‘While I'm Retraining, I Get the Full Whack’: Illuminating Narratives of Career Change

Abstract

This article considers four interviews conducted with French citizens by a team of researchers as part of the research project ‘Learning for Career and Labour Market Transitions: individual biographies’. Funded by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), this study sought to contribute to the development of a comprehensive model that would accommodate the different ways in which learning can support labour market transitions. The research approach drew on what can be depicted broadly as narrative and or biographical methods modified through the lens of relevant career theory, the better to focus on career-relevant episodes rather than the individual's entire lifespan. Drawing on relevant theory of career adaptability and of personal agency within a changing European labour market, this article shares four distinct life stories, and depicts a French quartet making use of active labour market policy through individual application to their unique set of circumstances.