Abstract
New graduates were extremely crucial to the nation’s development and progress, their learning process in the first few working years in particular. However, little was known about this process. Thus, this research aimed at exploring: (1) what difficulties and challenges new graduates encountered in the workplace; (2) what learning processes they experienced from these difficulties and challenges; (3) how they transformed from this experience. Thirteen participants, aged from 23 to 27 years old, were engaged in in-depth interviews by convenience and purposive sampling. Among them, five were male and eight were female. Data were analyzed by phenomenological method. The results revealed that the transformative process of new graduates in experiential learning contained four stages: “Beginning Stage”, “Experience Stage”, “Transformation Stage” and “Integration Stage” with the essence of vocational imagination, experiential shock, learning process and brand-new self, respectively. Firstly, in the “Beginning Stage”, with pursuit of their self and in obedience to social identification, new graduates entered the workplace accompanied with vocational imagination. Secondly, in the “Experience Stage”, they realized various experiential shocks, such as gaps between ideal and reality, gaps between education and employment, impact of values, challenges of tasks, unwritten rules as well as interpersonal bullying. Thirdly, in the “Transformative Stage”, after experiencing of dilemmas and challenges, they transformed their own beliefs, values, viewpoints and behaviors. Finally, in the “Integration Stage”, they integrated abilities, cognition, values, and worldviews successfully, leading to self-reconstruction.