The experience of career change driven by a sense of calling: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach

This study used a qualitative methodology to examine how a sense of calling is related to the career change process. Interviews were conducted with eight career changers who perceived their career transition as a way to fulfill a calling. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), eight super-ordinate themes were elicited that described the various elements of the change process: activity prior to the career change, activity during the pre-transition period, activity during the process of discerning a calling, definition of calling, challenges of pursuing a calling-infused career, ways of dealing with challenges, impact of a calling-infused career change, and unique aspects of a calling-infused career change. Generally, participants were satisfied with their calling-infused career transitions and reported greater levels of well-being at work and in their lives as a whole. In-depth self-exploration and making meaning from past experiences were described as primary ways to discern a calling. Interviewees defined calling as a source of ful-fillment, a way to serve the greater good at work, a spiritual conviction that one is doing what one is meant to do, and as an important part of one's identity. As unique characteristics of career changes motivated by a sense of calling, participants indicated that their transitions were prompted by altruistic motives and the pursuit of intrinsic rewards. Interviewees also reported feeling blessed to live out their calling and viewed pursuing a calling as an ongoing process.