The main aim of the "Guiding Symbols" project was to innovate in the field of supporting adults in their pathway to employment. We are talking here about adults who are furthest from employment and who need support, particularly to define their career plans. More specifically, the specific objectives that we have pursued in implementing the Guiding Symbols project have been : - to strengthen the skills and competences of professionals in the career guidance sector ; - to work more inclusively with more complex populations; - Openness and appropriation of new approaches; - helping unemployed people to find their own way in the labour market. We wanted to be able to bring about a change in the practices of guidance professionals to better meet the needs of their target audiences and improve the impact of their work with them.
Hormé is an organisation whose ambition and objective is to help local organisations benefit from relevant European initiatives to improve the quality of their work. The aim of the Guiding Symbols project was to bring real added value to the support given to jobseekers, particularly the long-term unemployed, by using a method developed in Austria called "Symbol Work", based on visual tools that make it possible to work with all kinds of people. This method has proved its worth in Austria and several other countries, and was a source of inspiration for the French context. Indeed, there is a real need in France to work on the theme of career guidance, with the number of requests for skills assessments having doubled in 2 years, 20% of the 18-25 age group having recourse to a private coach for guidance, etc. With a number of studies pointing to the link between dropping out of school and poor career guidance, we wanted to support professionals in the career guidance sector in adopting new methods and improving quality in this area.