Chapter 13: Calling in Career Development: Strategies for Promoting Meaningful Work

Imagine a morning in which you, a career counselor, have three sessions booked with new clients. The first client, an emerging adult in her second year of college, expresses near-despair over her lack of direction. She has taken enough credits as a student with “undecided” status to trigger the form letter from the registrar saying she must choose a major before she can register next semester, and she still has no idea what path she wants to pursue. The second client is paying on a sliding scale, because he has been unemployed for 18 months. Although he is emphatic about wanting to establish a career in the arts, hopefully using his skills and experience as a stone sculptor, there are no jobs in his region right now for which stone sculpting skills are a stated asset. He reports feeling stuck, discouraged, and is rapidly losing hope. The third client is a litigation attorney who has spent her career trying to protect small businesses from frivolous lawsuits that, without her help and expertise, could likely drag on until the accumulating legal expenses would force them to close their doors. She describes it as very important and meaningful work, but she is beginning to reevaluate her career as she nears retirement. She looks forward to retired life, but at the same time her identity is very much intertwined with her work, and she is not sure what could give her the same sense of purpose her work provides now. Three very different clients in very different stages of life with very different needs, all before lunch! Yet a striking common thread ties them together. All three, at one point during their respective intake sessions, make the same statement: “Whatever I do next, I want to make sure I’m living out my calling.”