From Knowledge to Wisdom: Indigenous Women's Narratives of Doing Well With Career Decision Making

Indigenous women in Canada are outperforming other Canadians in the labour market (DePratto, 2015). However, we currently have limited understanding about how Indigenous women decide on their choice of career. We sought to understand Indigenous women’s narratives of doing well in making career decisions. Ten women volunteered to tell their stories of how they made career decisions that resulted in positive outcomes. Using a narrative research design, in-depth interviews were recorded and narrative accounts were generated that illuminated the ways in which women in this study overcame life circumstances in their quest to establish a career. Verbatim transcriptions and individual narrative accounts were constructed. The narratives were then analyzed using a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). All participants confirmed the following five main themes: (1) focusing on a career direction, (2) pursuing further education and training, (3) overcoming and learning from adversity, (4) relational experiences that influenced career decisions and (5) connection to Aboriginal community as part of career decision-making. Implications for future research, career theory development and education as well as career counselling practice are discussed.