The career transition experiences of military Veterans: A qualitative study

AbstractThe aim of this qualitative study is to explore new barristers’ information literacy (IL) experiences during their transition from education to the workplace. New barristers are defined as individuals currently doing pupillage or who qualified as professionals in the last two years. Although the transition into work constitutes an important period in new barristers’ legal careers during which they face many IL challenges, so far neither new barristers’ perspectives on their IL experiences nor their transition experiences have been examined in detail. The study employed semi-structured interviews to explore the IL experiences of six new barristers.* This thesis finds that new barristers face a variety of IL challenges and thus have different transition experiences. For them, legal research has emotional implications. As professionals, they have IL needs and experiences that are dissimilar from the ones they developed during their education. This impacts on the content and delivery of IL training for new barristers. The study broadens our understanding of legal IL and new legal professionals’ IL needs. It has implications for law librarians and legal educators as it throws the complexity of new barristers’ workplace IL into relief. Finally, the study offers some recommendations for IL training.

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Self-initiated international career transition: a qualitative case study of Pakistani immigrants to Canada

European Business Review ◽

10.1108/ebr-09-2016-0127 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 584-602 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Amina Raza Malik ◽

Laxmikant Manroop ◽

Parbudyal Singh

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Research ◽

Career Transition ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Content Type ◽

Skilled Immigrants ◽

Study Approach ◽

Pakistani Immigrants ◽

Transition Experiences ◽

Career Literature

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the career transition experiences of three immigrants from Pakistan in Canadian organisations using Nicholson’s four-phase transition cycle. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach was used, and data were collected through three in-depth, semi-structured interviews to determine how immigrants experience career transitions in Canadian organisations. Findings The findings show that all three participants had almost the same level of expectations before coming to Canada; however, there were significant differences in their career transition experiences. These findings demonstrate that immigrants’ career experiences can be understood and examined through the lens of Nicholson’s transition framework; their expectations and experiences at one stage subsequently affected their experiences at later stages. Research limitations/implications A longitudinal research design would be an excellent approach to explore immigrants’ career transition over time. Practical implications Organisations hiring skilled immigrants need to be more supportive of their efforts in reducing immigrants’ feeling of underemployment and discrimination. Originality/value The study contributes to the immigrant literature by presenting a new way of looking at immigrants’ experiences in Canadian organisations. It also contributes to the career literature by extending the application of Nicholson transition cycle to an underrepresented population (i.e. immigrants) in careers research.

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