In Search of Addressing People’s Career Adaptability and Career Identity Needs: Constructing the Shaping Career Voices Intervention

Abstract

The inclusion of educational, cultural, economic, social and historical contexts in the development of career interventions can enhance adaptation to career-life transitions. In a South African context, interventions that promote career adaptability skills could enhance career adaptability competencies and bolster employability. This chapter reports on the designing and adapting a contextually grounded life-designing career intervention titled the Shaping Career Voices Intervention in the Kayamandi Township. A collaborative engagement process was undergone using focus group interviews and Delphi panel focus groups with community role players, including fieldworkers, teachers, principals, and Non-governmental Organisation members. A thematic analysis was conducted on the interview data using Career Construction Theory as a theoretical framework. Themes that emerged were used to create the content for the Shaping Career Voices Intervention Workbook. The development process contributed to career counselling practice and theory by demonstrating the incorporation of collaborative mechanisms in the practice of multicultural counselling with South African disadvantaged population groups to design contextually relevant career interventions in a non-western developing world context.