightful article, McAdams (1995) proposes that individuals ‘‘should be de-
scribed on at least three separate and, at best, loosely related levels of functioning’’
(p. 371). These levels are dispositional traits such as extraversion or dominance
(Level I), personal concerns, in reference to motivations, roles, or strategies (Level
II), and identity, that is, in terms of oneÕs unity, uniqueness, and purpose in life (Le-
vel III). Identity construction, in McAdamsÕ view, implies a telling of the self that
synthesizes a number of elements in a way that shows their coherence and unity. This
construction also suggests that
despite the many changes that attend the passage of time, the self of the past led up to or set
the stage for the self of the present, which in turn will lead up to, or set the stage for the self
of the future (p. 382).

The form taken by this construction, according to many theorists cited by

McAdams (1995), is the life story, and he also proposes ‘‘that identity is itself an in-
ternalized and evolving life story, or personal myth’’ (p. 382). Further, he suggests
that ‘‘identity is the storied self ’’ (p. 385).
In a similar line of thought, Cox and Lyddon (1997) suggest that self as narrative,
with its focus on process rather than on substance, is one of the several constructivist
conceptions of self following from the postmodern paradigm which proposes that
‘‘realities are multiple personal and social constructions, in a constant process of
becoming’’ (p. 204).
The transforming power of narrative is one of the themes emphasized by contrib-
utors to the book edited by Josso (2000b), which brings together writings of people
from several countries, trained in various disciplines, engaged in research, training or
practice with different populations, who share a common interest in the use of nar-
ratives. For instance, Lapointe (2000) has observed that by clarifying the meaning of
the past, the writing of oneÕs narrative may create meaning for the present and help
to gain more freedom with regard to oneÕs destiny because of the decoding that the
narrative makes possible. Lapointe hypothesizes that the transforming power of nar-
rative resides in the fact that transformation comes with an increased understanding
of oneself, this understanding being more than self-knowledge. In the same line of
thought, Josso (2000a) conceptualizes the transformation that narrative brings to
the life of the narrator essentially in terms of a change occurring in the relationship
that the person has with himself or herself and in the way this person considers his or
her commitments. Rugira (2000) considers that the transforming power of narrative
rests on the existence of a relationship in which a person feels that he or she is
acknowledged and accepted.
L€oyttyniemi (2001) suggests that a transition that he has observed—a change in a
young doctorÕs personal and professional life—has taken place in the narration made
by this person. Like Denzin, L€ oyttyniemi believes that personal stories are construc-
tions which do not necessarily correspond to factual truth (a view shared by Peavy,
1998), and that it is indeed only when life transitions are retrospectively told in sto-
ries and given meaning that they really happen and transform the self. L€ oyttyniemi
474 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484

also suggests that the meaning of a narrative might be given not by the narrator, but
instead by the listener, which points to the important responsibility of the listener.

4. Constructivism

In their opening article, the guest editors of this thematic issue address the not so
easy problem of the distinction between constructivism and social constructionism,
the former being defined as having to do with the internal, cognitive processes in-
volved in the individualÕs construction of knowledge, and of the world of experience.
The epistemological perspective represented by constructivism has to do with the
way individuals know, and by implication, find meaning in what they come to know
and experience. Although these processes have undoubtedly a social component,
they are primarily psychological and individual, whereas in social constructionism,
it is the social aspect of the process that dominates, and where group relations,
for one thing, take on importance. The meaning that I attach to the term ‘‘construc-
tivism’’ is akin to the definition proposed in this introductory article, and thus, no
other definition will be provided here.

4.1. Constructivism and the conceptualization of narrative

If traditional approaches to career fail to help us conceptualize narrative, con-

