Journal of Vocational Behavior 81 (2012) 5258

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Vocational Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jvb

Monograph

Identity construction and career development interventions with

emerging adults
Jean Guichard a,, Jacques Pouyaud a, b, Ccile de Calan a, Bernadette Dumora a, b
a
Institut National d'Etudes du Travail et d'Orientation Professionnelle (National Institute for the Study of Work and Career Counseling) of the Conservatoire National des
Arts et Mtiers (National Conservatory of Applied Technologies) (EA 4132) 41, rue Gay Lussac, 75005 Paris, France
b
University of Bordeaux II, France

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 27 April 2012
Available online 4 May 2012
Keywords:
Self-construction
Identity
Emerging adults
Counseling interviews
Life designing

a b s t r a c t
Today's wealthy societies are more fluid, varied and complex than they were just a few
decades ago. As a consequence, what were vocational choices at the beginning of the 20th
century now appear as life designing issues. In this context, contemporary research stresses
the plurality and relative malleability of human subjects as well as their ability to take reflexive
stances on their current and past experiences. Fitting in such an epistemology, a selfconstructing model is proposed as a basis for a life designing counseling interview. This model
describes self-identity as a dynamic system of (past, present and expected) subjective identity
forms (SIF), the synthesis and dynamism of which originate in a tension between two kinds of
reflexivity. Counseling interviews with emerging adults show that the elicitation of some
expected SIF allows them to re-read their current and past experiences from such a
perspective and constitutes a compelling incentive to act.
2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
What kind of career intervention can be designed in our current society context? To answer this question, this article first
summarizes some of the major observations made, over the last decades, by sociologists and social psychologists as regards the
evolutions of wealthy societies and of work organization. Their conclusions converge. These societies became both more complex
and less stable (Bauman, 2000; Giddens, 1991). In the meantime work organizations became more flexible and now people find
less and less predefined career trajectories within the organizations for which they work. Consequently, they have to define by
themselves their own work pathways (Hall, 2002). In a context of liquid modernity where people must on their own define
what fundamentally matters in their lives and to make sense of their lives this means, in addition, that they have to design their
lives. Therefore, what used to be called vocational development or career issues have transformed into a broader challenge: That
of designing one's life (Savickas et al., 2009).
As a result, career counselors now must conceive interventions that help people cope with such a substantial challenge. To do
so, they can benefit from recent developments on human construction in the human and social sciences. These sciences appear
indeed to have developed a new take on this topic. Probably as a consequence of the above mentioned social evolutions, these
disciplines now tend to focus increasingly on the factors and processes than enable individuals to take a reflexive stance on their
experiences and to equip them with self-determination abilities. The second part of this article summarizes the main features of
these current approaches to self-construction. It stresses the role played in life designing processes by notably the tensions
between two kinds of reflexivity: A first kind of identification-based reflexivity appears as a stabilizing factor in identity

Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jean.guichard@cnam.fr (J. Guichard), jacques.pouyaud@u-bordeaux2.fr (J. Pouyaud), ceciledecalan@free.fr (C. de Calan),
BDumora@neuf.fr (B. Dumora).
0001-8791/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2012.04.004

