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This paper aims to explore the way unemployed people endure “novice” positions when experiencing a career change. It is based on the life stories of people who were previously unemployed and changed occupation. Admittedly, such professional transitions have distinct meanings from the insertion process of youth entering the labour market. But the path guided by the search for a new stable situation is paved as well by precarious contracts and the uncertainty about the expected professional stabilisation. The process also includes a phase of formal or informal training of the new activity and a feeling of “starting over again”.