Issues related to modern and post-modern approaches to career assessment and counseling are evident in the literature, as are ideas on how to build on and combine techniques. Although Holland's theoretical interventions can appear to conflict with career construction counseling due to their bases in modern and post-modern philosophy, respectively, we examine how aspects of the Self-Directed Search (SDS), based on Holland's RIASEC theory, can be operationalized in relation to the principal ideas and practices in the career construction interview. We discuss how SDS items can enable clients to tell their career story and practical applications to the life-design paradigm.