Investigating refugees’ negotiation of professional possible selves

Abstract

Many barriers threaten refugees’ professional and social integration in their resettlement countries. Through semi-structured interviews and based on the concept of possible selves, we aimed to understand how 22 refugees aged from 18 to 35 and coming from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, and Yemen constructed and negotiated their career plans considering contextual factors. Results show that forced migration impacted the participants in three different ways: some were still striving for the ideal, pursuing their ideal career plans, while others were revising them either by revisiting the ideal or letting go of the ideal. They used different strategies of reducing expectations, exploring new possibilities, delaying, or abandoning their ideal plans for more probable ones, considering their current situation and barriers (i.e., lack of language proficiency, refugee permits, recognized diplomas, or childcare solutions). We discuss concrete implications for practice and provide future research insights.