Roberta Neault is President of Life Strategies Ltd. Roberta is an award-winning career counsellor and counsellor-educator. She is the co-author of the Career Engagement model, and has written many practical guides and workbooks for career practitioners and clients in transition. She is also the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences at Yorkville University, and she divides her time between teaching, counselling/coaching, research, writing and presentations within Canada and around the globe. Roberta’s chapter in the Career Development Practice in Canada textbook is “Theoretical Foundations of Career Development.” She recently completed a term as editor of the Journal of Employment Counseling and the final issue under her leadership was “Thoughts on Theories” — a compilation of new articles from authors of many of the theories referenced in her chapter in the textbook. Topics covered in the podcast include: What is a career development theory and what is intended to do (and why a jigsaw puzzle is such a good analogy) Why some career development practitioners don’t consider the use of theories as important to their work Are earlier career development theories, such as Parson’s Trait-Factor Theory and Holland’s Theory of Vocational Types, still relevant today? The continuing popularity of Super’s Life Stages approach – and why he was ahead of his time How newer theories, such as Krumboltz’s Happenstance Theory or Bright and Pryor’s Chaos Theory, can help career development professionals support their clients What can a theory like Arthur and Collins’ Culture-Infused Counselling tell us about the cultural beliefs of career development professionals themselves? Models of career responsiveness and how they relate to the constantly changing environment and its effect on individual career choice Why there seems to be a surge of interest in career development theory when it isn’t always integrated into practice Some first steps that career professionals can take to ensure that career theory is applied in their everyday activities Where is career development theory going next? What’s needed in the field?