Career Theory
Developing a career development program and assessment in career planning are essential for a successful career. A number of career development theories exist, but none of the existing theories is perfect. Therefore, professionals need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of existing career theories. Both traditional career theories and postmodern career theories exist.
Social cognitive career theory by Albert Bandura is a traditional career theory while creating narrative theory by Savickas is an example of postmodern career theories. The constructive narrative career theory focuses on the narrative of the client’s past experiences, current situation, and future plans to determine the abilities and motivation of the client on a particular career path (MCMAHON, 2016). Social cognitive career theory focuses on the client’s ability and confidence while performing a specific task to determine the motivation and willingness of the client in a certain career (Brown, 2017). Both the social cognitive career theory and the creating narrative theory acknowledges the role of the career counselor in giving encouragements to clients to motivate them in their career paths. However, a clear difference exists between cognitive career theory and the creating narrative career theory.
The social cognitive career theory says that the ability and confidence of the client determines the level of motivation a client has towards a particular career, while the creating narrative theory says that the narrative of the client’s past experience and future actions determine the level of motivation a client has about a particular career. Social cognitive career theory is used by the client with low esteem to encourage them to find a career that matches their interest and skills. Creating narrative theory is used by the clients who lack self-awareness about a certain career to uncover career values, which helps the client to set future goals about the career.
In conclusion, the social cognitive theory is a traditional career theory while creating narrative theory is a postmodern career theory. Both the social cognitive theory and creating narrative theory uses simple and comprehensive terms in their definitions that enhances the understanding of the theories. The constructive narrative career theory focuses on the narrative of the client’s past experience and future actions, while the social cognitive theory focuses on the client’s ability and confidence on a certain career path.