Career writing: Creative, expressive and reflective approaches to narrative identity formation in students in higher education Reinekke Lengelle a, ⁎, Frans Meijers b , Rob Poell c , Mijke Post b a Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Athabasca University, Canada b School of Education, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands c Department of Human Resource Studies, Tilburg University, The Netherlands article info abstract Article history: Received 1 March 2014 Available online 10 May 2014 This study investigates whether creative, expressive, and reflective writing contributes to the formation of a narrative career identity that offers students in higher education a sense of meaning and direction. The contents of writing done by students who participated in 2 two-day writing courses before and after work placements and of a control group were compared. Employers were also asked to evaluate students' performance. Writing samples were analyzed using the Linguistic Index Word Count program and an instrument based on Dialogical Self Theory. Work-placement self-reports were gathered, examined, and used as anecdotal evidence presented in the form of case studies. The results show that career writing can promote the development of career identity and holds promise as a narrative career guidance approach. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Creative writing Expressive writing Narrative career counseling LIWC Dialogical Self Theory Higher education 1. Introduction Young people preparing for work need career guidance that will see them through unpredictable journeys. Traditional career-choice models are no longer working (Jarvis, 2014), as they do not successfully address the compounding factors of complexity, individualization, labor market insecurity, and the need for social and emotional competence in the workplace (Cherniss, 2000). As well, parents are frequently ill-equipped to help their children in making suitable career choices because of this increased complexity and the disappearance of the ‘grand narratives’ that used to guide choice making (Meijers, 2013). Studies also show that few students are intrinsically motivated in their studies and a majority have no idea of their career direction (Gatto, 2009; Holt, 1995). Dropout rates in European secondary and higher education are between 30 and 50% (Eurostat, 2008), which is partly a result of rather random educational choices. A Dutch study (Borghans, Coenen, Golsteyn, Hijgen, & Sieben, 2008) estimated that the societal costs of students taking longer to complete their studies as a result of unsuitable choices was 5.7 billion euros a year. Not only the ‘cafeteria of options’ (Guichard, 2009, p. 252) makes it difficult for young people to make choices but also the fact that the labor market has changed drastically in recent decades. There is a marked increase in contingent labor contracts and job insecurity (Goldstene, 2013). At the same time, the educational system has not kept pace with the resulting need for students to become more proactive; instead education continues to emphasize “rational–cognitive conceptions of knowledge and cumulative–linear models of learning” (Briton, 2012, p. 48). Employers are looking for intrinsically motivated employees who not only have technical skills and knowledge – which is where schools still focus most of their energy – but also possess the so-called ‘soft-skills’ (Hillage, Regan, Dickson, & McLoughlin, 2002; Lafer, 2004; Schulz, 2008). Indeed, the role of emotions in career learning is key for a number of reasons. First, there is a need to cultivate emotional competence in the workplace (Hochschild, 1983) because of the economy's focus on service provision. Second, affect Journal of Vocational Behavior 85 (2014) 75–84 ⁎ Corresponding author at: 8711 42 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2014.05.001 0001-8791/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Vocational Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jvb