Job search success among the formerly-unemployed: paradoxically, a matter of self-discipline

ABSTRACT

When activation is an essential cog in public policies, looking for a job is top priority for the jobless, and becomes their professional occupation. Job search experience is studied here in the light of the institutional norms and prescriptions that frame it. Our fieldwork has focused on the supposed correspondence between these two, since our interviewees were formerly-unemployed people who have managed to land relatively long-term positions. Three results were identified: first, their experiences espouse a self-help model; second, in spite of compliance with this model, the search is jeopardized by its uncertain outcome, and third, an alternative model has emerged, characterized by job search limitations in the emotional, temporal and behavioral registers. These adjustments deviate from institutional standards yet are nonetheless the result of thoughtful and personal management, i.e. of applying a principle of self-discipline that is paradoxically in line with the institutional model of job search.

KEYWORDS:

• Getting a job
• experience
• institutional standards
• job search
• self-discipline
• unemployed people

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The short expressions between inverted commas were borrowed from interviewees. Where excerpts are longer, we indicate the characteristics of the interviewee.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the French Agency for Employment (Pôle Emploi) and by a French national non-profit organization offering aid to the unemployed (Solidarités Nouvelles face au Chômage).

Notes on contributors

Didier Demazière

Didier Demazière is Research Professor at the National Center for Scientific Research in France and at Sciences Po in Paris. He is editor-in-chief of the journal Sociologie du Travail (2008-2019), he has been President of the French Sociological Association (2011-2015).

His research focuses on two domains: unemployment and public policy regarding employment; and changes in work and professional group dynamics. At the crossroads of these two areas, he develops fieldworks on questions as of how labor markets operate and how professional careers are structured. The first domain leads to analyze the connections between experiences of unemployed people and activation policies, the biographical paths of job seekers, the work of career advisors, the experience of being deprived of work. He studies most of these aspects via international comparisons (France, Brazil, and Japan in particular). The second domain leads to the analysis of the relationships between professions and organizations, the division of labor, competition and coordination between professions, and professional norms. He is currently working in three empirical fields, corresponding to specific labor markets characterized with high levels of uncertainty: elected officials, sports agents, and people excluded from unemployed benefits.