Understanding Skilled Migrants’ Qualification-Matched Employment in the Host Country: A Multidisciplinary Review and a Conceptual Model

Globalization has led to an increase in international mobility in many occupational fields. Therefore, scholars from a variety of disciplines have studied the topic of skilled migration. The purpose of this study is to review and synthesize the empirical research on skilled migrants’ qualification-matched employment across multiple disciplines. Skilled migrants are people on the move who possess university degrees or extensive work experience in professional fields when they leave their countries of origin to seek employment elsewhere. This review synthesizes findings of 106 empirical studies published from 1990 to mid-2017 on skilled migrants’ employment. We develop a conceptual model that includes antecedent conditions associated with skilled migrant qualification-matched employment in their host country and its outcomes. We also highlight the role of multi-level factors and moderating variables associated with skilled migrants’ possibility of obtaining qualification-matched employment. Our review has implications for human resource scholars and practitioners concerned with skilled migrants’ employment and labor market

How Does Permission to Work Policy Facilitate Afghan Evacuees’ Employment Outcomes in the United States?

In August 2021, nearly 3.5 million Afghan people were forced to flee their country within a matter of a few days upon the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The United States has accepted many Afghan evacuees, and the US Department of Justice has issued employment authorizations. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the permission to work policy on evacuees’ employment outcomes. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of recent Afghan evacuees as they secure employment upon receiving work authorization in the United States

Navigating Careers in the United States: Experiences of Iranian Highly Educated Immigrants in STEM Professional Fields

Iranian highly educated immigrants working as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) professionals in the United States were the target population for this dissertation study. The purpose was to explore career experiences of this group of immigrants and the strategies they used to navigate their careers in the host country. Many of the Iranian STEM professionals have made meaningful impacts on the U.S. knowledge-driven economy. Despite their contributions, there is a dearth of knowledge about their career experiences in the U.S. To prevent skill underutilization of a population of workers who are highly educated and competent, it is important to understand their career experiences in the host country. I conducted a basic qualitative interpretive study, informed by a constructivist paradigm. I interviewed 22 Iranian immigrants who have obtained at least a Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline from an Iranian university, sought advanced education in the U.S., and worked as STEM professionals in the U.S. for at least one year. Interview transcripts were used for constant comparative analysis. Given the historic political conflicts between Iran and the United States, the most significant contribution of this study is highlighting the unique challenges of navigating careers in a context of political conflict (between the country of origin and destination). My findings suggested that despite of their qualifications, Iranian STEM professionals faced several barriers to obtaining job and career opportunities in the United States. These challenges occurred at three levels: (1) unique to Iranian STEM professionals (e.g., limited access to opportunities due to sanctions and export control policies), (2) experienced by other foreigner professionals with immigrant backgrounds from developing countries (e.g., language barriers), and (3) shared with highly educated American counterparts (e.g., challenges of the first job). Nevertheless, participants identified professional growth and collegiality of the workplace environment as positive outcomes of pursuing education and careers in the United States. Another significant contribution of my study is identifying psychological strategies used by participants to address the challenges encountered. These strategies are: adopting the growth mindset and developing resilience. In addition, from this study findings illuminated behavioral coping strategies, such as managing the immigration status and working hard. Finally, social support from a mentor, a colleague, or a hiring manager mitigated the challenges facing participants. This study have several implications for human resource development (HRD) and career scholarship and practice. Findings demonstrate that political conflict between host and home countries can interfere with highly educated immigrants' careers. The challenging context provided the opportunity to study how individuals responded to the environment in which their careers evolved. Further, findings from my study inform HRD professionals to better recognize and understand the challenges facing Iranian highly educated STEM immigrants in the U.S. A better understanding of challenges can help practitioners to identify appropriate interventions to assist them in addressing their career challenges

Navigating Careers in the United States: Experiences of Iranian Highly Educated Immigrants in STEM Professional Fields

