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Created in 2010, French civic service is now a part of the training and integration trajectories of young people. These trajectories are less and less linear, and often involve periods of study and employment that overlap. This research examines the role civic service might have in the professionalisation of these trajectories, based on a study of a sample of around 800 young people who completed this service. A typology of the way they use this service, along with interview extracts, demonstrates that although the professionalising aspects of these trajectories are dominant, they cannot be equated to an “adequationist” strategy in which young people use civic service to complete their initial training.