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Career Development of Refugees

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Abstract

The global refugee crisis has increased the interest of vocational researchers and practitioners into this vulnerable population. This chapter focuses on the career development of refugees, particularly the development of vocational aspirations among students with refugee backgrounds, job search and finding adequate employment, adaptation to work and career tasks and challenges, and career counselling interventions. Three theoretical frameworks (i.e., social-cognitive career theory, life-span life-space theory, career construction theory) are reviewed with regard to potential applications to the career development of refugees. Subsequently, the theoretical and empirical literature on refugees and career development is summarized. This literature suggests that refugees encounter various challenges in their host countries, and that integration and career success are the results of a complex interplay between multiple individual and contextual influences. The chapter concludes with implications for future research and vocational practice. For instance, future research could make greater use of established career development theories that focus on the interplay of individual differences, contextual factors, and agentic behaviours as predictors of career development and success. Career counsellors may contribute to refugees’ career development and success by helping them integrate their past professional experiences and future vocational aspirations with current tasks and challenges in their host countries.

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Acknowledgement

I thank Julia Dauter and Juliane Feiler for their help with literature search in the process of preparing this chapter.

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Correspondence to Hannes Zacher .

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Zacher, H. (2019). Career Development of Refugees. In: Athanasou, J.A., Perera, H.N. (eds) International Handbook of Career Guidance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25153-6_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25153-6_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25152-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25153-6

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