Canada recruits skilled immigrants for their education and experience, but many find those same skills under-valued once they enter the Canadian labour market.
A new study co-authored by UBC professor Sima Sajjadiani argues that the problem goes beyond foreign-credential recognition. Skilled newcomers must often “translate” their education, work history and professional norms for employers who may not know how to assess them. Prof. Sajjadiani teaches organizational behaviour and human resources at the Sauder School of Business.
The study lands at a time when Canada may have less room to waste talent. A May 11 RBC Economics Report said slower immigration and rising retirements are tightening labour supply, with the labour-force participation rate falling to its lowest level since 1997, excluding the pandemic period.
For the study, researchers used machine learning to review more than 13,000 papers on first-generation adult immigrants, eventually narrowing their final sample to 833 papers on immigrant employment experiences.
Sajjadiani said the study tries to explain why immigrant underemployment is influenced by three factors: government policy, employers’ hiring criteria and how immigrants present themselves. She said education and work experience are shaped by the labour market where they were gained, in this case the country of origin. Résumé formats, interview styles and even how confidently a candidate speaks about past achievements can vary across cultures. That means a candidate may possess skills, but these may not always be visible to Canadian recruiters.
“All of these things that you have gained are there, but are really invisible to the recruiters and organizations in another country, and you need to know how to translate them,” she said. For employers, Sajjadiani said, one answer is to move beyond a narrow reading of credentials and job titles. She said structured interviews, better recruiter training and internal “crosswalk” systems that compare foreign credentials to Canadian equivalents could help organizations assess candidates more fairly.
She also said employers should focus less on whether they immediately recognize a credential and more on the skills, knowledge and abilities a person brings to the role. The study also found that social networks and a newcomer’s intention to stay can shape job quality. Sajjadiani said immigrants who see their time in Canada as temporary may rely on “co-ethnic networks” to find work quickly, but those jobs may not match their skills or education.
More diverse networks, she said, can open different avenues and help newcomers understand how the local labour market works.“Canada’s brand promises to skilled immigrants that you are coming here, we really pay attention to skills,” she said. “But then you come here and you don’t realize that your skill, what you’re bringing to the table, is completely invisible.”
At the same time, Sajjadiani said newcomers can take steps to make their credentials easier for employers to understand — by explaining the standing of their institutions, building diverse professional networks and using digital platforms such as LinkedIn even before arriving in Canada.
But she said employers and governments also have to build clearer pathways. Bridging programs, better credential mapping and hiring systems that focus on demonstrated skills could help Canada make better use of the talent it already selects.
Shilpashree Jagannathan
Shilpashree Jagannathan is a journalist from India. She now lives in Toronto and has worked as a business reporter for leading newspapers in India. She has tracked telecom, infrastructure, and real estate news developments and has produced podcast series. She currently focuses on human rights, feminist movements, and other related issues in Canada and India. Her weekends are spent bird watching in one of the Toronto birding hotspots; she loves trails, biking, and a lot of sun.