A worker in search of protection.

Summary This article presents large excerpts from an interview conducted in the spring of 2016 with Martine, a 58-year-old former teacher who is now a psychopractitioner working on a freelance basis. Made up of professional and marital bifurcations, her journey is here apprehended as an illustration of the mutations of a labor market in which employment statuses and activities follow one another and accumulate. First employed by the French Ministry of Education, then as a civil servant, and finally as a salaried entrepreneur through a freelance administration company, Martine has experimented with different forms of employment, to find herself today at the crossroads of independence and salaried employment. By taking advantage of the specificity of the material section to give a predominant place to verbatim, this article intends to expose the logics and resources mobilized by Martine to escape precariousness while giving meaning to her work at the different moments of her career.