The value of reflexivity in the transition from school to work

Transition from education to employment is always very difficult, long and uncertain, for this reason legislators considered new means of access to the job market. As biographical paths become increasingly uncertain, people are forced to change their employment status several times during their working-­life cycle. The objective of this essay is to undestand the value of personal reflexivity (Archer; 2006; 2010; Donati, 2010) in the transition from school to work. Reflexivity appears to be the right tool for helping people to take charge of their destinies, accompanying professional development and the effective decision-­‐making process. This paper presents some findings from an empirical pilot-­‐study, realized with a qualitative approach, through in-­‐depth interviews. What emerges is a high level of disorientation among students and individuals’ difficulty in developing a realistic life project during the course of their studies. In this circumstance reflexive skills appear to be essential to support people during ever more frequent periods of transition in their life and professional project. The essay suggests an approach based on a double-­‐dimension of analysis, temporal axis and projectual competence through which we can identify four types of attitudes towards transition: transition as destiny; transition as arena, transition as performance, transition as discontinuity. With the conclusion of this work, we can say that these different ways to face one’s own personal transition path needs various career counseling solutions. So, the essay shows different strategies through wich realize guidance services.