‘A space to try things out’: How career changers experience the best possible self intervention. An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract

Changes in working patterns mean that the youngest generations in the work force, millennials and generation Z, are facing more organisational and job changes than previous generations. Specifically, millennials, defined as the generation born between 1982 and 1999 (Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman & Lance, 2010), experience between two and three times as many job and organisational moves as previous generations (Lyons, Schweitzer & Ng, 2015), with 60 per cent of millennials reporting that they are open to a different job opportunity (Gallup, 2016). Research suggests that key resources such as optimism and self-efficacy are important elements of career adaptability (Haenggli & Hirschi, 2020). The field of positive psychology, which was first introduced to the academic community in 2000 (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), aims to better understand and foster valued subjective experiences, such as wellbeing, resilience and optimism. More recently, positive psychology has integrated with coaching psychology to create a new approach to coaching, positive psychology coaching, which can be defined as ‘evidence-based coaching practice informed by the theories and research of positive psychology for the enhancement of resilience, achievement and wellbeing’ (Green & Palmer, 2019, p.10). With job and career changes becoming increasingly likely for the millennial generation, there is an opportunity to look at how positive psychology coaching can be used to support the experience of individuals within this generation, helping them to enhance outcomes. There has been some research conducted within this field, with one study suggesting that positive psychology coaching can be beneficial in boosting career confidence in potential career changers (Archer & Yates, 2017), however, the existing research is limited, and doesn’t specifically focus on the millennial generation. One positive psychology intervention that could be particularly relevant for this population is the Best Possible Self (BPS) intervention (King, 2001). This intervention encourages individuals to imagine a best possible future self, before then writing about what they imagined. Previous research has shown that the BPS intervention is linked to increased positive affect, increased optimism and increased levels of self-concordant motivation (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006), and there is also evidence to suggest that mental stimulation can support psychological adjustment to change (Rivkin & Taylor, 1999). This study endeavours to contribute to the research by understanding how a positive psychology intervention (specifically, the BPS intervention (King, 2001)) is experienced by millennials who are considering a career change, before considering the implications of this for career coaching.