Iranian highly educated immigrants working as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) professionals in the United States were the target population for this dissertation study. The purpose was to explore career experiences of this group of immigrants and the strategies they used to navigate their careers in the host country. Many of the Iranian STEM professionals have made meaningful impacts on the U.S. knowledge-driven economy. Despite their contributions, there is a dearth of knowledge about their career experiences in the U.S. To prevent skill underutilization of a population of workers who are highly educated and competent, it is important to understand their career experiences in the host country. I conducted a basic qualitative interpretive study, informed by a constructivist paradigm. I interviewed 22 Iranian immigrants who have obtained at least a Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline from an Iranian university, sought advanced education in the U.S., and worked as STEM professionals in the U.S. for at least one year. Interview transcripts were used for constant comparative analysis. Given the historic political conflicts between Iran and the United States, the most significant contribution of this study is highlighting the unique challenges of navigating careers in a context of political conflict (between the country of origin and destination). My findings suggested that despite of their qualifications, Iranian STEM professionals faced several barriers to obtaining job and career opportunities in the United States. These challenges occurred at three levels: (1) unique to Iranian STEM professionals (e.g., limited access to opportunities due to sanctions and export control policies), (2) experienced by other foreigner professionals with immigrant backgrounds from developing countries (e.g., language barriers), and (3) shared with highly educated American counterparts (e.g., challenges of the first job). Nevertheless, participants identified professional growth and collegiality of the workplace environment as positive outcomes of pursuing education and careers in the United States. Another significant contribution of my study is identifying psychological strategies used by participants to address the challenges encountered. These strategies are: adopting the growth mindset and developing resilience. In addition, from this study findings illuminated behavioral coping strategies, such as managing the immigration status and working hard. Finally, social support from a mentor, a colleague, or a hiring manager mitigated the challenges facing participants. This study have several implications for human resource development (HRD) and career scholarship and practice. Findings demonstrate that political conflict between host and home countries can interfere with highly educated immigrants' careers. The challenging context provided the opportunity to study how individuals responded to the environment in which their careers evolved. Further, findings from my study inform HRD professionals to better recognize and understand the challenges facing Iranian highly educated STEM immigrants in the U.S. A better understanding of challenges can help practitioners to identify appropriate interventions to assist them in addressing their career challenges

Training employees of a public Iranian bank on emotional intelligence competencies

Purpose: the purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of developing emotional intelligence (EI) as conceptualized in Boyatzis et al.'s competency model.Design/methodology/approach: designing a context‐based EI training program, the study utilized a sample of 68 fully‐employed members of five branches of a public bank in Iran; each branch underwent an eight‐week (each session 120 minutes) EI training program. Pre‐ and post‐tests were conducted to assess EI development using emotional competence inventory (ECI‐2), a 360‐degree measurement tool.Findings: only one EI cluster out of four improved significantly and only some of the specific dimensions showed this significant improvement, while others did not have a clear change and even some self assessments deteriorated.Research limitations/implications: lack of a control group, small sample size, and short training program are the main limitations of this study.Practical implications: detailed explanation of the method could be a guide for service organizations that wish to improve EI.Originality/value: because of the lack of empirical studies in this field of research, the paper reports the results of a pre‐/post study on EI training and development and sets out to add to this narrow literature

Attitudes toward teamwork: are Iranian university students ready for the workplace?

Purpose: the purpose of this research is to determine whether Iranian student attitudes toward teamwork are relatively favorable or unfavorable. The authors also examine the influence of variables that affect student attitudes toward teamwork, including concerns about teamwork evaluation and perceptions of the environment for teamwork, gender, age, GPA, education level, major, and teamwork training.Design/methodology/approach: a questionnaire developed to measure the study variables was administered to 1,811 students across different majors in three large Iranian universities.Findings: the results indicate that Iranian students have moderately positive attitudes toward teamwork, contrary to the prevalent belief that Iranians are not much interested in teamwork. The results indicate that Iranian students are concerned about how teamwork is evaluated. They believe that the environmental facilities at their universities for teamwork are weak and not supportive. Structural equation modeling showed that student concerns about teamwork evaluation and their perceptions of environmental facilities influence their attitudes toward teamwork. Positive teamwork attitudes are moderately reinforced when students are less concerned about evaluation and when the physical facilities support teamwork activities. Further analysis showed that male students have a slightly better attitude toward teamwork than women.Research limitations/implications: the findings are valuable to practitioners who may employ current students in the future, and to instructors who plan to include teamwork in their course assignments.Originality/value: this study was designed to fill the void in the knowledge about Iranian student attitudes toward teamwork and variables that influence this attitude