Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This paper presents a four-stage model of career decision-making based on an existential theoretical perspective. Existential themes such as freedom, responsibility, meaning, and authenticity are examined for their applicability to career decision-making across the life span. The author submits that career satisfaction and stability is obtained when there is a correspondence between the vocation and the meaning and opportunities for authentic existence that the vocation provides. Failure to acquire opportunities for meaning and authentic existence in individual's occupations result in an existential vacuum and existential guilt, respectively. Conceptualization of career decision-making from an existential perspective may be particularly beneficial for individuals making mid-career changes. Case studies are provided to elucidate the stages of the model and to specify the career counseling interventions that are most relevant for the various stages. Research implications as well as limitations of this model are also discussed.

Keywords

authenticity career decision-making existential meaning.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bandura, A. (1986). Social learning theory (2nd ed.). Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Bloland, P.A. & Walker, B.A. (1981). A humanistic existential perspective on career counseling. Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 29, 197-204.

Brown, D., Brooks, L. & others (Eds.). (1996). Career choice and development. (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Frankl, V.E. (1967). Psychotherapy and existentialism: Selected papers on logotherapy. New York: Washington Square Press.

Frankl, V.E. (1969). The will to meaning. New York : New American Library.

Frankl, V.E. (1984). Man's search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy (3rd Ed). New York: Simon & Schuster.

Friedman, M. (1964). The worlds of existentialism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Harren, V.A. (1979). A model of career decision-making for college students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14, 119-133.

Heidegger, M. (1949). Existence and being. Chicago : Regency.

10.

Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. New York: Harper.

11.

Homan, K.B. (1986). Vocation as a quest for authentic existence. Career Development Quarterly, 35, 15-23.

12.

Kierkegaard, S. (1950). The point of view. London: Oxford University Press.

13.

Koehn, C.V. (1986). Meaninglessness, death, and responsibility: Existential themes in career counseling. Canadian Journal of Counselling , 20, 177-185.

14.

Leong, F.T.L. (1997). Cross-cultural career psychology: Comment on Fouad, Harmon, and Bergen (1997) and Tracy, Watanbe, and Schneider (1997). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44, 355-359.

15.

Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row.

16.

Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. New York: Van Nostrand.

17.

May, R. ( 1969). Love and will. New York: Norton.

18.

May, R. , & Yalom, I.D. (1995). Existential psychotherapy. In R. Corsini & D. Wedding (Eds.), Current psychotherapies (5th ed., pp. 262-292). Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock.

19.

Meichenbaum, D. (1977). Cognitive behavior modification. New York: Plenum.

20.

Mitchell, L.K. & Krumboltz, J.D. (1990). A social learning approach to career decision making. In D. Brown , L. Brooks , & others (Eds.), Career choice and development: Applying theories to practice (2nd ed., pp. 145-196). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

21.

Peterson, G.W. , Sampson, J.P. , Reardon, R.C. , & Lenz, J.G. (1996). A cognitive information processing approach to career problem solving and decision making. In D. Brown , L. Brooks , & others (Eds.), Career choice and development (3rd ed., pp. 423-475). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

22.

Rank, O. (1945). Will therapy and truth reality. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

23.

Roe, A. ( 1956). The psychology of occupations. New York: Wiley.

24.

Sartre, J. (1956). Existentialism. New York: Philosophical Library.

25.

Sue, D.W. , & Sue, D. (1999). Counseling the culturally different: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). New York : John Wiley & Sons.

26.

Tillich, P. (1952). The courage to be. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

27.

Yalom, I.D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.

28.

Young, R.A. , Valach, L. , & Collings, A. (1996). A contextual explanation of career counseling . In D. Brown & L. Brooks (Eds)., Career choice and development (3rd ed., pp. 447-512). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Applying Existential Theory and Intervention to Career Decision-Making

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References