In this article we examine the print media portrayal of career transitions by adapting Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework. The aim is to explore and critically analyse the newspaper articles published in "The Times," "Guardian," and "Daily Mail" between 1985 and 2015, the same time span in which career development theories started to get public attention. In particular, we answer the question of how the language used by journalists influences assumptions about personal agency in career development. Assessing the similarities and differences of the dominant academic discourses and the social characteristic of the press provides a setting to draw conclusions about the social implications of career theories.