Across Borders: Opportunities and Challenges of Filipino College Graduates in Foreign Workplaces
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/ijsscs.v1i1.4961Keywords:
College Graduates Foreign, Lived Experiences, Underemployment, WorkplacesAbstract
Filipino college graduates’ migration has grown significantly as a result of their desire for better job opportunities, greater pay, and more opportunities for professional development. These graduates frequently struggle with underemployment, lack of credential recognition, and cultural adaption in foreign workplaces, even though they make up 27% of the entire migrant population. A significant study vacuum is revealed by the fact that existing literature usually ignores the combined impact of social networks, working conditions, and personal characteristics on the stability and commitment of Filipino graduates overseas. By examining the opportunities and difficulties faced by Filipino college graduates in international employment, this study seeks to fill this gap. It focuses on the ways in which social ties, workplace safety, career potential, educational background, English proficiency, and macroeconomic factors affect occupational stability. Employing a descriptive phenomenological design, the research utilized semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to gather qualitative data from Filipino graduates working abroad. Data were analyzed using content analysis and open coding to identify key themes and subthemes, with expert validation ensuring rigor. The results show graduates take jobs outside of their field due to economic hardship and a lack of local job opportunities, cultural and physical workplace challenges exacerbate the underutilization of educational skills, and graduates use community connections and self-improvement as coping mechanisms. These observations emphasize the necessity of organizational support networks and policy changes to better identify skills, promote professional growth, and improve the welfare of Filipino graduates living abroad. The study’s highlight how crucial comprehensive support is to ensuring that graduates who are globally mobile have meaningful career transitions.
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