Career management patterns of non-European degree mobile students in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom

This paper presents an examination of the career management transition processes of non-European STEM and business master's graduates from research universities in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Its aim is to develop a comprehensive theoretical typology of international graduates' career management transition patterns. To this end, 28 interviews were conducted with international graduates originating from India, China, and Iran. By employing a preliminary career change model for our analysis and by referencing other concepts from career development theory, we were able to identify five distinct career management patterns that are pivotal for categorising the education-to-work transitions of international graduates. These are the progressive, constructive, connective, regressive, and reformative patterns. The developed theoretical typology of career management patterns facilitates a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of these processes for all parties involved. Furthermore, it can serve as a foundation for subsequent studies, which enables scholars to conduct further analyses by aligning it with a range of theoretical concepts, including those that are competence-based, those that are based on career capital, and/or those that are structure-agency oriented.