Waterman, for example, asks clients to write six paragraphs on jobs or projects they've done particularly well in their lives. She asks that one paragraph be based on a project before junior high school, one between junior high and adulthood, and one from the recent past. Sometimes she asks clients to talk through their stories rather than write them down, so she can videotape them and watch the tape with the client. William Pollack takes the narrative idea one step further. Pollack then writes a report and reads it to the client.
Counseling resumes after a break of a day or two.
They're also fun. Silicon Valley's Career Action Center has developed a card-based diagnostic it calls Values Driven Work. Clients separate the cards into categories based on how important the attributes are to them. Some counselors don't play cards, but they do play other games. Judith Gerberg, a career adviser in New York City, uses plenty of conventional techniques, from testing to interviewing.