structivism, on the other hand, seems to be an adequate means for this purpose, since
it is concerned with the individualÕs construction of meaning, knowledge and expe-
rience, and since narrative can be seen as a form of self-construction. In connection
with that, writings by Kelly (1955), Peavy (1998), and P
epin (1994) are instrumental
in showing more precisely how constructivism can conceptualize narrative, how it
underpins this approach.
Through the elaboration of his Psychology of Personal Constructs, Kelly (1955)
has contributed seminal ideas which have implications for the problems being con-
sidered here. Constructs, for Kelly, are representations of the universe. They are
ways of construing or ‘‘placing an interpretation’’ (p. 50) upon the world, of seeing
the course of events within and outside oneself, and they are also the means for pre-
dicting and controlling this course. In this perspective, experience does not consist in
the series of events, but in the manner in which events are construed and reconstrued.
In his picturesque style, he writes, ‘‘To construe is to hear the whisper of recurrent
themes in the events that reverberate around us’’ (p. 76), and this is part of learning.
Kelly (1955) has made clear that constructs are not fixed once and for all. Taking
what he called the philosophical position of constructive alternativism, he suggested
that alternative constructions are always possible for construing the world. In his
own words, ‘‘no one needs to be the victim of his biography [italics added]’’ (p. 15).
P
epin (1994), a social psychologist, proposes a similar conception. For him,
constructivism rests on the hypothesis that human beings survive and adapt them-
selves to their existence insofar as they succeed in giving to their experience a viable
form, to the extent that they contain and harness this experience, so to speak, in the
 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484 475

structures of cognition that they impose upon it. He also considers that in a con-
structivist perspective, the way people construct and foresee their future experience
depends on how they actually construct their past experience. The same idea, inci-
dentally, is expressed in poetic terms by Gilles Vigneault, a French–Canadian song-
writer, when he sings: ‘‘ItÕs by going up the river that one learns the direction of the
water’’ (my translation) (Vigneault, 1987, track 5).
Peavy (1998) illustrates the way that constructivism underpins narrative. For him,
language ‘‘is the key Ômeaning-constructionÕ tool’’ (p. 40). More specifically, he sug-
gests that ‘‘. . . Ôacts of meaning,Õ Ôstories,Õ Ônarratives,Õ Ômetaphors,Õ Ôconstructs,Õ and
all the many ways in which meaningful human performance is achieved form the op-
erative basis for constructivist counselling’’ (p. 40). In PeavyÕs view, writing oneÕs
story is a way of constructing an aspect of oneÕs self, and from the constructivist per-
spective that he proposes, the story told by a person should not be considered as a
statement of objective truth, but rather as this individualÕs interpretation of the
meaning and sense of his or her life.
In the following sections, I will attempt to portray the contribution that construc-
tivism, via narrative, makes to career theory, research, and practice.

5. Narrative and career theory

Cochran (1991) and Savickas (2001) are among the authors who have reflected on
narrative in relation to career. As Cochran writes: ‘‘In story, significant relationships,
models, events, resources, memories, anticipations, obstacles, and the like are made to
cohere’’ (p. 20). He suggests that narrative can be used for understanding career deci-
sions, in the sense that such decisions can be understood ‘‘not through an objective
body of knowledge of theory, but through grasping the story in which it forms a part’’
(p. 21). For Savickas, career ‘‘is how we interpret our work and understand our produc-
tive and generative strivings. It embodies continuity and psychosocial change’’ (p. 311).
In this perspective, he suggests that since narratives provide means for articulating
needs and goals, purposes and actions, and for discovering life patterns, they are highly
relevant for the study of career and, we might add, for elaborating career theory.
Like Cochran (1990), Polkinghorne (1990) sees narrative as a way of organizing
events and actions into a whole and showing their significant influence on this unified
temporal whole. The explanation offered by narrative, in PolkinghorneÕs view, is not
to be assessed with respect to its predictability, but rather by considering to what ex-
tent it is plausible or suggestive in showing how change takes place in a personÕs life
(as it is illustrated, for example, in the study conducted by Collin (1990) of men ex-
periencing mid-life career change). This does not deny, however, that narrative can
help to reveal the forward movement of this person toward desired ends. As we can
see in PolkinghorneÕs conception, the focus is on the uniqueness of the person, and as
he points out, the suggestive knowledge generated by narratives takes into account
the creativity and unpredictability of individuals.
As has been indicated above, identity is a major concept in career theory. With re-
spect to this concept, Lain
e (1998) recalls that starting on a job, changing occupation,
476 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484

being unemployed, and retiring are experiences that allow people to reconstruct the
equilibrium between what they were, what they are aspiring to, and the demands of
their environment. These experiences are as many transformations, disruptions in
the course of life which make necessary identity adjustments and reconstructions. This
does not mean, as Lain
e points out, that there is nothing stable in identity, for having an
identity implies both being in continuity with the heritage from preceding generations
and constructing oneÕs own place. But narrating oneÕs life is a way, in Lain
eÕs view, of
constructing oneÕs identity. It offers a means of understanding the past in order to go
beyond it, of finding the articulation between the influence of external factors and
the individualÕs initiatives. Somewhat paradoxically, Lain
e suggests that people be-
come autonomous to the extent that they can identify their dependences, and that nar-
ratives can be helpful in this respect. From a theoretical point of view, we may thus look
at narrative as something closely related to the construction of identity.
Other authors share the view that life transitions are likely to influence identity.
McAdams et al. (2001), for example, consider that people make meaning out of
the transitions in their lives through the construction and the sharing of their stories,
and suggest that the stories they make and tell about the major transitions in their
lives contribute to their identities, affect their perception of the future, and contribute
to their positionings in the social and cultural world.