J. Guichard et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 81 (2012) 5258

53

construction, whereas the other kind, which mobilizes semiotic processes, is a never-ending process of definition and redefinition
of one's life perspectives and meaning.
This synthesis provided a basis for a type of life designing counseling interview, which is briefly presented in this article's third
part. Empirical observations gathered during such counseling interviews are then introduced. They show that over the duration of
this counseling intervention some people value more the first type of reflexivity and stick to a certain ideal they want to achieve.
Other people give priority to the second type of reflexivity and consider their various life experiences in order to define some
future perspectives.
2. Afuent societies and their conception of the human subject
2.1. Today's societies and organizations are more uid
Today's affluent societies are more fluid, more varied and more complex than they were only a few decades ago (Bauman,
2000; Giddens, 1991). Within these societies, various cultural models (some of which are dominant) co-exist. Different lifestyles
are available (some of which are more valued than others). Social norms about the right way to direct one's life are more
challengeable than before. Thus our societies no longer provide their members with a set of established and indisputable
references allowing them to know, with certainty, how to direct their life.
At the same time these societies still emphasize work. Most individuals can only make a living by exchanging their work for a
reward. Because job security has decreased, finding and retaining employment is a major concern for a large part of the
population. Employed individuals carry out their work in increasingly complex organizations that demand the ability to adapt to
roles, develop skills, and construct representations about ourselves (such as self-efficacy beliefs or interests). Contemporary work
organizations also differ notably from earlier organizations (Ashkenas, Ulrich, Jick, & Kerr, 1995) insofar as they tend to entrust
productive responsibilities to small teams, formed for the duration of specific assignments. Individuals must also organize their
own career because these organizations offer less predefined career trajectories. They use peripheral workers employed for a
limited period of time. In relation to these new forms of work organization, the psychological dimension of the employment
contract has changed (Rousseau, 1995). Companies are no longer expected to secure their employees' future within the
organization. Reciprocally, employees are not expected to plan their future within the company. Careers are now described as
protean or boundaryless (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Hall, 2002). This means that careers are mainly based on individual decisions,
particularly, on their capacities to invest their skills according to the opportunities they can identify. To summarize, both the
current work organization and the more general context of our societies, offer individuals less predefined frameworks that could
provide them with established life bearings. As a consequence, most individuals must now take a greater personal responsibility
for directing their life than in previous forms of social organization. These societal and organizational changes have had two major
consequences as regards vocational development interventions.
2.2. A transformation of the vocational development issues faced by people
The first consequence is that the vocational development issues faced by people have become more complex, broad and deep.
They are more complex because what was an issue of vocational choice at the beginning of the 20th century, and had become
career development issues in the 1950s, now is described as the capacity to invest the individual's competences in work
assignments that they consider beneficial to themselves.
Vocational issues are also broader. On one hand, work investments require people to examine all aspects of their lives and
assess the career capital (especially in terms of knowing how and knowing who) that they have constructed. On the other hand,
to make up their minds, people also need to answer the question of knowing why (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1996). Therefore they have
to determine their life priorities and the style of life that they yearn for, as well as redefine them during the life course.
Finally these issues deepened. Because today flexible organizations and liquid societies do not provide people with
indisputable life models, individuals must design these models themselves, hopefully using interactions with others. They have to
determine their fundamental values, as well as the key elements that give meaning and, consequently, direction to their lives.
Dealing with these decisions is now a major developmental task for emerging adults. For these reasons, we assert that vocational
development has become a life-designing issue (Savickas et al., 2009; Savickas, 2010).
2.3. A new look at human development
The second consequence of the societal and organizational changes mentioned earlier is that social and human sciences have
changed the way they view human development. There are indeed strong and converging indications that these new social
possibilities for individual action have led social and human scientists to redefine the perspectives on how they study the
development of human subjectivity. As Gergen (1991) wrote: Postmodernism does not bring with it a new vocabulary for
understanding ourselves, new traits or characteristics to be discovered or explored. Its impact is more apocalyptic than that: the
very concept of personal essences is thrown into doubt (p. 7). Previous literature indeed emphasized the stability and the
uniqueness of the human subject. Individuals were seen as people endowed with steady traits and behaving similarly in different
contexts. This research insisted on the role of past conditioning, interactions and personal issues in current behaviors and
representations. The explanations they offered were satisfactory in the context of the steady and homogeneous societies of the

54

J. Guichard et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 81 (2012) 5258

time. In contrast, contemporary research stresses the plurality of individuals, their relative malleability and their capacity to
reflect on their experiences, a capacity that endows them with a self-determination ability. In addition, these approaches
underline the major importance of ongoing interactions and dialogues in the construction of individual subjectivity. These
models, that may be categorized under the generic terms of constructivist and constructionist (Young & Collin, 2004), also
emphasize the future. Thus, they stress the symbolization power of individuals, a power that allows them to determine by
themselves some future perspectives that are not simple products of their past conditioning and challenges. The self-construction
model, presented below, emerged from these constructivist and constructionist perspectives.

3. A self-construction model
To help people design their life, counselors must integrate new knowledge into their current interventions. The model
described below offers a synthesis of different constructivist approaches (sociological, cognitive, dynamic, etc.) which could serve
as a basis for appropriate vocational development interventions. Because of space limitation for this publication, two aspects of
this model will not be detailed. The first one is its sociological dimension, which underlines that self-construction occurs in
specific society contexts. Every society offers its members a range of possible identities (Dubar, 2000). This range includes diverse
social categories (such as Catholic, white, depressed, Aquarian, engineer, heterosexual, and so on). It also includes modes of
relating to oneself (Foucault, 1983) notably via some self-schemata closely linked to these categories, and also biographical forms
(Delory-Momberger, 2004) that represent the socially accepted ways of narrating one's life. Nor will the cognitive aspect of this
synthesis be developed. It stresses that, as personal construct theory shows, through interactions and dialogues people develop a
cognitive structure of constructs (a subjective system of identity frames) that allows them to construe themselves and others in
their own personal way and to act accordingly. For a more complete presentation of both these aspects, please refer to Guichard
(2004, 2005, 2009).

