Point: "In recent years, much has been written about the importance of career narratives for mid–career and senior professionals, particularly those making a career transition. But, we'd argue, they're even more important for younger professionals who don't yet have a multipage CV or a high–powered headhunter in their corner. What, then, makes for an effective narrative? First, it should be easy to remember and retell. The whole point is to give your colleagues a narrative that quickly comes to mind whenever they're asked about you, preventing them from making assumptions and drawing conclusions on their own. Two or four sentences, maximum. Second, it should meaningfully link your past successes to your near and long–term development needs and suggest the kinds of assignments that would help to achieve those objectives. Those goals might certainly be developmental (to test a particular skill; gain experience with a certain tool or methodology; explore a specific industry). But they can also be more personal (limit travel to spend time with family, for instance).Think of it as a 'sound–bite resume' – on hearing it, senior professionals should have two reactions. First, they should be interested in working with you. Second, they should know if it makes sense for you to work with them. Third, your narrative needs to hang together with the right combination of honesty, humility, and personal flavor. Doing so creates an authentic and compelling career narrative. Narratives that just articulate a string of successes are not credible and are not likely to be repeated. Similarly, boilerplate chronicles without any personal flair rarely get traction" (Gardner, H. K., & Zalisk, A., 2013).
Point: "A career narrative is basically a story about a career. It is a story that connects the protagonist's (i.e., the client's) past to the present in the sense that it conveys how the protagonist came to be what he or she is presently. This retrospective aspect of the narrative is supplemented with the career story's progressive aspect, in which the narrative puts into words the future that the protagonist is approaching. A career story is therefore both an account of how the protagonist came to be what he or she presently is, and furthermore, what future is expected for the protagonist to enact based on his or her particular past and present being" (Christensen, T. K., & Johnston, J. A., 2003, p.149).
Bibliography: Hooley, T. (2020, September 4). 'Introduction to career theory – narrative theory and life design'. Adventures in Career Development. [blog] Gardner, H. K., & Zalisk, A. (2013). 'Younger workers need a career narrative'. In Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2013/02/younger-workers-need-a-career-narrative
[folksonomy]
Christensen, T. K., & Johnston, J. A. (2003). 'Incorporating the narrative in career planning'. Journal of Career Development, 29(3), 149–160. [academic source] [folksonomy]
