“No One Really Knows What It Is That I Need”: Learning a New Job at a Small Private College

Abstract

Colleges and universities are sites of learning, not only for tuition-paying students, but also for those employed by the institution. This qualitative study explored the workplace learning experiences of non-faculty staff at a small, faith-based private college in the upper Midwest who had recently changed jobs within the institution. Learning to do the new job was largely a function of informal learning strategies, described by themes of Defining the New Job, Learning in Relationships, Inhabiting the New Role, and Connecting to a Larger Vision. The study suggests that organizational learning culture influences the experience of those engaged in internal job transfers. It also supports previous research indicating that the internal resources an individual brings to the new job shape how that employee learns to do the new job.