The Impact of Canadian Experience when Hiring

Canada is home to immigrants from all over the world. Seen as a place of opportunity, peace and democratic governance, Canada has attracted highly-skilled immigrants. Their contributions have greatly enriched Canada’s culture, society, and economy. 

Many skilled immigrants who land in Canada struggle to find jobs in their fields, despite holding proper credentials. A major barrier they face is not having Canadian experience. Employers here frequently devalue foreign experience—even though diversity has been proven to boost business results and Canada has one of the world’s largest per capita immigration rates (foreign-born people represent about 20% of the total population). 

To put this into context, here is a not-so-funny joke. What’s the safest place to have a heart attack? The back of a Canadian cab — because the driver is likely a foreign-born doctor. 

With its aging population, shrinking birthrate, and shortage of skilled labour, Canada relies on the contributions of immigrants for its economic well-being. Moreover, immigrants with foreign experience can increase Canada’s international competitiveness in the modern global economy by enhancing the country’s “diversity advantage.” 

Immigrant groups identify many barriers to finding jobs corresponding to their education, skills and experience. These include: 

• employers not recognizing foreign credentials and experience 

• language and communication difficulties (particularly relating to “occupational jargon” 

• employers not helping them integrate into the workplace and not providing job-related learning opportunities 

• being rejected for positions because they are thought to be “overqualified” 

• arbitrary requirements for “Canadian experience” 

• outright discrimination. 

Employers, unions, regulatory bodies, governments at all levels, and social service agencies serving newcomers and newcomers all have a role in ensuring that employment barriers are identified and removed. Several “best practices” have emerged that can help organizations make sure that they are following the Code and human rights principles.  

Employers, representatives of employers and regulatory bodies should: 

• Examine their organizations as a whole to identify potential barriers for newcomers; address any barriers through organizational change initiatives, such as by forming new organizational structures, removing old practices or policies that give rise to human rights concerns, using more objective, transparent processes, and focusing on more inclusive styles of leadership and decision-making. 

• Review job requirements and descriptions, recruitment/hiring practices and accreditation criteria to ensure they do not present barriers for newcomer applicants. 

• Take a flexible and individualized approach to assessing applicants’ qualifications and skills. 

• Allow an applicant to prove his/her qualifications through paid internships, short contracts or positions with probationary periods. 

• Provide newcomers with on-the-job training, support and resources that will enable them to close “skill gaps” (i.e. acquire any skills or knowledge they may be lacking). 

• Use competency-based methods to assess an applicant’s skill and ability to do the job. 

• Consider all relevant work experience – regardless of where it was obtained. 

• Frame job qualifications or criteria regarding competencies and job-related knowledge and skills. 

• Support initiatives designed to empower newcomers inside and outside their organizations (for example, formal mentoring arrangements, internships, networking opportunities, other types of bridging programs, language training, etc.). 

• Monitor the diversity ratios of new recruits to make sure they reflect the diversity of competent applicants overall. 

• Implement special programs, corrective measures or outreach initiatives to address inequity or disadvantages affecting newcomers.  

• Supply newcomers and social service agencies serving newcomers with information about workplace norms, expectations and opportunities within the organization. 

• Retain outside expertise to help eliminate barriers to newcomer applicants. 

• Form partnerships with other similar institutions that can help identify additional best practices. 

• Provide all staff with mandatory education and training on human rights and cultural competence. 

Employers, representatives of employers, and regulatory bodies should not: 

• Require applicants to have prior work experience in Canada to be eligible for a particular job. 

• Assume that an applicant will not succeed in a particular job because he or she lacks Canadian experience. 

• Discount an applicant’s foreign work experience or assign it less weight than their Canadian work experience. 

• Rely on subjective notions of “fit” when considering an applicant’s ability to succeed in the workplace. 

• Include a requirement for prior Canadian work experience in the job posting or ad or a requirement for qualifications that could only be obtained by working in Canada. 

• Require applicants to disclose their country of origin or the location of their work experience on the job application form. 

• Ask applicants questions that may directly or indirectly reveal where their work experience was obtained. 

• Ask for local references only. 

Newcomers, employers and Canadian society at large suffer untold losses when people cannot work to their full capacity. And, if Canada is seen as a place where it is impossible to find a good job, a job in your field, or where, as an engineer or a Ph.D. graduate, you are likely to end up driving a taxi, it will no longer be a desirable destination for many of the world’s most skilled immigrants. They will simply choose to go elsewhere.