TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose The purpose of this paper is to uncover career-related issues that high-skilled female immigrants face and their strategies for rebuilding their careers upon migration for a diverse range of reasons including following a spouse, furthering education and self-initiated expatriation.Design/methodology/approach Using grounded theory to explore this topic, the authors performed 14 in-depth interviews with female immigrants that fit pre-determined inclusion criteria for high-skilled (e.g. educated, gainfully and professionally employed). The study context of immigration is the USA, and the authors performed interviews with high-skilled immigrants from Turkey – an underrepresented nation in the US migrant population.Findings Content analysis of in-depth interviews revealed five primary theoretical themes that captured the career experiences of these individuals: non-linear career entry, career orientation, strong commitment and will to succeed, socialization patterns at work and support network. Integrating these findings with theories on adult learning, the authors developed an experiential learning model of career reconstruction among high-skilled immigrants.Originality/value This study contributes to the global mobility literature by developing an experiential learning theory of careers and taking a gendered perspective to the career experiences of high-skilled female immigrants. It answers the questions: what are the individual and situation factors associated with career success among high-skilled female immigrants? and what is the process that high-skilled immigrants go through to rebuild their careers?
VL  - 6
IS  - 3/4
SN  - 2049-8799
DO  - 10.1108/JGM-10-2017-0039
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-10-2017-0039
AU  - Colakoglu Saba
AU  - Yunlu Dilek G.
AU  - Arman Gamze
PY  - 2018
Y1  - 2018/01/01
TI  - High-skilled female immigrants: career strategies and experiences
T2  - Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 258
EP  - 284
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -