Highly skilled russian-speaking professionals: careers of immigrants

Abstract

The article investigates the development of highly-skilled Russian-speaking human capital moved to Germany, a country experienced in attracting migrants. The empirical basis for the study was in-depth interviews conducted by the author with Russian-speaking immigrants that left Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia for Germany. The following things were taken into consideration during the study: professional level of each interviewee at the time of move, professional development, surmounting difficulties, the way the respondents assess the factors behind success or failure as well as perspectives in Germany. The study also touched upon the questions concerning the limited use of skills of highly-skilled Russian-speaking migrants, change of activity, retraining, and career discrimination. The author concludes that the labor of highly-skilled migrants is used in a limited way. The further development of this capital is not only carried out through retraining, different training courses and programs but also through gaining new experience in a foreign company fulfilling the tasks or using methods or software that these migrants have never come across. The study proves the concept of marginality introduced by R. Park: most of migrants are active and persistent achieving their goals; their experience and knowledge allow them effectively tackling any challenges