3.1. Personal identity as a dynamic system of subjective identity forms

To reflect the plural and evolving nature of self-identity, this approach describes identity as a dynamic System of Subjective
Identity Forms (SSIF). The subjective identity form (SIF) describes each self that an individual constructs and implements in a
particular setting (or has constructed and implemented in the past as well as expects to construct and implement in the future). A
SIF may be defined as a set of ways of being, acting, and interacting in accord with a particular way of representing oneself, or
imagining oneself within a given setting. In general, a SIF relates to a particular social role. For example, a young person at school
can think of herself as a high-school science student. However, a SIF is more than just a role; it also includes the way one thinks of
oneself in this role, the way one sees oneself in that setting and what one says about oneself in that role. Table 1 (below) presents
a more precise definition of this construct of SIF alongside an example.
According to the context, individuals construct for themselves distinctive SIFs. Then, according to their different SIFs
individuals can act, interact, and relate to themselves in a given way in one context, and in a different way in another context.
These SIFs refer either to broad categories in a specific social setting (e.g., high-school student), or to local community identities
(e.g., we, fans in the west stand of the stadium). Sometimes SIFs refer to idiosyncratic ways of symbolizing and categorizing
experiences. For example, one may picture a youth who, after a career counseling interview, begins to think of herself according
to the characteristics of a SIF that matches a RIASEC type (Holland, 1997). She would then begin to categorize some of her diverse
activities (and modes of relating to others and to herself), in different domains of her life according to this RIASEC type:
Definitely, I'm of a Social type. Some SIFs refer to settings in which individuals interact and communicate at a given moment of
their life. Other SIFs refer to expectations or the way individuals imagine themselves in the future, while still other SIFs refer to
past experiences which have made a lasting impression on the individual.

Table 1
Subjective identity form: definition with an example.
A SIF denotes a set specic to a given setting of
Actions and interactions (linked to action scripts) based on
knowledge, know-how, interpersonal skills (attitudes)
Ways of relating to the objects in the setting (for example: in a
school setting, to the various curricular topics).
Ways of interacting and communicating with other people in
this context.
Ways of relating to oneself in this context (generalizations of
self-observations, self-efficacy beliefs, self-esteem).

Example: I, a high-school science 12th grader

At home, I systematically do all exercises in the textbook that correspond to the day's
lesson.
To me, you need to master maths and English to succeed in today's world.

My best friend is a real brain at maths. We discuss the maths problems we don't
understand. We also like the same movies. Quite often we go and see a movie together.
I'm good at maths. I like it.
In the other school subjects, I'm okay.

In some cases: future expectations linked to the present With my friend, I want to apply to an excellent college next year.
situation.
Sometimes we picture ourselves at Princeton, solving a math problem together.

J. Guichard et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 81 (2012) 5258

55

Fig. 1. The subjective system of identity forms (SSIF) of an imaginary French student.

