The career transition of lecturers and education staff has brought several organizational role changes, resulting in difficulty adapting and overcoming the impacts that arise from career transitions. The purpose of the study is to explore the adaptation experience and impact of the career transition of lecturers and education staff in Indonesia. This research uses qualitative methods with a grounded theory approach. Informants are recruited using the snowball sampling method. The number of informants interviewed was 18 people from 7 state universities in Indonesia. The results of the interview were coded with NVIVO software. The analysis results indicate that the consequences of a career transition consist of two phases, namely: adaptation and change, consisting of 23 dimensions and 50 indicators. The adaptation phase consists of 4 main categories, namely situation, self, support, and strategies. Schlossberg's Transition Theory can explain the adaptation process. The change phase includes four categories: behavior, role, learning, and perception. The findings show that during the change phase, informants use two career anchors, in contrast to Schein's Anchor Career Theory which states that individuals only use one main career anchor. This research enriches the theory of career transition in the context of higher education institutions in Indonesia.