This study investigates how serendipitous events influence individuals' careers through an inductive qualitative analysis of working professionals who perceive such events as having shaped their career outcomes. Based on in-depth interviews with 69 professionals and 10 career supporters in Japan, this study develops an inductive model illustrating the dynamics of career-affecting serendipity. Participants described these experiences as a "sense of being pushed in the back," recognizing that the outcomes they achieved would not have been possible without these chance events. Furthermore, it was suggested that these experiences not only contribute to valuable career outcomes but also foster cognitive flexibility. The narratives of professionals indicate that enhanced cognitive flexibility further facilitates the occurrence of subsequent "cascading serendipity." These insights broaden the scope of career self-management research by emphasizing the long-term interaction between self-management and serendipitous events. The findings also suggest that surprising internal mobility can lead to serendipitous outcomes, highlighting the importance of understanding how individuals perceive and respond to internal mobility within an organization and its impact on career trajectories, offering valuable implications for both employees and organizations.
