Metaphors in Career Development: Using ZMET to Explore How an Employment Initiative Changes NEETs’ Mental Models

Abstract

Noting the lack of in-depth insights into the role of emotions and the malleability of affective dispositions for career development, the current research adopts a single case study approach, involving an employment initiative, to elicit conscious and unconscious emotions and beliefs of participants who are not in employment, education, or training (NEETs). Using Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET), which involves in-depth, semi-structured interviews and images, the authors determine that comfort emotions represent necessary conditions, acting as filters that alter mental representations of the world, evoke a process of perspective transformation, and ultimately induce new beliefs and individual emancipation. This research contributes to career development literature and redefines career helpers as agents of change who should recognize and harness emotions for assisting NEETs who must navigate complex, unique career environments.