This article explores the diverse trajectories of downward professional mobility as experienced by skilled Polish migrants living in Norway. On the basis of 30 in-depth qualitative interviews with Poles who have worked below their level of competence after migrating to Norway, I outline (1) how they tend to channel themselves into low-skilled employment at the initial stages of migration as they commonly assume it is inevitable when migrating, and (2) how they interpret and respond to remaining in low-skilled jobs after settling in Norway, often explaining it as a result of racialising and discriminatory practices against them. By bridging concepts of habitus and field with hierarchies of desirability of national migrant groups, I propose a notion of a 'transnational field of national hierarchies'. I argue that the downward professional mobility is both an individual and collective social practice guided by what I call 'the national component of the habitus' and embedded in the transnational field, where different national identities are hierarchically positioned.

Immigrants’ labour market participation is a crucial indicator of their assimilation within the host societies. The workplace is a key site of intercultural transmission, where migrants receive opportunities to recognise, evaluate and prospectively adapt to the norms, values and standards of the new socio-cultural field. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with Poles working below their skill level in Norway, this article analyses two work-related areas where cultural difference is encountered: (1) interpersonal communication and (2) work performance and attitude. Migrants take jobs in niche economies, thereby working below their qualifications. Degradation limits their opportunities to encounter non-migrants and hinders them from recognising the cultural codes typical for the host community. A purely occasional contact with non-migrants leads to numerous cultural misunderstandings and cultural distrust in the long term. Those migrants who work outside of immigrant niches more easily comprehend cultural differences; as a result, they more effectively adapt in Norway. In the Bourdieu-inspired theoretical framework, I propose to recognise ‘moments of consciousness’ of the habitus as key moments in the reflexive adaptation process, offering a new perspective on habitus change as an element of adaptation to a new socio-cultural working environment.