Metaphors we manage our careers by
So much of how we talk about careers is metaphorical. Could that be a bad thing?
I’m at the beginning of my career journey.
What’s your career path?
Applying for jobs is a numbers game.
Climb the career ladder.
Break through the glass ceiling.
These might sound familiar. They are so familiar, in fact, that you might not immediately notice that they’re metaphors.
Metaphors we live by
In their celebrated book Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson discuss how metaphors are embedded in everyday life.
Take argument. We often talk of this as being like a war:
Your claims are indefensible.
He attacked every weak point in my argument. His criticisms were right on target.
I demolished his argument.
I’ve never won an argument with him.
You disagree? Okay, shoot!
If you use that strategy, he’ll wipe you out. He shot down all of my arguments.
(Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 4)
Importantly, these aren’t just turns of phrase. That’s because they not only affect the way we speak, but the way we think, about argument.
If you talked about argument as though it were like constructing a beautiful, elaborate building, would you debate differently—perhaps more constructively? Would your emotions when disagreeing with someone change?
Sometimes the consequences of metaphor can be rather more serious. For example, there is evidence that talk of ‘fighting cancer’, while intended to encourage, may have the opposite effect, making treatment seem more difficult than it actually is (Hauser & Schwarz, 2020, p. 1702).
Metaphors we manage our careers by?
I think metaphors also affect how we think about and act on our careers.
Sometimes that can be helpful. In fact, we at the Careers Centre like to frame your time at university as a career journey.
But not every career metaphor is so innocent.
Climbing ladders, promotion and demotion
I started this blog post with some metaphors:
Applying for jobs is a numbers game.
Climb the career ladder.
There are others like them:
I’m looking to get promoted quickly.
Perhaps I should get some career coaching.
Metaphors like this encourage us to think of careers as games, whether board games, video games, or sports.
Some scholars suggest that that can help us think about our careers more healthily, such as by casting career goals as “quests” and career difficulties as “bad guys” (Rochat & Borgen, 2023, pp. 301–302).
I’m not so sure. Game-playing connotes ideas of winning and losing, and doing whatever it takes to secure success. That’s probably not healthy in general, increasing the pressure we feel when making career choices. It may also encourage an adversarial attitude towards employers and other candidates.
It could also impact our approach to job applications. Perhaps the ‘it’s a numbers game’ metaphor is a reason for the average graduate job in the UK receiving more than 100 applications. It may also be why so many employers say applications they receive aren’t targeted at them or the opportunities they’re offering.
What now?
Perhaps it’s worth thinking about how you talk about your career, and what impact that has on how you approach it.
This doesn’t mean avoiding metaphor, which is impossible. Instead, consider how the language you use about your career may limit your perspective. Could using a different lexicon provide a fresh outlook? If you thought of your career as an adventure, rather than as a game, might that change what you do, and how you feel, about it?
If you would like to discuss this or any aspect of your career, feel free to book an appointment with a careers adviser.
References
Hauser, D. J., & Schwarz, N. (2020). The War on Prevention II: Battle Metaphors Undermine Cancer Treatment and Prevention and Do Not Increase Vigilance. Health Communication. 35(13), 1698–1704. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2019.1663465
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. The University of Chicago Press.
Rochat, S., & Borgen, W. A. (2023). Career life as a game: an overlooked metaphor for successful career transitions. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling. 51(2), 298–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2021.1940844