Career Writing

1. Career Writing creative, expressive, and reflective writing in career guidance Reinekke Lengelle, PhD candidateCongrès International 2014 en orientation et développement de carrière, 4 - 6 Juin, Québec, Canada

2. Career writing is… A narrative approach to career guidance that aims to help address the challenges that require self-direction

3. What is needed? Individual narrativesto replace ‘grand narratives’ A new story, about who you are, that provides both meaning and direction and lets you navigate the current (career) climate.

4. Approaches Narrative career counselling -one on one with an expert -costs time/money -although it’s a co-construction, counsellor puts it together for you Career writing (also a narrative approach) • people learn to construct/write their own narratives • time and cost effective (work with bigger groups)

6. Research Collaborative effort Athabasca University The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Research group) PhD dissertation, Tilburg University, The Netherlands Advisors Rob Poell Department of Human Resources. Tilburg University, The Netherlands Mark L. SavickasDepartment of Family and Community Medicine. Northeastern Ohio Medical University Colleagues FransMeijers The Hague University, Mijke Post Research “floor manager” The Hague University

7. Research question: Can 2 two-day career-writing courses – one before and one after work placements – foster the development of a career narrative among students in higher education?

8. Participants: Third-year Dutch bachelor students 20 Experimental group 20 Control group Various cultural backgrounds More females than males

9. The set up Experimental group 2 day career-writing course 5 month work placement 2 day career-writing course Control group 1 writing sample 5 month work placement 1 writing sample

10. The intervention Creative, expressive, and reflective writing • Fiction • Journaling • Poetry • ‘Inquiry’ • Sharing of work in the classroom

11. Data collection • Writing samples • Work-placement self reports • Luck Readiness Index • Employer evaluations

12. How did we measure if career writing had the desired effect? • Dialogical Self Theory coding • LIWC “Luke”(Linguistic Index Word Count) • Luck Readiness Index – 52 questions • Employer evaluations – 16 statement questionnaire

13. Dialogical Self Theory coding I-positions, expanded I, meta, promoter • LIWC (Linguistic Index Word Count) pronoun switching, increase in cognitive/causal/insight words, emotions words (positive & negative) • Luck Readiness Index – 8 qualities • Employer evaluations – 16 statement questionnaire

14. Results Dialogical Self Coding Work placements alone do not serve in helping to construct meaning and direction.

15. Results Linguistic Index Word Count (LIWC) Work experience, without the dialogue about it, leads to more negative feelings.

16. Results Luck Readiness Index Scores measuring: Flexibility, Optimism, Risk, Curiosity, Persistence, Strategy, Efficacy, Luckiness Work experience increases luck readiness, but with a dialogue, the jumps are bigger.

17. Results Employer Evaluations Students who were able to have a dialogue about work experiences before they embarked, were evaluated more positively by employers.

18. Career writing does contribute to the formation of a career narrative that helps provide both meaning and direction as shown by the results that all point in the same direction. Results are modest yet hopeful Possible discussion: -future research directions -weaknesses of the research

19. Recommendations So you want to be a facilitator of Career Writing… • try it first yourself (embodied experience) • write regularly for your own joy and curiosity • find exercises, writing prompts, poems, and resources that YOU like • don’t make make it another hoop for students or clients to jump through • slow down, make space, and grow courage • use the research, theory, and information that now exists to make a case for career writing at your institution

20. Publicationsreinekke@athabascau.cawww.blacktulippress.com • Lengelle, R. & Meijers, F. (2015). Career Writing: Creative, Expressive, and Reflective Approaches to Narrative Career Learning and Guidance. The Canadian Journal of Career Development (Accepted). • Lengelle, R., Meijers, F., Poell, R., Post, M. (2014). Career Writing as a Dialogue about Work Experience: A Recipe for Luck Readiness? (Submitted). • Lengelle, R., Meijers, F., Poell, R., Post, M. (2014). Career Writing: creative, expressive, and reflective approaches to narrative identity formation in students in higher education. Journal of Vocational Behavior (In press). • Lengelle, R. & Meijers, F. (2014). Narrative Identity: writing the self in career learning. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 42, 52-72. DOI: 10.1080/03069885.2013.816837. • Lengelle, R., Meijers, F., Poell, R., Post, M. (2013). The effects of creative, expressive, and reflective writing in career learning. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83, 419-427. • Meijers, F. & Lengelle, R. (2012) Narratives at work: the development of a career identity. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 40, 157-177. • Winters, A., Meijers, F., Lengelle, R, & Baert, H. (2012) The self in career learning: An evolving dialogue. In Hermans, H & Gieser, T (Eds.), Handbook of dialogical self theory (pp. 454-460) UK: Cambridge University Press.