6. Narrative and career research

Cochran (1990) has propounded the use of narrative as a paradigm for career re-
search. For him, story reflects human reality in the sense that life is lived, repre-
sented, explained and made understandable, or comprehensible through story. To
comprehend, one needs to identify patterns and syntheses in order to see how various
elements fall into place, and as Cochran points out, narrative is a way of putting to-
gether, or making a configuration of, such elements as people, motives, opportuni-
ties, means, places, and events. But he adds that in order for narrative to be a
useful approach for career research, much depends ‘‘on whether meaning is regarded
as the central subject of a career’’ (p. 78).
In discussing the topic of narrative research, Cochran (1990) distinguishes be-
tween narrative construction and narrative criticism. In the former case, the problem
faced is the construction of sound and trustworthy narratives, whereas in the latter,
the researcherÕs challenge is to bring to light, among other things, the plot, the mean-
ing of the story, how this story explains changes that have happened along the way,
the characters and their roles.
One very important point raised by Cochran (1990) is that the use of narrative in
career research might help address, and explore answers to, a number of fundamen-
tal questions concerning, for instance, the nature of a good life or of a good career,
the meaning of life, and the differences in the way people make decisions. CochranÕs
insightful suggestions are without doubt worth considering.
Young and Collin (1988) throw into relief important aspects of narrative when,
referring to Packer, they remark that from a hermeneutical point of view, individuals
 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484 477

are seen more as active and goal directed than as being conditioned by experiences of
their past. In a perspective similar to PolkinghorneÕs (1990), they present hermeneu-
tical inquiry as a process ‘‘in which the examination moves between the whole, the
parts, and back again’’ (p. 155). Applying this research approach to several aspects
of career, namely, career as a project, its intentionality and agency, its dynamic and
active nature, and its social and cultural dimensions, Young and Collin suggest that
narrative, for example, helps in the search for themes or patterns and reveals ‘‘the
past-in-the-present’’ (p. 157), provides a tool for studying the goal directed nature
of career behavior, and how the meaning that career takes for individuals is a shared
meaning in the sense that it is closely related to the social interactions in which they
are involved. In a subsequent article, Collin and Young (1988) examine three exam-
ples of studies in which investigators have used a hermeneutical or quasi-hermeneu-
tical approach. Through their discussion of the procedures used, the results observed
and the problems encountered by those researchers, Collin and Young illustrate,
among other things, how hermeneutical inquiry can provide a way of relating wholes
to parts or of clarifying the issue of the individualÕs agency. They also address several
issues concerning the methodology of hermeneutical research.
In a later piece, the same authors (Collin & Young, 1992) propose that ‘‘it is
through interpretation and subsequent construction of narratives and stories that in-
dividuals make sense of their career and world’’ (p. 2), and that consequently, the
understanding and practice of interpretation are key elements in career research.
Narrative research can be instrumental in theory building, as illustrated in the study
done by Pratt, Arnold, and Mackey (2001), who used the narratives provided by ado-
lescents in 35 Canadian families to examine the representations these young people had
of their parentsÕ perspectives during critical incidents or turning points in their value
development. They then related the material collected in the stories to a five-point index
designed to measure the adolescentsÕ representations of, and responsiveness to, the pa-
rental voices. It was observed, among other things, that differences in the adolescentsÕ
narratives were congruent with patterns of same-sex identification reported in the lit-
erature. The authors also found that the stories were consistent with quantitative data
showing differences between fathersÕ and mothersÕ voices with regard to relational and
vocational issues, the mothers being seen as knowledgeable on both, while the fathersÕ
voices on relational issues were substantially weaker. On the whole, as Pratt et al. (2001)
point out, narratives illustrating the construction of adolescentsÕ experiences and of the
role of their parents in these events contribute to theory construction, for they provide
data which are likely to help researchers and theorists better understand the nature of
the family context during the adolescent transition.
Atkinson (1998) states that in qualitative research with life story, theory emerges
from the story- the whole story-, contrary to what happens in quantitative investiga-
tions, in which hypotheses emerging from a theoretical framework are tested. From an-
other perspective, Atkinson suggests that story is essential ‘‘to learn what is unique to
some and universal to others and how both are parts of a dynamic interacting whole’’
(p.74).
Narratives were among the research approaches used in studies conducted by
Riverin-Simard, Spain, and Michaud (1997), who have specified the ontological,
478 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484

