ABSTRACT
The last century was dominated by a constant search for objective approaches to explain career ventures (e.g., through the work of Super, Holland, and others). Interest, aptitude, values and personality measures promoted a “test and tell” mentality, with all other approaches and techniques receiving only passing attention. There now emerges renewed interest and respect for attending to subjective and phenomenological input or explanations for career behaviour. Stories or narratives are to be studied and utilised with seriousness, as they may provide more explanation for the “how” and “why” of one’s actions than can any objective explanation. When incorporated with objective material such as interest, aptitude and personality measures, subjective means can represent a much richer and accurate method of understanding how people actually engage in career planning. Such an approach also provides a whole new way of defining the role of the career counsellor.
