A Design Thinking Approach for Designing Careers: Finding Authenticity and Increasing Self-Efficacy

The current work environment, characterized by high mobility, career interruptions and temporary work, requires management students to actively design their career trajectories and re-design them as circumstances change. Departing from traditional one-on-one coaching sessions, we investigate the effectiveness of a collaborative life design method based on Design thinking and conducted in large groups. Through a quasi-experiment we find that students who attended the life design workshop significantly increased their Positive Psychological Capital (specifically self-efficacy, resilience and hope), their self-esteem and the presence of meaning in life. The qualitative data analysis revealed that the intervention allowed students to broaden their sight on life, discover authenticity by reframing their measures of success. Business schools could consider offering courses on career design with a collaborative design thinking approach to support students in learning a methodology which could better equip them to navigate the future of work.