epistemological, and methodological positions that they have adopted in their inves-
tigations of adult vocational development and aging, including womenÕs career
development. According to those authors, these positions are mainly related to the
constructivist paradigm, in the sense that their research results have allowed
them to construct and reconstruct their understanding of the phenomena that they
studied.
As McAdams et al. (2001) remark, after a life transition, people may ask them-
selves how they made it, they may feel the need to organize events in a coherent nar-
rative. McAdams and his colleagues suggest that in studying the narrations of people
who have experienced life transitions, ‘‘we come to understand better the ways in
which meanings of transitions are constructed’’—and that—‘‘it is these meanings
that guide the person through the next phase of their existence, only (usually) to have
the meanings change once again as life moves on’’ (p. xvi).
Finally, whereas traditional approaches to research have been conceived of in
terms of a process in which an expert scientist controls the investigation being con-
ducted with subjects, both the participant and the investigator are partners in the re-
search process where a narrative methodology is being used (e.g., Larsen, 1999). As
we shall see in the following section, the same holds true with regard to practice in
which narrative has the central place.

7. Narrative and career practice

When I think about the use of narrative in counseling, a song composed by Luc
Plamondon, another of our songwriters, comes to my mind. This song, which is en-
titled ‘‘Le blues du businessman’’ (The businessmanÕs blues) (Plamondon, 1995,
track 17), is about a very successful businessman who travels around the world,
knows many people, makes a lot of money. He meets about all the criteria defining
what it means to be socially successful in the world in which he lives. But he is not
happy, and when asked about what he longs for, he answers that he would have liked
to do something in which he could discover why he exists, in which he could express
himself, in which he could invent his own life.
Counselors using narrative approaches in their interventions are facilitators of the
meaning making process through which clients, like this businessman, are involved
in trying, so to speak, to create, to invent their life in their particular contexts. Those
counselors are thus co-creators of the stories that their clients tell about themselves,
stories which have both fluid and more static aspects. It is not new, of course, to
speak of the practice of counseling as both a science and an art, but it is perhaps
more appropriate than ever to emphasize this latter aspect when considering the
use of narrative in counseling, which requires creative approaches from the practitio-
ners.
Such aspects are reflected, along with others, in the contributions of writers who
are interested in the applications of the narrative perspective. Referring to their stud-
ies of womenÕs vocational development and to the career counseling program that
they have developed on the basis of these research efforts, Spain and B
edard
 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484 479

