How do people choose and build careers? - Writersblok1.org

Further reading
Available for loan from the careers service
A good starting point is Chapter One “Theories of career decision making” in Jennifer M Kidd, Understanding
Career Counselling (2006) which covers Person-Environment and Structural Theories (and
some other approaches not mentioned above).
Brown and Hesketh, The Mismanagement of Talent (2004). They have also produced a more populist
book for jobseekers based on their research, How to get the best Graduate Job (2005).
Kerr Inkson, Understanding Careers (2007). A very good, readable and comprehensive book aimed at
students interested in career studies, and how they can apply this knowledge to their own situation.
Leonie Sugarman, Life-Span Development, Frameworks, Accounts and Strategies (2001).
Useful articles available on-line include:
The National Guidance Research Forum has a section on Careers Theory with a number of useful articles.
http://www.guidance-research.org/EG/impprac/ImpP2/
Helen Colley, Do we choose careers or do they choose us? (2004), Vejleder Forum No 4 http://
www.vejlederforum.dk/page3.apsx?recordid3=228
Wikipedia contains profiles of various prominent career theorists including John L Holland, Frank Parsons
(sometimes known as the “father of vocational guidance”) and brief articles on career, career development
and career management http://wikipedia.org
Our website has a section considering the career decision making process, called Planning your Career
http://www.careers.ox.ac.uk/homepage/pyc
Useful articles available on-line from OULS include:
Kathleen Mitchell, Al Levin, John Krumboltz (1999) Planned Happenstance: Constructing Unexpected
Career Opportunities, Journal of Counseling and Development, Volume 77.
Donald E. Super (1980), A life-span, life-space approach to career development
Journal of Vocational Behavior, Volume 16, Issue 3.
Books available within the Oxford Libraries scheme include:
Irving, BA and Malik, B, Critical reflections on Careers Education and Guidance: Promoting social justice
within a global economy (2005) available in the Social Science Library- see particularly the chapter by
Ken Roberts for a challenging structuralist view of career choice and decision making.
This handout has been funded from a grant given by the Centre for Careers Management Skills (CCMS), based at the University
of Reading (http://www.reading.ac.uk/ccms/), and written by Angus McKendrick, a careers adviser at Oxford University
Careers Service and a partner fellow of the CCMS.