Immigrant Credentials Essay

754 Words2 Pages

• Failure to recognize Immigrants’ Credentials
It is challenging for an immigrant with foreign certifications and credentials to compete with a native-born Canadian with the same level of education, skills, knowledge, and experience in the job market. Due to the failure for the company to recognize foreign credentials, the hiring manager may have the notion that the immigrant applicant is not competent enough for the job. The immigrant is left, and the Canadian-born applicant is taken. This reason partly explains why many newcomers (immigrants), take a lot of time before they secure their first job in Canada. Even if they happen to be recruited, their wages are way below that of their native workmates. It is only after working for some time …show more content…

A job applicant with a university education level, skills, and experience may not be considered for a position due to their poor command of the required language. This is especially for those jobs that involve dealing with customers directly. Again, unable to express oneself in the workplace language during the interview may make the interviewing body doubt the applicant’s certification. Literacy skills (both cognitive ability and language) partly explain the immigrants’ higher unemployment and lower earnings rates. Keeping customers happy through satisfying their needs is the primary aim of every organization. This can only happen through good communication skills. That is why some organizations offer training classes for their employees to improve their literacy …show more content…

Education institutions put more emphasis on training those areas that are much marketable in the country. This avoids skills mismatch. The fact that one has a degree in a particular field does not mean that they are skillful, knowledgeable or competent in all areas. It is true that a significant portion of Canadian immigrants is educated, but this still does not mean they are more compatible in the Canadian labor market than the natives. McBride (2004) argues that the immigrants’ skills mismatch in Canada contributes to about 14% of the wage gap between them and the

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