Even More Challenges for Internationally Trained Professionals

Earlier this year our team had the opportunity to meet several internationally trained professionals (ITPs), from a wide range of countries and representing a number of different professional occupations. All of these individuals had made the decision to immigrate to Canada and were committed to staying here, putting down roots, and raising their families. All, however, were frustrated by the many challenges in establishing their pre-immigration careers. These included challenges with regulatory bodies and professional associations, lack of recognition of previous experience and education, language barriers, and adjusting to Canadian workplace practices.

Many of the ITPs find themselves working in “survival jobs” and feeling quite underutilized . . . doctors washing dishes, engineers working as janitors, bankers/accountants driving cabs. Reitz (2011)[1] called this the “taxi driver syndrome,” estimating that this underutilization of immigrants is costing the Canadian economy $3 billion every year. We attract the world’s best and brightest, then leave them to navigate our complex system with little to no assistance – Lamontage (2003)[2] called this seduction and abandonment.

Despite the numerous challenges, all of these professionals had good things to say about the services they received from various community-based agencies. They’d had settlement assistance, been referred to language classes, taken workshops in Canadian workplace culture, and had support in developing their resumes, cover letters, and interview skills. They were very thankful for the assistance offered, most stating that the Career Development Practitioners (CDPs) who assisted them were very nice and helpful. However, these professionals also raised some issues that were somewhat concerning to us, especially given our role as educators.

These issues focused on two key elements.  First, it was felt that CDPs did not truly understand the complexities of the foreign credential recognition process, resulting in an inability to help ITPs navigate these systems or connect them with professionals who could offer assistance. Secondly, CDPs seemed to make rather bizarre recommendations around what work these highly skilled professionals should or could do – an economist, with a PhD, told to apply as a customer service rep in a bank; a structural engineer was told she should take a course in MS-Office, despite her having superior skills using the entire MS-Office suite.

ITPs face unique challenges and consequently need specialized solutions. We recommend CDPs develop their understanding of the foreign credential recognition process, foster strategic relationships with professional associations and certifying bodies, and learn from the successes of ITPs who’ve navigated to successful employment in their pre-landing sector. Further, CDPs should pause to explore the unique skills and qualifications ITPs bring; rather than assuming an engineer would need MS-Office training, discuss the advantages of participating in a Canadian education program and explore, with your client, what might “fit” best.

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[1] Reitz, J. G. (2011). Taxi driver syndrome: Behind-the-scenes immigration changes are creating new problems on top of old ones. Retrieved from http://reviewcanada.ca/essays/2011/02/01/taxi-driver-syndrome/

[2] Lamontagne, F. (2003). Workers educated abroad: Seduction and abandonment. Food for Thought, 10. Retrieved from http://www.crccanada.org/crc/files/Communication_Strategy_No.10_Lamontagne718_2.pdf

Building a Workplace Culture That Embraces Diversity

I’ve spoken and written about the benefits of diversity for years and on six continents. However, as the adage goes, “we teach what we need to learn” and I’m definitely still learning. This year I’ve had the privilege of co-leading a research team to learn from internationally-trained professionals themselves about the challenges in the foreign credential recognition process in Canada. Their stories, without exception, illustrated how very far we still need to go to create Canadian workplaces that embrace diversity. I’ve also been facilitating employer training as part of two initiatives – the MAPLE 2.0 program and Welcoming  Communities. In both cases, I’ve listened to internationally trained skilled workers and professionals describe how they can’t get relevant work in their fields until they have “Canadian experience” – clearly a circular problem as they can’t get that experience without work in their fields!

I’ve also witnessed examples of individuals, though, who do get hired into positions closely related to their pre-immigration careers only to find themselves isolated, unappreciated, and clearly unwelcome by their colleagues and immediate supervisors. To build a diverse workforce, it’s not enough to have buy-in from the executive team and HR professionals within the organization – the average employee also needs to understand the value that diversity can bring. Too often orientation is focussed exclusively on the newcomers; however, to create a welcoming workplace it may be necessary to orient and train incumbent employees, building their cultural competencies and highlighting the synergies that result with working with colleagues who bring diverse perspectives, talents, and prior experiences to the project.

The SEED toolkit that we created for S.U.C.C.E.S.S. a few years ago has recently been updated. If you’re trying to build a workplace that embraces diversity, it’s a good place to start with links to virtual resources for recruitment, orientation, and inclusion of diverse workers, as well as a diversity champion’s guide, a topical backgrounder, and a diversity yearbook filled with activities and resources to shift your workplace culture so that diverse workers know they’re valued and are inspired to fully contribute.

Diversity Within the Workplace

It’s always interesting to me how work clusters within Life Strategies – we seem to go through seasons of topical presentations, typically driven by external requests not intentional marketing. The theme of our current season is “diversity within the workplace.” Earlier this year we conducted research for S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and its government funders on challenges associated with foreign credential recognition for immigrant professionals. One of the key challenges was securing Canadian experience – perhaps a sign that workplaces may not be walking their talk in terms of embracing diversity? In March, I presented at the Career Development Conference in BC on a related theme – I called it “Where in the World? Helping Employers Understand the World Immigrants Come From.”  I’ve facilitated workshops for employers associated with the MAPLES program at ISS and, within the next couple of weeks have five more workshops on similar themes.

In an unrelated research project, career development practitioners acknowledged the importance of working with diversity but, when self-rating their competencies, recognized a significant disconnect – many didn’t believe they had the skills, knowledge, or experience to competently support their diverse clients. Many employers feel the same – they understand the importance of embracing diversity but, at a very practical level, simply don’t know how to attract, hire, retain, and fully engage workers who are in some identifiable way different from their incumbent employees.

The Supporting Employers Embracing Diversity (SEED) toolkit that we developed a few years ago in another project for S.U.C.C.E.S.S. has recently been revised. Within the toolkit, two starting places for learning how to effectively welcome and engage diverse workers are the Diversity Champion’s Backgrounder and Guide and the Cultural Diversity Yearbook.

One of Stephen Covey’s famous principles is to “Begin with the end in mind.” If you’re interested in building a more diverse workplace, start by asking yourself, “Why?” What are you trying to achieve through diversity? What challenges might you face in pursuing your goal? What supports will you need to ensure diverse workers are able to fully contribute within your organization ?