3.2. An example: Hasni's system of subjective identity forms

To clarify the self-identity model, the following illustration (see Fig. 1) presents the System of Subjective Identity Forms (SSIF)
for a French student named Hasni. He is a fictitious character based on a compilation of cases described by Zroulou (1988) and
Jellab (2001).
Hasni is 17 years old. He was born in France, from two Morocco-born parents. He is studying electronics in a vocational high
school. In this illustration, each sphere figures one of Hasni's subjective identity forms (SIF). The five X-shaped spheres at the
intermediate level show his present SIFs. The central one represents Hasni's high-school SIF. It is placed in the center because, in
Hasni's case, it is a core form. He expects much from school. He values reflection and is more interested in abstract disciplines than
in concrete occupational training. He does his homework conscientiously and expects to begin tertiary studies in computer
information technology. In such a setting, Hasni shapes ways to act. For example, he does his home work differently for various
school subjects. As he develops his knowledge in different fields, he designs modes of relating to himself, or self-schemata. For
example, he sees himself as good at sciences, gifted, a hard and fast worker, and popular among his pals.
The right sphere represents the SIF worker during week-ends for a small company providing home assistance with
computers. In this setting, Hasni builds knowledge and modes of relating to himself, to others and to his diverse experiences that
differ from the ones he uses at school. For example, he sees himself as able to diagnose quickly a computer problem and explain
clearly to customers the kind of problem they face and how to cope with it. He also rates himself as having excellent relationships
with most customers and even perceives that some of them might give him support or provide him with information. The other
spheres represent Hasni's other SIF, each of them related to a different setting where he builds other abilities and views about
himself and his experiences, and interacts with different people. The rear sphere represents the SIF soccer player in the team of
the neighborhood buddies and the left one, the SIF In love with Nathalie. The central axis represents the past (below), the
present (center) and the future (top). The central lower sphere is an important one. It represents the SIF son of immigrants from
Morocco who wanted to settle in France and believed that school was the best way for integration and personal achievement.
This represents major experiences in Hasni's life. His parents have always displayed a strong interest in what was happening at
school when their children were young, they organized their home for their children to be able to do their home work, they
participated as much as they could in this activity. They also attended meetings with teachers. Hasni has made this his view which
is still a guide in his current life. Therefore, his major expectation is to succeed in his current studies and to become a college
student in information technology (the central superior sphere demonstrates this expected SIF). The remaining three superior
spheres represent Hasni's expectations about himself in different domains: the rear right sphere shows a vocational expectation
(SIF: technician in information technology) and the rear left one, a domestic expectation (SIF: married and a father).
3.3. An identity dynamism between two kinds of reexivity
An important limitation of this illustration is its failure to reveal the dynamism of the SSIF. From a psychological perspective,
the SSIF dynamism involves a tension between two kinds of reflexivity. The first one is a stabilizing factor. It may be described as
an identification process that leads a person to want to become like this person or persona or to be and act in accordance with
the ideals of a given belief system (Dumora, 1990; Erikson, 1980). This process often involves some counter-identification
process, i.e. a rejection of certain role models or ideals. This first kind of reflexivity leads towards the structuring of the whole selfsystem from this unique future perspective (often anchored in past experiences). The second form of reflexivity goes in the

