Reception Operators’ Perception of the Labor Market Integration of Refugees in Light of the Social Cognitive Career Theory

The millions of refugees living abroad are supported by reception operators in integrating into the hosting country’s labor market. Because the operators are usually not experts in career counseling, it is essential to investigate how they act and consequently interpret their role in supporting the labor integration process, which could, at least in part, explain the weaknesses in the migrants’ labor situation. The study is based on fourteen narrations from reception operators on migrants whom they have followed for a career-counseling intervention. The Social Cognitive Career Theory has been the theoretical reference both to define the hypotheses to be tested and the coding of the narratives. The main result is that operators tend to contribute in the final part of the process, i.e., when the migrants have to identify their professional goals and choose which actions to take to achieve them. Furthermore, they view their role as prescriptive and substitutive, not as supporting self-awareness, contextual knowledge, and the choice process. This can produce immediate actions of finding employment, often of low quality, rather than developing interests and projections towards a career that creates satisfaction, and adverse reactions in qualified migrants.