biographical narratives taking place in a context of multiple choices from a diversity of

options and constraints, the motivation for intervention naturally shifts from emphasizing

career fit or matching to empowering clients in the authoring and revising of their

vocational narratives (Amundson, 1997; Hermans, 1992; Severy, 2002). Career

developing interventions should, therefore, help clients

 Author their life stories by narrating a coherent and continuous story.

 Invest career with meaning by identifying themes and tensions.

 Learn the skills they will need to perform the next chapter in their lives.

 There are a variety of tools at the counselor's disposal to help in this process.

Although some researchers and theorists advocate that traditional assessments cannot fit

into a postmodern perspective, most feel that vocational assessments can offer valuable

assistance (Savickas, 1992). It is this combination of traditional, well-tested tools with a

new mindset and new theoretical basis that gives power to the model.

 Narrative Career Website

 The narrative career website at the heart of this study was developed with this

integration of traditional and postmodern in mind. As such, the online tool contained

activities designed to help clients author stories in relation to their themes and personal

values, interests, important people, and the creation of their personal archetypes (Jepsen,

1994; Ochberg, 1994). As the main emphasis in postmodern career counseling involves

meaning-making, most of the activities focused on themes and values (Amundson, 1997;

Jepsen, 1994). Mark Savickas advocates for the use of family stories and early

recollections for the understanding and interpreting of life stories (1995). He feels that,

through a combination of experiences, people develop certain recurring themes in life

(Savickas, 1997a). Some of these themes are positive and some are negative (Savickas,