In acknowledging the contribution of the Australian Journal of Career Development (AJCD's) continuing work to the career development field, this paper briefly outlines the Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC) and its empirical support. Issues relating to closed and open system validation are canvassed. Two types of COVID-19 case study are analysed: a…

The developments in the Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC) are outlined for the last decade since the publication of the original formulation in this journal in 2003 (Pryor & Bright, 2003a). The history of the development of the CTC and the major theoretical constructs of the theory including context, complexity, change, chance, attractors,…

A key postulate of the Chaos Theory of Careers is the significant influence of change, in general, and unplanned change, in particular, on individuals' career development. This qualitative research study investigated the perceived incident and impact of such change in the career paths of 55 high school graduates from the same class. Using a…

The Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC; Pryor & Bright, 2011) construes both individuals and the contexts in which they develop their careers in terms of complex dynamical systems. Such systems perpetually operate under influences of stability and change both internally and in relation to each other. The CTC introduces new concepts to account for…

This paper presents the implications of the Chaos Theory of Careers for career counselling in the form of Shiftwork. Shiftwork represents an expanded paradigm of career counselling based on complexity, change and uncertainty. Eleven paradigm shifts for careers counselling are outlined to incorporate into contemporary practice pattern making, an…

This paper seeks to extend previous work on narrative career counselling by considering the role of plot within clients' narratives. Seven archetypal narratives derived from the work of Booker (2004) are introduced that represent systems of meaning to provide insight into how individuals interpret their experience. These plots can be understood…

This article presents the Chaos Theory of Careers with particular reference to the concepts of "attraction" and "attractors". Attractors are defined in terms of characteristic trajectories, feedback mechanisms, end states, ordered boundedness, reality visions and equilibrium and fluctuation. The identified types of attractors (point, pendulum,…

The chaos theory of careers emphasizes both stability and change in its account of career development. This article outlines counseling strategies derived from this emphasis in terms of convergent or probability thinking and emergent or possibility thinking. These 2 perspectives are characterized, and practical counseling strategy implications are…

This article reports three studies on the nature and impact of chance events. The first study investigated chance events in terms of the dimensions of influence and control. The second and third studies investigated the effects of multiplicity of chance events on career development are in terms of respondents' own careers and then in terms of…

The chaos theory of careers draws together a number of themes in current theory and research. This article applies some of these themes to career counseling. The chaos theory of careers is outlined, and a conceptual framework for understanding assessment and counseling issues that focuses on convergent and emergent qualities is presented. Three…

The purpose of this article is to set out the key elements of the Chaos Theory of Careers. The complexity of influences on career development presents a significant challenge to traditional predictive models of career counseling. Chaos theory can provide a more appropriate description of career behavior, and the theory can be applied with clients…

Two studies are reported that investigate the role of chance events as influences in career decision making. In study one, the results of a large-scale survey of high-school and university students (N=772) investigating influences on their career decision making are presented. Chance events were reported as influencing the career decisions of…

Chaos career counseling, based on the Chaos Theory of Careers (R. G. L. Pryor & J. E. H. Bright, 2003a, 2003b), was compared with trait matching career counseling and a wait list control. Sixty university students who attended the Careers Research and Assessment Service seeking career advice were randomly assigned to the chaos intervention, the…

This study examined the efficacy of video-based chaos counselling of university students. In this study, 42 university students watched a video that presented student case studies emphasising chaotic concepts. Career decision-making measures and measures of stress were taken one week prior, immediately after and one week after the video…