The Hero’s Journey: constructing continuity from discontinuity in millennial career changers’ narratives

ABSTRACT

Although career construction theory is relevant to today's vocational climate, empirical research into it is scarce. Accordingly, we explored this theory by investigating the concepts, structures and processes that UK-based millennial career changers use to construct narratives allowing for continuity of plot and discontinuity of career direction. Interpretative phenomenological analysis on semi-structured interviews (N = 6) identified four themes: dissatisfaction, realisation, sacrifice and return. The Hero’s Journey was identified as an overarching structure for meaning making in career change. Participants assimilated instability and discontinuity into a broader framework of continuity, through narrating a quest for closer alignment between their work and personality. This study provides useful insights into career construction theory and suggests further utility of The Hero’s Journey in career counselling/guidance.

KEYWORDS:

• Career change
• career construction theory
• career counselling
• narrative
• qualitative

Data availability statement

The anonymised version of the data that support the findings of this study is available from the corresponding author [FTM] upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Freya Tsuda-McCaie

Freya Tsuda McCaie is a mental health worker and researcher who has worked with individuals with mental health diagnoses, providing vocational assistance and therapeutic support in both the UK and the USA. Her postgraduate work focused on career guidance for young workers.

Yasuhiro Kotera

Yasuhiro Kotera is Academic Lead in Counselling, Psychotherapy & Psychology, and Chair of Research Ethics Committee at the University of Derby, Online Learning. As an accredited psychotherapist and certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) trainer, he has worked with diverse clients and trained practitioners internationally. His research focuses on NLP, mental health, motivation and cross-culture.