Listening to and advising job seekers who are sometimes in great distress, whom fears or traumas prevent from moving forward: a little over a thousand psychologists work at France Travail for unemployed people under pressure in the face of the tightening of the rules.
"I don't have a sofa in my office," jokes Mélanie Cordazzo. In the France Travail agency in Ingré, near Orléans, with its impersonal decor, her office stands out thanks to a real door and a painting of a pink flower.
One of the 954 psychologists working at France Travail, spread across 896 agencies, she supports 41 job seekers, a very small proportion of the 11,500 followed in this agency.
She explains that some people "have lost their footing, can no longer exist in the workplace" following a dismissal or harassment suffered in a previous position.
Also, "many young graduates or those sidelined by Parcoursup who are trying to find meaning."
Margot, 25, a graduate with a master's degree in Business Development, felt inadequate when faced with job offers. "I was quite depressed by my job search and I gradually regained hope by telling myself that I'm not necessarily less capable than others," confides the young woman who has been receiving support for six months.
Estelle (name changed), for her part, felt "lost" after resigning from a job in the ready-to-wear industry. With two years of support, she developed a new career plan.
In addition to counselors, psychologists help these job seekers to "take a different look" at themselves, to reflect on "current or past difficulties which prevent them from moving forward in their return to employment," explains France Travail.
In recent years, several successive reforms have tightened the conditions for accessing unemployment benefits. Today, only about 401% of those registered with France Travail receive them, and the maximum duration of compensation (excluding older workers) has been reduced to 18 months, compared to 24 months previously.
Last week, employers' organizations wrote to the Prime Minister stating their "objective" to reduce the annual cost of unemployment insurance by one billion euros.
In 2024, a report by researchers Antoine Duarte, Stéphane Le Lay and Fabien Lemozy highlighted the "paradoxical nature" of the work of psychologists, "the register of listening" being able to conflict with the objectives of France Travail, which aims to get them back to work as quickly as possible.
– Exhaustion –
In fact, these appointments are also an opportunity for people who are often seeing a psychologist for the first time to bring up other sufferings besides those related to work.
"I hear about sexual trauma every week," says Sylvie Dujardin, president of the Pôle Psycho association, which brings together 250 psychologists from France Travail, mentioning rape, incest... Part of the work then consists of referring people to other psychologists.
Although they cannot diagnose it, because they are not clinicians, occupational psychologists can also spot the signs of burnout.
Some unemployed people also suffer from "job search burnout," notes Mélanie Cordazzo. She explains to them that it is pointless to "apply for everything" and necessary to schedule "breaks" during the week.
Faced with the scale of the task, "we lack professionals and resources," laments another psychologist, Marie (name changed). Nevertheless, "most of the people we see leave extremely relieved to have had their suffering at work acknowledged or to have been heard regarding their status as 'unemployed,' a status that remains highly stigmatized," observes her colleague Anne (name changed).
Some complain that France Travail summons, rather than invites, job seekers to these appointments, which is contrary to the profession's code of ethics. However, Olivier Parandon, the FSU-emploi union representative, welcomes the fact that the wording of the letters is expected to be corrected sometime in 2026.
Psychological support does not delay the duration of compensation. The issue of time is present in the support because "a person deprived of resources is desperate," summarizes Mélanie Cordazzo.
"When you put someone in a high-demand sector because that's where the work is, if they leave after two months, it's another failure," warns Denys Neymon, president of Solidarités nouvelles face au chômage.
English 
French