Career Endeavour—Pursuing a Cross-cultural Life Transition

This book is concerned with trainee professionals and their search for meaning through the determined and creative pursuit of a cross-cultural career transition. Adopting a qualitative research framework, the book describes the career experience of professional trainees from non-Western cultures who have chosen to develop their careers in the West. It examines the process of the initial consideration of change, the exploring of options (including whether to emigrate) and how the many issues and challenges of adapting to the socio-cultural environment of the host country were met. In addition it examines how the process provided the trainee professionals involved with greater self-understanding and how as a result they were able to further consider their future career plans. The book then highlights the implications of these experiences for theory, research and practice.

Dr Charles P. Chen is Associate Professor of Counselling Psychology and Canada Research Chair at University of Toronto, Canada.