Choosing a career can be seen as determining one’s professional life and as a decision reflecting or rejecting a certain (rural) identity and personal life (Smart 2007). The imperative of choice accompanies the area of career guidance, but researchers have noticed the lack of real choice (e.g. Roberts 2009). The imperative of “choosing” carries a strong societal expectation of choosing an employment for financial reasons of self-sufficiency as well as to express a certain interest or use certain skills that suit the individual. However, we show how individuals’ career choices are also framed by constraints and motivations of staying, both in relation to personal limitations and vulnerabilities and more positively in relation to preserving family and friendship ties. We explore the theme of choice by discussing the notion of “compromise” in relation to career guidance in rural coastal areas of Sweden. We discuss compromises related to career choice for groups and individuals with ties to a geographical place, and how this spatial limitation is managed and discussed by career guidance counsellors and other professionals who work with unemployed individuals.

Our study is based on 13 qualitative interviews with career counsellors and local labour market case workers who work with unemployed individuals. Our results indicate that the mobility imperative is challenged by strong ties to place when it comes to young unemployed people in need of career counselling. Rural place is spoken of as a resource for clients and counsellors when it comes to protecting societal embeddedness. We analyse the material within frames of belonging and as actions serving to avoid increased vulnerability by resisting policies of mobility.