56

J. Guichard et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 81 (2012) 5258

opposite direction. It creates a distance from one's own past and present experiences and specific anticipations by looking at them
from other points of view. This ongoing process of interpretation is a sense-making process during which individuals reflect on
the multiple possible interpretations of their past and present commitments and those they anticipate (Malrieu, 2003). This
second type of reflexivity leads towards a never-ending self-analysis; to seeing one's self-system from multiple possible
perspectives (Guichard, Pouyaud, & Dumora, 2011).
4. A constructivist/social constructionist life-design interview
Based on this dynamic model of self-construction, counseling interventions have been devised (Collin & Guichard, 2010) to
help individuals design and redesign their lives. Obviously, the specifics of this process vary according to the kind of issue a person
faces. The case of an adult worker who has been made redundant and desperately needs a new source of income differs from that
of the adolescent who seeks to build a clearer view of the future. Nevertheless, such different cases share a major common feature.
Individuals have to develop some expectations regarding their future, expectations that allow them to integrate their current and
past experiences with certain future perspectives. They also have to commit themselves to carrying out this design process, which
sometimes leads them to redesign it. The main goals of the Constructivist Life-Design Interview outlined here are to help clients:
(a) become aware of what actually constitutes each of their SIFs; (b) describe the current organization of their SSIF (to delineate
those that are central and those that are more peripheral); (c) elicit some expected SIF (often, but not necessarily, occupational or
educational SIFs) that they want to commit themselves to actualizing; and (d) find activities, interactions and resources to
increase their chances of achieving this design. The Constructivist Life-Design Interview is similar in its general principles and in
its structure to other career counseling interviews (for example, Gysbers, Heppner, & Johnston, 2009). It begins with the
establishment of a working alliance. It continues with an analysis of and a reflection on their experiences by the client. It ends
with a personal synthesis, a plan of action, and a closure phase. Here only some specific features of this interview will be outlined.
4.1. Awareness
Following the building-up of the working alliance, the first step helps clients become aware of their major life domains. To
achieve this goal, they are asked to: (a) describe their daily activities and thus discern their major current life domains;
(b) remember some past activities or life experiences (for example, when attending high school) that still seem to have an impact
on their lives today; and (c) identify some important expectations they have for their future.
4.2. SIF analysis
The next step aims at helping clients map their System of Subjective Identity Forms (SSIF). First, they have to define their
major SIFs. They are asked to explore the domains of their current lives, past experiences, and future expectations that they have
mentioned as being important to them. This means clarifying how they consider themselves in each one of these present, past, or
anticipated contexts. It also means describing their: (a) actions, interactions, knowledge, know-how, attitudes (a given student
who refers to himself as vocational high-school student may say: I listen and take notes during the technology class, but not
during the English class); (b) modes of relating to the objects of this domain (e.g. task-approach skills); (c) modes of relating to
themselves (e.g., self-efficacy beliefs); (d) modes of relating to others and interactions; and, in some cases, (e) relation of one
context to another (e.g., an anticipated context). Secondly, clients have to define which SIFs are central and which peripheral as
well as the way they view the relationships between their major SIFs (resources, obstacles, or independence). This analysis ends
when clients have a clear enough image of the current structure of their SSIF. Sometimes, this structure is such that an anticipated
SIF is so important that the whole system of SSIF is seen mainly from this future perspective. But this is not always the case.
Therefore, the next task is often that of helping clients elicit some major expected SIF. In some cases, counselors have to help
clients search for their foreclosed options (e.g. Leong, Hardin, & Gupta, 2007; Subich, 2001). Have they given up some
expectations? Do they allow themselves to consider any alternatives? What were these expectations? What are these
alternatives? What were their reasons for abandoning these prospects? What do they now think of these reasons?
4.3. Re-interpretation
During the next phase, clients are asked to re-read and re-interpret their present situation from the perspective of one of their
anticipated SIFs. In interaction with the counselor, clients: (a) identify in each of their present SIFs the various elements that could
constitute a support or a barrier to the achievement of their goal; (b) determine what they could do to develop that support and
neutralize those barriers; and (c) define new experiences they could have in order to increase their chances of achieving such a
goal. At the end of this phase, an action plan is worked out that defines the terms of the clients' commitment to specific activities
or settings and relates this commitment to all of their other life experiences.
4.4. Closure
The Constructivist Life-Design Interview comes to an end with a closure phase that stresses that the purpose of such an
intervention cannot be to draw up a perfectly determined life plan but rather to help clients learn how to analyze their present

