Work/life fusion has focused on researching, understanding and assisting this form of career decision-making and direction-finding since its very first post but - since you are asking for clarification - what exactly are self-led choices and where can all this research lead?
It is too frustrating and too simple to say that you already have the answers but there is some truth in that statement. It is more accurate to say that you can arrive at meaningful career answers through experiences that you already possess. [It also helps that the latter of these two statements can be qualified and is much more defensible too.]
This blog has referred to our past career experiences as assets. Over time, the belief that our career experiences are genuine assets hasn't changed but maybe it has become easier to express.
[Peace within a storm - see more at Saundra's Photostream here]
In the past, career support services (advice, guidance, outplacement, etc.) were happiest when they were defining our external search. In other words, individual career support was largely based on helping us find something that was missing, something that we hadn't yet found. Once an individual could see what the missing piece was (whether it was a job, a job-title, a certain level of earnings or anything else) their strategy in its simplest form amounted to little more than 'Go get it!'
Growing evidence I have encountered suggests that 'career services' will behave differently in the future and that one of the key differences will be a new emphasis on supporting self-led choice. Self-led career choices are more relevant to our individual career experiences, based more firmly on individually relevant evidence and possess a much closer fit with our individual values, talents and goals.
As it always does, time will provide the ultimate proof but the results of structured research into what each of us wants and can achieve from our individual careers, in my view creates career opportunities too exciting to miss!
Here are a couple more posts on the broader subject of self-led choice:
All the best for now,
Paul
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