Developing a Framework for a New Creative Career Coaching Methodology:

A literature review and research proposal

One of my earliest observations as a creative career coach was that creatives, unlike more generalized populations, had a different starting place when it came to careers. They had unique psychological, social, and even neurological factors to contend with, and existing career coaching methodologies were falling short in preparing them for their career journeys. 

In order to address this gap in our knowledge, I conducted a thorough literature review with the goal of creating a functional framework on which a new creative career coaching methodology could be built. This framework and the research paper it exists within, although as of yet unpublished, have allowed the CCAD careers team to adjust our approach to creative career development to better suite the needs of our student and alumni audiences. 

Abstract:

This paper proposes a functional framework for the development of a new creative career coaching methodology tailored to art and design students. Through an extensive literature review spanning psychology, sociology, philosophy, and neurology, the author identifies eight key themes critical to understanding the unique needs of creative career seekers: well-being, motivational drives, cognitive processing, the mind-body connection, challenge and risk-taking, culture and community, perceptions surrounding creative careers, and creative identity formation. The paper argues that existing career coaching approaches fail to adequately address the distinct psychological, social, and neurological characteristics of creative individuals. A holistic framework is presented that emphasizes balancing internal and external influences, harnessing intrinsic motivation while promoting awareness of extrinsic factors, facilitating productive creative cognitive processes, embracing sensorimotor experiences, encouraging calculated risk-taking, fostering supportive creative communities, challenging false assumptions, and guiding healthy identity development. Reflective practice emerges as a central tool for navigating these themes. The author proposes a checklist for evaluating creative career methodologies against this framework and outlines suggestions for further research, including investigating prevalent beliefs among art students and experiences of career enmeshment in art and design alumni.