J. Guichard et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 81 (2012) 5258

57

situation from a desired future perspective. The actual undertaking of this project may lead to redesigning that life plan. In other
words, the reflexive process at work during this counseling interview is actually more important than its current outcomes.
5. Observations and conclusions
Some client interviews from these last few years have been examined to observe if they reached their major objective, that of
constructing (or at least become aware of) some (more or less precise, complex and remote) expectations about themselves,
expectations that could help them direct their lives, at least in the short-term. It is still too early to arrive at definite conclusions.
Nevertheless, different types of cases were observed. They may be differentiated according to the degree of clarity and precision,
as well as the time span of the Expected SIF (ESIF) that people constructed.
At one end of the spectrum, Igor (Pouyaud, 2008) comes across as a prototypical case of a System of Subjective Identity Forms
structured around a major expectation. Igor saw himself in the future as a professional firefighter. He was 16 years old and a 10th
grader in a vocational high-school when he was interviewed. Igor was a potential drop-out. He was unruly in class and had
conflicted relationships with his teachers. He said he had little interest in school and was very bored. His only motivation for
staying in school was to avoid disappointing his family. He enjoyed a single subject, namely wiring in electrical engineering,
because we can get up, move about, we don't have to remain sitting down. In his free time, he played a lot of sports. He
dedicated much of his time to working as a volunteer firefighter, which he saw as his genuine professional project. Igor felt
fulfilled by physical activities, a feeling that he could experience in his social and personal leisure contexts, yet much less at
school. All major aspects of his current life appeared to be interpreted from the perspective opened by this job expectation. His life
project of becoming a fireman was a construction that arose from actions (Young & Valach, 2004) which gave him a sense of
self-esteem and enabled him to define himself in stable and status-enhancing identity terms (I'm someone who's very good at
sports and who likes action.).
Thomas (Piraud, 2009) is a different case. Similar to Igor at the time of the interviews, Thomas had previously given meaning
to his life from a major future perspective: that of an excellent amateur racing cyclist and member of a club whose trainer placed
high hopes on him. He saw himself in the future in the Expected SIF of professional cyclist. However, when he contacted the
counselor, he had just realized that, in spite of all efforts that he was ready to make, he would never succeed in achieving this goal.
He was then 17 years old and an 11th high-school grader in a scientific curriculum. But, as he repeatedly said, he did not consider
engaging in lengthy university studies: I feel suffocated by school. In the course of the counseling interviews, Thomas began to
imagine a series of possible ESIF sharing two common features: physical activity and body care. He mentioned successively:
soccer player (as an amateur, an activity he had just began), physical education teacher, sports coach, physiotherapist for sports
people, dietician, or joining the army. This last ESIF appealed quite a lot to him as it also encompassed a desire for order that he
repeatedly mentioned during the interviews. Nevertheless, Thomas could not carry out this wish as he did not want to upset his
mother who was afraid of the risks involved in such an occupation. Sometime after the end of the counseling interviews, Thomas
succeeded nevertheless in achieving a synthesis of his different expectations: he took a selection test to join the gendarmerie
(a kind of military police in France).
Marie and Graldine's cases look similar. At the time of the counseling interviews, both of them were 16 years old and 11th
high-school graders. They had good school marks and were worried about what higher studies to choose. Actually, they did not
have any idea about their job preferences. Marie talked about her relationships with people around her. She identified, compared
and criticized their criteria, their stereotypes, their implicit models, their reasoning and their contradictions. Her mother advised
her to become an orthodontist, but Marie rejected her mother's arguments which were based on the flexibility of working hours
and the prospect of a permanent position in a secure profession. She contrasted the sensible, static and traditionally feminine
advice of the mother with the inherent outward-looking ambition and plasticity of her father's advice. No more than Marie did
Graldine (Clausier, 2010) have any precise idea about her future. She vaguely pictured a job that could look like her parents' who
both worked as human resources directors. She remembered in particular how her father (deceased some years ago) used to take
her to his office sometimes when she was a child.
Marie and Graldine constructed only vague and uncertain career expectations yet wanted a qualified profession. They saw
their future mainly from the perspective of the school and the social values of the higher education curricula they may follow. This
kind of expectation has been named by Dumora (1990); Guichard & Dumora, 2008 a probabilistic reflection grounded on a logic of
excellence. In France, school is indeed organized in such a way that it offers the best high-school students an opportunity to begin
some general college curricula (classes prparatoires) that prepare them to sit for very selective and competitive exams. These
exams open the doors to higher education establishments intended for the school elite (les grandes coles). To be admitted into
these establishments requires great investment in school work. Therefore, at best, Marie and Graldine may view themselves in
the short term as students in these selective and difficult college curricula. Only subsequently, and depending on the kind of
higher education establishment they enter, will the issue of their future career arise.
Additional cases could also be mentioned that show occasions where the expected SIF is vague and only short-term. It may be
described as a synthesis of different kinds of expectations, a synthesis that forms a temporary goal to reach in a near future. For
example, Valrie (who was majoring in Biology) came to the following expectation at the end of a series of interviews: She would
like to study abroad (for example in the USA), in a scientific curriculum (like neurosciences) and, at the same time, acquire an
education and training for a caring or counseling profession (Clausier, 2010).
These five cases illustrate different kinds of expectations about one's future that may be constructed or revealed during the
counseling interviews. These expectations may be long-term or short-term, relate to career or education, and sometimes are only

