From 1960 to 1962, Doucet was a high school teacher in Manitoba. From 1962 to 1965, he was a high school principal in Quebec. In 1965, he was appointed dean of studies at St. Lawrence College, Université Laval. In 1968, he was appointed administrative assistant to the president of St. Francis Xavier University. After a doctoral study leave from 1974 to 1976, he was appointed a director of student services and a professor of organizational behavior & administration theory at St. Francis Xavier University. From 1979 to 1982, he was a director of development. Doucet enlisted Mulroney to spearhead a fundraising drive for the school; Mulroney's leadership helped bring in $11 million, $4 million over the original goal (The Politics of Ambition, by John Sawatsky, 1991, p. 498).
