Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2015
Abstract
This study examines how individual experiences influence career success. In contrast with previous researchers' definitions of career success, this research is intended to focus on a broader range of subjective career success criteria by focusing on individual experiences and the fact that career success means whatever the individual under consideration defines it as. A rigorous qualitative study based on surveys and interviews with 38 individuals including underrepresented minorities was used to explore their definition of career success, their education, transition into the workforce, diversity, workforce experience, and what fostered or hindered their career success. The research revealed five characteristics common to career success: intrinsic satisfaction, the illusion of career success from reality, vocational experience, supportive guidance, and the presence of a personal champion. The research also suggest a need to educate individuals about the reality of the challenges of achieving successful careers and the need for improvement in the career counseling process. These characteristics and insights can be used to assist in creating new programs that align education with workforce management knowledge and skills to increase the number of diverse workers. This research can also aid efforts to increase a diverse workforce for businesses, where individuals can achieve career success and improve society, the economy, and the world. Identifying how individuals define their career success may enhance theory-building research designed to understand, predict, and facilitate the experience of individuals to achieve career success.
Keywords
minorities in the professions, diverse workforce, vocational guidance, Weatherhead School of Management, career success, diversity, workforce, transition, underrepresented, minorities, experiences, intrinsic, satisfaction, vocational experience, supportive guidance, personal champion
Rights
© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Slaton, LaVonne D., "Career Success of Underrepresented Minority Groups" (2015). Student Scholarship. 128.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/128