(2001), for instance, point out that when we help people to see their vocational future
as the continuation of their life story, we help them put to use their potential in order
to become the subjects of their experience, the creators of their identity, instead of
feeling determined by external influences.
Francequin (1995) described various examples of the use of life stories in guid-
ance. In a more recent publication (Francequin, 2002), she cites SartreÕs often quoted
sentence: ‘‘The important thing is not what society has done with us, but what we do
with what it has done with us’’ (p. 161, my translation). Francequin expresses her
belief that progress throughout life depends on the individualÕs creativity and convic-
tion that things can be changed. Her experience in the use of narratives with various
populations has taught her that such progress, which is stimulated by sharing oneÕs
narrative, results from the constant construction going on between the socio-cultural
and affective spheres.
The benefits that can follow from writing life-story narratives are not only in
terms of personal insights and moves forward, as is illustrated by the results of
MayoÕs (2001) study with a sample of college students registered in a life-span devel-
opmental psychology course. It was observed that the students who had been asked
to write their life analysis concerning their past, present and future, compared to
those of two control groups who had not received this assignment, had a better ac-
ademic performance. As was also expected, they expressed very favorable attitudes
toward this experience, saying that this assignment had been helpful with regard
to their personal growth.
The concept of career project proposed by Cochran (1992) rests partly on the psy-
chology of personal constructs developed by Kelly (1955). Besides including the per-
formance of tasks, such a project requires, Cochran points out, working on a
personal theme. The significance of this project depends on several characteristics,
one of which being that ‘‘through engaging in a career project, a person constructs
various compositions that are capable of integrating parts’’ (p. 192), this integration
resulting in a narrative which can guide life toward the future. In helping a person to
implement a career project, a counselor is thus co-authoring a life story.
Constructivist underpinnings are present in the narrative approach to practice la-
ter developed by Cochran (1997) and which no doubt represents a major contribu-
tion. It is not derived from theories of career development, but proposes a theory
of career counseling as such, which integrates the principles of the well known
trait-factor, matching approach of the individualÕs characteristics with occupational
requirements, but focuses on employment, on ‘‘how a person can be cast as the main
character in a career narrative that is meaningful, productive, and fulfilling’’ (p. ix).
Cochran (1997) brings to light important aspects of his approach, namely, that
individuals have representations of their future in which they see themselves as
agents (who make things happen) or as patients (to whom things happen) with re-
spect to this future; that narratives are powerful means for making meaning;
and that because of its future orientation, career counseling ‘‘must focus not
only on an immediate decision and action, but also on a personÕs capacity for
future decisions and actions, what has been termed practical wisdom and a sense
of agency’’ (p. 31).
480 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484

The ways to implement the narrative approach are then discussed, and Cochran
(1997) goes into details in describing seven units of career counseling, the first three
of them bearing on how to construct a career narrative (elaborating a career prob-
lem, composing a life history, founding a future narrative), three others related to
the enactment or actualization of a narrative (constructing reality, changing a life
structure, enacting a role), and the last one (crystallizing a decision) which aims at
bridging the gap between construction and enaction [sic].
Like other authors, Cochran (1997) conceives the role of the counselor, in the ca-
reer counseling approach that he has developed, as one of co-author in negotiating
stories that must take into account both the individualÕs life and the ecological con-
text. In connection with that, the importance of the articulation between the context
and the individual in the implementation of a vocational project is illustrated in
research reported by Peylet (1995) and Rochex (1995).
If each individual is the author of his or her experience, the narrative that gives
form to that experience by revealing its continuity of meaning deserves consideration
in psychotherapy, as Neimeyer (1995) suggests. Reaching into the past and project-
ing oneself into the future, in order to consolidate ‘‘a sense of oneself over time’’
(p. 241) and find new life directions, considering opposing elements and then synthe-
sizing them to arrive at new self-constructions, are functions of narrative mentioned
by Neimeyer which have obvious applications in the field of career.
The articulation of a clientÕs life theme in career counseling was illustrated by Sa-
vickas (1995) in an article where he presented a constructivist, meaning-making
counseling approach for helping undecided clients. In this constructivist perspective,
it is not the phenomenon of indecision which is being considered, but rather the per-
son with his or her subjective experience of indecision, seen as a search for meaning,
as an effort to recognize his or her life theme. The help provided by the counselor to
bring this life theme to light is likely to facilitate the personÕs decision and movement
‘‘into new constructions of experience’’ (p. 366). SavickasÕs five-step counseling mod-
el involves, essentially, the identification of the clientÕs life theme through the stories
he or she provides, the counselorÕs narration of this theme, the discussion of the
meaning of the indecision with regard to the life theme, the identification of occupa-
tional possibilities congruent with this theme and, finally, the rehearsal of skills
necessary to implement a choice.
Constructivism and narrative are key words in the model of training for career
counselors developed by Peavy (1992) and his collaborators. Their work was still
in progress when PeavyÕs article was published, but the reconceptualization of career
counseling practice and training proposed by this model was an invitation to move
from positivist stances to postmodern alternatives in the way we look at career
theory and practice.
In the continuation of this work, Peavy (1998) has more recently proposed a con-
structivist approach to counseling in which two of the major concepts are the con-
struction of meaning and the invention of solutions. In PeavyÕs view, counselor
and client are involved as partners in the reality construction of their relationship
during the counseling session. Through this relationship, they construct and decon-
struct the problem presented by the client. The counselorÕs role is to use the stories
 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484 481

brought by the client and to work in a cooperative way with him or her in order to
find solutions. In this cooperative enterprise, the clientÕs mental constructions ‘‘are
elicited and refined hermeneutically—through listening, critical examination, and ne-
gotiation’’ (p. 252).
The creative aspect of the role assumed by the counselor in the search for solu-
tions is emphasized by the term ‘‘bricoleur’’, or do-it-yourself enthusiast, that Peavy
(1998) associates with the counselor. But in the constructivist perspective that he
advocates, the individual is nevertheless seen as the expert in his or her life.
The above examples are but a very small sample of what can be found in the lit-
erature. Moreover, the theoretical bases and applications of narrative continue to be
the object of many publications outside the field of counseling (e.g., de Gaulejac &
Levy, 2000; Orofiamma, Dominic
e, & Lain
e, 2000).

