‘I need to switch the job’. Young rural-urban migrants’ perceptions about their job during their education to work transition

Young people’s choices and decisions during their education to work transition reflect their perceptions about work. Empirical studies of these perceptions of young rural-urban migrants are limited. This article explores the perceptions of young rural-urban migrants working at call centres in Kathmandu and the way these perceptions are associated with socio-cultural values and beliefs. The dominant perceptions found among young rural-urban migrants were that their job in a call centre served for skills development, financial needs, and as a temporary solution. Even though the centre was a fun place to work, there was little indication that young people saw this job as a ‘career’ The perceptions reveal a strong relation with socio-cultural values and beliefs influencing young people’s choices and decision making in their education to work transition in this context.