The main question in the article is to what degree underemployed and overemployed professionals are committed to the profession and the organisation which employ them. Ten professional groups are included in the study and more than one of four respondents are either underemployed or overemployed. The results show that overemployment affects commitment to the profession and the organisation negatively. Unexpectedly, underemployed professionals do not report weaker commitment neither to the profession nor to the organisation compared to colleagues who work equally number of hours but preferred hours.

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The choice of clinical field after graduation correlates with undergraduate nursing students' perceived professional qualifications and job values.

This study sheds light on how ethnic minority students in Norway seek to navigate occupational opportunities after graduating from professional bachelor programmes. Students' career ambitions and career expectations are investigated. The study adopts a comparative approach and includes students of Asian origin, Western minority students as well as majority students. The findings show that ethnic minorities have higher career ambitions than majority students, but their career expectations are not correspondingly high. The study identifies ethnicity both as a resource (ethnic capital) and as an obstacle in the pursuit of a professional career. Structural disadvantages such as perceived discrimination seem to curb the utility of ethnic capital in capitalising on occupational opportunities, particularly for managerial positions. Ethnicity as a resource seems to play a role among both Asian and Western minority students, and appears particularly strong in the development of career ambitions and in the efforts to pursue educational qualifications. KeywordsCareer ambitions / career expectations / ethnicity / ethnic capital / discrimination / minority student / occupational attainment / occupational inclusion / professions / social capital /

Abstract:The aim of the study is to investigate the level of work-family interference (WFI) for part-time nurses in Norway and Finland. Part-time work is usually cited as a desirable way in which to facilitate work and family harmony. However, the opportunity to work part-time in professions may be associated with greater difficulties and challenges than commonly presumed. Part-time professionals are often stigmatized as being less committed to work and report fewer job rewards than colleagues in full-time positions. This study challenges the notion of the desirable consequences of work hour flexibility concerning the integration of work and family. Part-time nurses in Norway and Finland report an equal level or even higher levels of interference than nurses in full-time positions. A disproportional distribution of inconvenient work schedules appears to be a central explanation for the results reported by Norwegian nurses, but to a lesser degree by Finnish nurses.Keywords: nursing profession, part-time work, inconvenient work schedule, workfamily interference, Nordic countries Academic attention to professionals' part-time work has increased in the past decade, mainly driven by the increased demand for professionals in Western countries (Amble, 2008). The connection between the shortage of personnel and part-time work is clear. Part-time professionals are potential full-time professionals and constitute a major labour resource, particularly in countries with a high proportion of part-time work. However, part-time professionals are often stigmatized as being less committed to work, which can have profound consequences for their status and professional career opportunities (Epstein, Seron, Oglensky, & Saute, 1999). Women's career patterns, involving career breaks and part-time work, are at the root of assumptions about commitment. However, job rewards appear to be an equally relevant factor (Abrahamsen, 2010;Wallace, 1995). Within professions, part-time workers frequently report fewer job rewards and poorer work conditions than do colleagues in full-time positions (Abrahamsen, 2010; Andersen, Køber, & Rønning, 2008:27). Nevertheless, part-time work is usually depicted as positive for women and their work experience and home life. A common reason among women professionals for choosing part-time work is the need to be able to manage multiple life roles, especially those involving a caregiving responsibility (Jamieson, Williams, Lauder, & Dwyer, 2008; Olsen, 2002:59).The aim of this study is to investigate work-family interference (WFI) among Nordic nurses in part-time positions. Previous research has revealed that some nurses find the combination of full-time work and family obligations to be challenging. In addition to high workload, nurses mainly have to work schedules that include shift work and weekend work, which has been reported to increase work-family conflicts substantially (Albertsen et al., 2007:52; Jansen, Kany, Nijhius, Swaen, & Kristensen, 2004). A number of studies have dealt with the question of ho...