To complement the cross-sectional view of self-concept con-
tent, the longitudinal perspective characterizes themes that orga-
nize this content for the purpose of autobiographical reasoning.
Biographical themes provide an architecture to guide thinking
about the continuity of a self across the past, present, and future.
The essence of a career theme does not lie in reporting past experi-
ences. To the contrary, themes interpret past facts to make them fit
present needs. Themes illuminate what experience alone cannot;
they convey a message that supports present goals and shapes the
future. As such, themes are “created meaning” that resides in the
present and explains the essential impulse of the self. Accordingly,
career-theme assessment uses an individual’s autobiography to iden-
tify threads of continuity in the work history, then uses this fabric
to interpret the past, explain the present, and foresee the future.
Counselors can use autobiographies (Annis, 1967; Mumford, Stokes,
& Owens, 1990) and genograms (Okiishi, 1987) to elicit career nar-
ratives. In addition, the career-theme interview (Savickas, 1989),
included in the case materials reported for K and E (see Chapter
Two) was designed specifically to prompt autobiographical reason-
ing and produce career narratives. The five questions, in conjunc-
tion with three early recollections, produce narratives that express
psychological truths and lessons learned from self-defining events
during different career periods.
To identify patterns and projects from these career-defining sto-
ries, the counselor tries to learn about the origin of the career theme,
the career path’s trajectory and turning points, and prior experi-
ences that might apply to the current concern. To do this, I use a
method called extrapolation based on thematic analysis (Super,
1954; Jepsen, 1994). As an example of thematic analysis in con-
structivist career assessment, Savickas (2000c) has shown how
articulating the connection between the problem stated in the first
early recollection and the solution portrayed by the role models
identifies the thread that weaves a career theme. Other techniques
for thematic analysis of career autobiographies have been elabo-
rated by Cochran (1997), Jepsen (1994), and Neimeyer (1989).
The themes in a client’s career narratives, especially those that
A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR 189