Success stories? Success in Polish migrants’ narratives about their occupational careers

Abstract

While there are many studies concerning different aspects of migrants’ occupational trajectories, little attention has been dedicated to migrants’ own views on career success. In this paper, drawing on qualitative interviews with Polish migrants, we aim to bridge this gap in migration studies by examining how the migrants themselves understand and experience the concept of career success. We also took into consideration factors contributing to migrants’ occupational success, with a particular focus on the role of migration in their occupational biographies. Our analysis shows that interviewees define success in terms of subjective and objective criteria, focusing on immaterial rewards. Most of the migrants who participated in the study were unsure if they had already achieved career success. Among those who did, internal factors connected with a person’s character were mostly pointed out as contributing to career success. Despite the fact that work was the primary motivation for migration for a significant part of our sample, the results of the migration on career and chances of achieving success were varied.