MID-CAREER CHANGE OF FIRST-GENERATION MALE ASIAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S. (UNITED STATES).

Abstract

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151 p.

The purpose of this study was to identify both career change factors and learning needs of first-generation middle-aged male Asian immigrants after they arrived in the U.S. A sample of 28 participants was systematically selected from the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino communities in Metropolitan Los Angeles. The grounded theory approach was employed to generate substantive categories of career change factors and learning needs in order to build theory.Two distinct categories of mid-career change factors were identified: (1) personal factors, and (2) institutional factors. Correspondingly, six categories of learning needs were identified: (1) rational perceptions, (2) communication skills, (3) civic orientation, (4) survival skills, (5) working skills, and (6) learning skills. The synthesis of the findings indicates that the more and the sooner the Asian immigrants were willing to learn needed perceptions and competencies, the less they agonized and the sooner they felt well received and fairly employed.Findings of this study also imply that educational programs and career counseling service should all be provided by trained professionals in respective fields. Also, consistency should be maintained between U.S. immigration policy and labor utilization of skilled and professionally trained new immigrants. Recommendations for further study include examining the influence of ethnic convenience over learning English, the feasibility of a mentoring system for career transition of professionally trained new immigrants, and a comparison of negative impacts on immigrant underemployment by personal descrimination versus institutional discrimination.