Resumo

The traditional linear concept of career, supported by a single firm and with a vertical upward proposal, has evolved to the so-called new careers, such as those that are boundaryless and protean, more focused on the protagonism of the individual in the definition of his/her professional career, seeking to achieve goals (Briscoe & Hall, 2006). In these advances, current career studies seek to broaden understanding of minorities and how they fit into this career-building process.

Theories of boundaryless and protean careers are challenged when analyzing professional ethnic experiences. As the barriers imposed by social difference markers, such as race, class or sexuality, are little explored by the literature, it is recommended to study the relations of power, privilege and inequality presented in socially invisible groups. These barriers can support understanding of this distance between the high perspective of positive diversity impacts and the practice of low group participation with certain characteristics in organizations’ work teams.

In this context, this study investigates the main implications of belonging to minoritized social groups regarding the process of career entry and development.

The research, characterized as qualitative, is conducted by semi-structured interviews with professionals belonging to minoritized groups who described their experiences. Therefore, the strategy of collection and data analysis applied is that of life stories, which has been employed to access the social reality investigated in a comprehensive, profound way and with the uniqueness of each situation.

The results indicate that the stigma experienced by people belonging to this group is the main factor that impairs the process of entry and career development of these professionals, including nconscious bias. On the other side, programs and the presence of affirmative actions were identified as facilitators. However, this latter item is also indicated as a barrier, as affirmative actions are not identified for some of the social markers analyzed. In the micro dimension, self-efficacy, optimism and resilience in some stories acted as facilitators, but in others, barriers.

The research features three principal contributions: for academia, it broadens the discussion about the barriers to entry and career promotion along with their causes for professionals with different social markers; for organizations, it delimits a set of actions that positively impact the reduction of these barriers; and, for society, it reinforces the importance of concrete action for the promotion of organizational justice.