Is finding your professional path a science?

How to make the right choices? That’s the question we ask yourself regarding our professional path. Good news is, it’s also a question that scientists explore. For more than a century, researchers in guidance psychology study and analyse the topic, imagine news models et develop experiments to help us find our way. That’s Auguste Dumouilla’s job as a researcher at JobTeaser Reasearch and Innovation team.

You are a doctor and researcher in guidance psychology, what is it about? 

Auguste Dumouilla: Being a researcher in psychology means that I read and integrate as much scientific literature as possible that is closely or remotely related to counselling psychology. Based on this theoretical expertise, I then construct protocols to answer a question that research has not yet answered. This is the core of the work of a researcher in psychology.

At JobTeaser, my task is to create guidance products, train people in the use of these products, produce popularised content, set up research protocols and build the counterpart to counselling assistance on the recruitment side. 

So, counselling is a subject of scientific study. How would you define it scientifically? 

A.D.: The most current theoretical model in guidance is called Life Design. It is defined as “enabling the individual to become aware of his or her personal characteristics and to develop them to choose his/her studies and professional activities in all circumstances of life”. Basically, what we need to remember in this model is that the dream job is a myth. 

We are often under the impression that counselling issues are rather recent. Is this true and since when has science been interested in counselling? 

A.D.: The pioneer of research in counselling psychology was Frank Parsons, an American practitioner and researcher. And it goes back to the 1910s. He laid the foundations for the different stages of vocational guidance. In particular, the triptych is still relevant today: getting to know yourself, exploring possibilities and making decisions. 

The world has changed quite a bit over the last century, how is guidance psychology adapting? 

A.D.: In the evolution of guidance models, we can distinguish three main stages, each of which responds to the requirements of the labour market at the time. Parsons started by building a system based on matching - that is, finding the right job for the right person. Then we moved to a much more education-centred design but without really taking the context into account. Finally, today, we are in the Life Design phase, with a real consideration of the individual's life context. 

Is it more difficult to find one's path today than it was 50 years ago? 

A.D.: What changes compared to before is that we move from a relatively stable long-term projection framework with identified perspectives to a society full of uncertainties. In my parents' or grandparents' time, only one choice was to be made. Once that was done, you had your career and that was it. Today, there are many more strategic career choices to be made. More frequently but also more quickly. 

It is therefore essential to learn how to find you professional way. But is guidance a skill like any other? Can you work on guidance like you work on maths? 

A.D.: Yes, it's possible to improve one's ability to find a job, a vocation, to do well in interviews... everything that serves to build one's life path. Today, there is a lot of talk about “guidance skills”. But there is no consensus on the dimensions surrounding these guidance skills and many models exist, such as the Sovet model, for instance. 

Orientation is something that can be worked on, but care must be taken not to fall into the trap of “where there is a will there is a way”. Individual responsibility for taking charge of one's own career path is essential, but it is not the only component to be considered. In guidance, the role of context is key to determining success or failure. You really have to see it as a dynamic and interconnected system between the individual (interests, personality, etc.), the social system (family, community groups, etc.) and the environmental-societal system (socio-economic status, job market, etc.). In addition to all this, these three systems are connected via the narrative of past, present and future time contexts. 

Are there people who are naturally more competent to orientate themselves professionally? 

A.D.: Orientation skills are the result of learning. At any given time, some people may be more or less competent than others. What will play a role is the development or not of these skills but also the feeling of being able to face the challenges that arise. This is what we call the feeling of ability in guidance. 

We need to develop our guidance skills throughout our lives. When should we start? 

A.D.: It's very difficult to take a position on this question, because it goes beyond counselling psychology. It's almost an ethical and philosophical question, but in reality, it's mainly political. The more we are in a position to prevent problems, the better equipped we will be to deal with them, that's obvious. But awakening at a very early age to the quest for meaning and to the idea of putting in place all the actions that will enable us to get where we want to go can become a problem if, for instance, our education system does not allow it: we can imagine a case where a student identifies what he wants to do, but his/her grades make it impossible for him/her to succeed in reaching his/her goal. The society in which the person is trying to find his/her place may not satisfy him/her, particularly on the environmental issue... What should be done in this case? Should we encourage the person to adapt to the system or give them the means to fight against it? And besides, is school to tackle this kind of questioning? 

Today, you have become a vocational counsellor. But how did you choose guidance psychology? 

A.D.: I started with studies in STAPS (French acronym for Sciences and Techniques of Physical and Sports Activities) because I was really into basketball. In my Master's degree, I specialised in the creation of physical activity programmes to promote people's health and get them out of a sedentary lifestyle. And then, by chance, I discovered a crazy concept that I quickly fell in love with: serendipity. I was walking through a bookshop. I thought I was picking up a book about sedentary life, but in fact it was about serendipity - the ability to find what you're not looking for. I got so excited about it that I did a thesis in psychology on the topic. It was about the well-being and employability of young job seekers and so, naturally, I found myself working on vocational counselling. 

Precisely, what is the role of serendipity in counselling? And how can we make it our own? 

A.D.: Whether on an individual or collective scale, unexpected events are part of the counselling process. They are therefore variables to be considered. We can stimulate and develop our skills to better manage these unexpected events. I worked mainly on the happenstance learning theory model, which considers that there are five essential skills to develop: perseverance, optimism, openness, flexibility and risk-taking. These five sub-skills mean that we will be able to better manage the unexpected. They even allow us not to simply be spectators of unexpected elements but to generate them. It's a bit like the idea of “generating your destiny”. All these elements will be catalysed by the person's exploratory skills. 

Exploring is necessary, but aren't we in the process of falling into an injunction to constantly reorientate ourselves, to always make new choices? 

A.D.: This is the flip side of the paradigm shift between matching and Life Design. In the orientation sciences, a large part is devoted to knowing oneself well. And here, it is particularly relevant. We may need a stable and unchanging environment to be able to develop. In this case, there is no point in trying to change our path or company all the time. In fact, it is not only a question of knowing oneself well in order to find a job, but also of knowing whether we want to keep doing it and why.