This study examined the work experiences of master's-prepared professional staff in community colleges. In-depth interviews with six such non-faculty staff at each of three Illinois community colleges (n=18) revealed the nature of their work, their perceptions about their duties and status, and their experiences with decision making. Findings of the study are presented in three main sections: a look at the daily work of these specialists, their views on being specialists and professionals, and key themes related to their sense of place in the community college (voice, importance, status, mobility, and professional development). Most of the interviewees saw their work as being important to the mission of their institutions. They also saw their work in their community colleges as a career and cared about their futures, and their mobility, in their institutions. The specialists interviewed for this study tended to perceive their institutions as hierarchical, with administrators and faculty occupying higher rungs on the employee ladder. Their lesser status as employees belied their equivalent educational credentials and the autonomy, professional authority, and general responsibility they exercised in their daily work. The theme of perception surfaced repeatedly in this study-in terms of the specialists' perceptions of their institutions, their coworkers, and their status, and in terms of their perceptions of other's perceptions of them. (Contains 115 references.) (EMH)