8. Conclusion and some perspectives

An impressive body of knowledge has already been accumulated regarding the

conceptualization, research perspectives, and applications of the constructivist/nar-
rative approach to career, and nothing seems to indicate that these efforts are coming
to a halt. On the contrary, promising developments in each of these areas should be
witnessed in the years to come, were it only because several areas of research and
practice are worth exploring. For example, to what extent could such an approach
be helpful with youngsters for whom the future, including their career future, is
meaningless, who see themselves more as patients than as agents, to use CochranÕs
(1997) terms, and who may appear as procrastinators when the time comes to deal
with the problem of their educational choices? Approaching this kind of problem
from a constructivist/narrative perspective should prove rewarding. Or what could
this approach contribute to career counseling with minority and underprivileged
people for whom the meaning of career—if indeed career has a meaning—may be
quite different from what it is for others, and cannot be understood without consid-
ering their cultural contexts? In connection with that, it is worth noting that, in effect,
according to Peavy (1998), constructivist theory and First NationsÕ philosophy of life
share many characteristics, in the sense, for instance, that both attach importance to
cooperative and constructive relationships, and consider that each person is the
expert in his or her own life.
As practitioners know quite well, the underlying motivations of many career
choices are sometimes not easy to unravel with traditional counseling approaches
and techniques. The meaning of such choices and the clientsÕ constructions need
to be brought to light, and the constructivist/narrative approach appears as a
powerful means towards these ends.
Yet, the difficulties that face the researchers and practitioners using it should not
be ignored. The validity issue concerning narrative research is one of those chal-
lenges. As a matter of fact, concerns, if not protests, have been voiced concerning
the validity of qualitative approaches, like narrative, in research. Those interested
in the use of narrative strategies have discussed this problem (e.g., Atkinson, 1998;
482 C. Bujold / Journal of Vocational Behavior 64 (2004) 470–484

Josso, 2000a; Lapointe, 2000). Atkinson (1998), for one, recognizes the value laden
aspect of life stories, the personal construction that they represent, and suggests that
their trustworthiness may be more important than what we might call their validity.
He points out, however, that it is important to consider their internal consistency.
Although people may react differently, from time to time, to the inconsistencies that
they face in their life, ‘‘their stories of what happened and what they did should be
consistent within itself [sic]’’ (p. 60).
With respect to the objection that the use of narratives in research goes against the
scientific law according to which generalizations cannot be made from the observa-
tion of a single case, Lapointe (2000) expresses his belief that everyoneÕs story can
find an echo in another person, and that to some extent, similarities exist between
all people. But Josso (2000a), taking a position similar to PeavyÕs (1998), goes further
in saying that what matters in narratives is not the authenticity of the narrated facts,
but rather ‘‘the way each person looks at his or her life, the meaning that is attached
to events seen as important, in short, the story that each one feels like telling to one-
self ’’ (p. 273, my translation), because ‘‘ the stories are staging a life which was and is
in the process of being invented from a reinterpretation of our more or less hetero-
geneous heritages’’ (pp. 273–274, my translation). These reflections are interesting,
but the problem of defining and applying validity criteria in narrative research is still
one that should mobilize the efforts of researchers for some time.
Other challenges lie before the researchers and practitioners interested in the use
of constructivist methods. Some concern the skills required from those who are co-
creating stories with subjects or clients. Still others are related to the ethical problems
that are specific to these undertakings. Moreover, problems of a different sort have to
do with the difficulty of using narrative with career counseling clients in work envi-
ronments where pressures are being exerted on counselors in order that they use
time-saving and more efficient approaches in their professional practice. But it can
be expected, I believe, that creative efforts will be made and rewarded in meeting
these challenges, and that career theory, research, and practice will continue to be
enriched by the constructivist/narrative perspective.

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