58

J. Guichard et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 81 (2012) 5258

a temporary assembling of expectations of various kinds. Nevertheless, beyond these differences a common feature appears:
projection of oneself ahead of oneself constitutes a powerful motive to act. The ESIF, be it well defined or vague, appears as a view
that allows individuals to read their current (and also past) experience from a meaningful perspective and thus to query: what
could I do now to increase my chance of achieving this aim? Though more experimentation is needed to ascertain the value of this
counseling methodology, and possibly apply it with other types of clients, these initial cases provide encouraging ground for using
the SSIF model to enable young people to face the challenges of today's vocational decisions.
References
Arthur, M. B., & Rousseau, D. M. (Eds.). (1996). The boundaryless careers: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. Oxford, UK: Oxford University
Press.
Ashkenas, R. N., Ulrich, D., Jick, T., & Kerr, S. (1995). The boundaryless organization: Breaking the chains of organizational structure. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Clausier, C. (2010). Mise l'preuve d'entretiens constructivistes de conseil en orientation [Test of constructivist career counseling interviews]. Mmoire de DECOP
[Master Dissertation], Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers, Paris.
Collin, A., & Guichard, J. (2010). Constructing self in career theory and counseling interventions. In P. J. Hartung, & L. M. Subich (Eds.), Constructing self in work and
career (pp. 89106). Washington, DC: APA books.
DeFillippi, R. J., & Arthur, M. B. (1996). Boundaryless contexts and careers: A competency-based perspective. In M. B. Arthur, & D. M. Rousseau (Eds.), The
boundaryless career (pp. 116131). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Delory-Momberger, C. (2004). Biographie, socialisation, formation. Comment les individus deviennent-ils des individus ? [Biography, socialization, education.
How do individuals become individuals ?] L'Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle, 33, 551570.
Dubar, C. (2000). La crise des identits; l'interprtation d'une mutation [Identity crisis: How to interpret a mutation?] Paris: PUF.
Dumora, B. (1990). La dynamique vocationnelle chez l'adolescent de collge: continuit et ruptures [Vocational dynamism in junior high-school students:
Continuity and ruptures]. L'Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle, 19, 111127.
Erikson, E. (1980). Identity and the life cycle. New York: Norton.
Foucault, M. (1983). On the genealogy of ethics: An overview of work in progress. In H. Dreyfus, & P. Rabinow (Eds.), Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and
hermeneutics (pp. 229252). (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University Press.
Gergen, K. (1991). The saturated self. Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life. New York: HarperCollins Basic Books.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity. Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Guichard, J. (2004). Se faire soi [Self constructing]. L'Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle, 33, 499534.
Guichard, J. (2005). Life-long self-construction. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 5, 111124.
Guichard, J. (2009). Self-constructing. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 251258.
Guichard, J., & Dumora, B. (2008). A constructivist approach to ethically grounded vocational development interventions for young people. In J. A. Athanasou, & R.
Van Esbroeck (Eds.), International handbook of career guidance (pp. 187208). New York: Springer.
Guichard, J., Pouyaud, J., & Dumora, B. (2011). Self-identity construction and reflexivity. In M. McMahon, & M. Watson (Eds.), Career counseling and constructivism:
Foundational constructs (pp. 5772). New York: Nova Science.
Gysbers, N. C., Heppner, M. J., & Johnston, J. A. (2009). Career counseling: Contexts, processes, and techniques (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling
Association.
Hall, D. T. (2002). Careers in and out organizations. London, UK: Sage.
Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment
Resources.
Jellab, A. (2001). Scolarit et rapport aux savoirs en lyce professionnel [School experience and relation to domains of knowledge in vocational high-schools]. Paris: PUF.
Leong, F. T. L., Hardin, E. E., & Gupta, A. (2007). Multicultural issues in career and lifestyle counseling. In J. Gregoire, & C. Jungers (Eds.), Counselor's companion:
Handbook for professional helpers. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Malrieu, P. (2003). La construction du sens dans les dires autobiographiques [The construction of meaning in the autobiographical narratives]. Toulouse, FR: Ers.
Piraud, C. (2009). Mise l'preuve d'un schma d'entretien de conseil en orientation. [Test of a form of career counseling interview]. Mmoire de Master [Master
Dissertation], Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers, Paris.
Pouyaud, J., (2008). Transition, construction de soi et dveloppement vocationnel. L'exemple des collgiens s'orientant en lyce professionnel [Transition, self-construction and
vocational development. The case of junior high-school students in their transition to vocational high schools]. Thse de doctorat nouveau rgime [Doctoral Dissertation],
Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers, Paris.
Rousseau, D. (1995). Psychological contracts in organizations: Understanding written and unwritten agreements. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Savickas, M. L. (2010). Career studies as self-making and life designing. Career Research and Development: The NICEC Journal., 23, 1518.
Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J. P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., et al. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century.
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 239250.
Subich, L. M. (2001). Dynamic forces in the growth and change of vocational psychology. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59, 235242.
Young, R. A., & Collin, A. (2004). Introduction: Constructivism and social constructionism in the career field. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, 374388.
Young, R. A., & Valach, L. (2004). The construction of career through goal-directed action. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, 499514.
Zroulou, Z. (1988). La russite scolaire des enfants d'immigrs. L'apport d'une approche en termes de mobilisation [School success in immigrants' children. A
contribution of an approach in terms of mobilization]. Revue Franaise de Sociologie, 29, 447470.