International opportunities on the way up: alternative career paths of descendants of migrants from Turkey in the field of professional business services

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the career paths of descendants of labour migrants from Turkey in the field of professional business services. Through in-depth interviews with upwardly mobile professionals in leading positions, the article presents evidence from four countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden). Respondents reflect on their professional career as a process constituted through personal interactions while displaying their perceptions of restrictive national conditions that affect their professional success in this field. There seem to be three discernible "ideal type" alternative career paths for newcomers. First, the corporate career path consists of building a widely recognized "international" profile. The second alternative is a "niche" path that emerges by making use of one's individual background in order to climb up the corporate ladder. Finally, there is a path of self-employment for individuals who have experienced blocked opportunities and therefore want to become "independent" of corporate hierarchies.

Youth Transitions among Descendants of Turkish Immigrants in Amsterdam and Strasbourg:

“…Another strand of emerging research examines the "successful" group within the Turkish second generation, thereby emphasizing that the entire group cannot be categorised as disadvantaged (Crul et al 2017;Schneider and Lang 2014;Keskiner and Crul 2017;Vermeulen and Keskiner 2017). Studies pursuing a more qualitative approach have identified the roles of institutional structures in education and the labour market in shaping the upward mobility of descendants of Turkish immigrants (Keskiner and Crul 2017;Konyali 2017). While successful in uncovering the mechanisms to achieve higher education levels, this stream of research does not account for those individuals who do not achieve upward mobility, nor the type of support mechanisms available (or not) to them.…”

Ethnic niche formation at the top? Second-generation immigrants in Norwegian high-status occupations

“…As highly educated second-generation professionals are entering the labour market in increasing numbers, it is relevant to ask whether they are involved in ethnic niche formation in the upper tiers of the labour market. Studies on highly educated children of Turkish migrants in Europe reveal that they occasionally try to capitalize on their ethnic background to establish their own businesses or create niches within mainstream firms where they can use their ethnic background as a resource, partly as a response to blocked opportunities and subtle forms of discrimination (Waldring, Crul, and Ghorashi 2015;Konyali 2017;Keskiner and Crul 2017;. This strand of literature is concerned with individual adaptations and strategies, and suggests that some ethnic minority individuals are able to capitalize on their minority background in the labour market.…”

“…However, the few business professionals in the study who work directly with clients or markets in their parents' country of origin experience their cultural competence being recognized as an asset (cf. Konyali 2017). Thus, in business and finance, ethnicity appears to be recognized and used as a resource only if it is directly relevant to the client base or targeted markets.…”

“…Altogether, the article contributes to the growing literature on the occupational trajectories of highly educated descendants of immigrants in Europe (e.g. Keskiner and Crul 2017;Konyali 2017;. Unpacking the processes through which second-generation professionals adapt to the upper tiers of the labour market is key to understanding the types of assimilation processes that are taking place.…”

“…In their classic article on segmented assimilation theory, Portes and Zhou (1993, 87) argue that self-employment "offers a prime avenue for mobility to second-generation youths", as they can draw on the social capital in their ethnic community to create opportunities that are not available to them through competition in the open labour market. Recent European studies have observed that highly educated descendants of Turkish migrants occasionally establish their own businesses or carve out niches within mainstream firms where they can profit from their ethnic background (Konyali 2017;Keskiner and Crul 2017;. However, few attempts have been made to explore the processes of ethnic niche formation at the top of the labour market hierarchy, as the ethnic niche concept traditionally has been employed as a lens for studying the concentration of immigrants or specific ethnic groups in the lower tiers of the labour market (e.g.…”