The American immigrant worklife adjustment literature over the past few decades has presented the barriers faced by new immigrants. Several scholars have suggested that new immigrants experience difficulty in obtaining employment in their pre-immigration field. Nevertheless, the knowledge of factors contributing to the successful career transition of skilled immigrants remains underresearched. In light of the growing numbers of immigrants with professional credentials, this gap urgently needs to be addressed to prevent skill underutilization. This study's goal was to present a picture of the meaningful experiences of professional immigrants, who were trained in their countries of origin and then relocated to the U.S. and successfully re-entered their professional fields of work. The purpose of this study was to identify the pathways taken by these immigrants and the factors which contributed to their successful career transition. A qualitative methodology was employed and transcripts of in-depth interviews with ten professional immigrants were analyzed using a phenomenological approach to the inquiry. Four themes emerged through data collection and analysis: support network, personality and professional identity, career advancement, and overcoming challenges. The discussion of the findings that includes elaboration on the meaning of what it is to be a successful skilled immigrant is seen through the lens of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and incorporates construction career theory (CCT). The most significant finding showed that participants exhibited positive perceptions of the barriers on their journey of career transition. The study contributes to SCCT by revealing that a supportive environment comprised of parents, spouses, professional connections, the immigrant community, social media, and culturally sensitive and competent employers strongly contributes to a successful career transition. Also, in light of SCCT, participants' narratives indicated the following cognitive variables: self-efficacy, interests, personal goals, and outcome expectations practiced as needed in navigating the transition process. Furthermore, in relation to CCT, certain personality characteristics, along with adaptability incorporating expectations without entitlement, planning in advance, and furthering educational credentials in the U.S. positively influenced skilled immigrants' career development in the U.S. These findings carry implications for research and the practice of career counseling, psychology counseling, and immigration policies that are also discussed.

The story of West Indian immigrants to the United States is generally considered to be a great success. Mary Waters, however, tells a very different story. She finds that the values that gain first-generation immigrants initial success--a willingness to work hard, a lack of attention to racism, a desire for education, an incentive to save--are undermined by the realities of life and race relations in the United States. Contrary to long-held beliefs, Waters finds, those who resist Americanization are most likely to succeed economically, especially in the second generation.

There has been a marked increase in the number of immigrants worldwide. However, there is still limited research on immigrant experiences at work, especially the challenges and opportunities they face as they navigate and (re-)establish careers in new host countries. Examining the Career Development Practices and Experiences of Immigrants is a comprehensive reference book that expands the understanding of career development issues faced by immigrants and explores organizational practices relevant to immigrant career development. The book presents research on the challenges, opportunities, and outcomes immigrants face as they navigate new employment and career landscapes. With coverage of such themes as career experience, career identities, and occupational downgrading, this book offers an essential reference source for managers, executives, policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students.

This book offers a new perspective on improving healthcare that draws inspiration from sources as diverse as American healthcare history, Lean Six Sigma, patient experience, employee engagement, clinical microsystems, physician burnout, and industrial design thinking. This work focuses on the three value streams that form the foundation of all healthcare service processes: healthcare-worker value stream, patient value stream, and organizational process. The interaction of patients and healthcare workers in the context of these three value streams creates the meaningful experience that is essential to healing and to the success of healthcare organizations. Meaningful healthcare experience design guides the work of designing these value streams and improving them to promote experiences that are meaningful and healing for both patients and healthcare workers.

The Journal of School Leadership is broadening the conversation about schools and leadership and is currently accepting manuscripts. We welcome manuscripts based on cutting-edge research from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives and methodological orientations. The editorial team is particularly interested in working with international authors, authors from traditionally marginalized populations, and in work that is relevant to practitioners around the world. Growing numbers of educators and professors look to the six bimonthly issues to: deal with problems directly related to contemporary school leadership practice teach courses on school leadership and policy use as a quality reference in writing articles about school leadership and improvement.

This dissertation explores the work experiences of professional West Indian immigrant English-speaking women in the United States. Much study has been dedicated to the experiences and success of West Indian immigrant women and men in service and domestic roles. The study explores these professional immigrant women's experiences attaining career success in United States racial society. Data was obtained from 12 professional West Indian immigrant women using semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher. These interviews explored: the participants' experiences with immigration, their employment experiences as immigrants, the challenges they faced in their work environments, their experiences in attaining career success and their experiences interacting with non-West Indians and with individuals born in the United States. Major findings include migration motivated by financial and educational improvement, mixed experiences with West Indian cohesiveness and general job satisfaction. Challenges at work included cultural differences, ethnic/racial tensions, being excluded by Americans, low expectations for professional West Indian women, slower career progression, limited professional and social interaction with non-West Indians, greater efforts expended in balancing work-family demands, weakened family relationships with relations back home, and limited use and reliance on mentors and professional networks and associations. Qualitative analysis revealed a high level of career success among these West Indian women, attended by significant psychological, emotional, financial and professional costs. The challenges faced by these Black professional West Indian women in the United States mirror those encountered by African Americans in various studies. Due to their meritocratic outlook and socialization to de-emphasize race, the professional West Indian women of this study were initially unprepared to maneuver these challenges and some struggled to attain career success. Additionally, higher levels of social and professional interactions (for example mentoring relationships and professional networking) with non-West Indians and West Indians of these professional West Indian women were associated with higher levels of career success in the United States.