Investigating the Experience of International Graduates of Ontario Colleges to Navigate Two-Step Immigration System to Secure Career Employment

• In Event: Community colleges, TVET institutions, and global counterparts: challenges towards sustainability for vocationally oriented jobs

Proposal

With an aging population and a looming shortage of skilled labor, the Canadian government has been trying to attract more skilled immigrants to the country (Advisory Council on Economic Growth, 2016). International students represent a highly valued source of such immigrants. As a result, the number of international students attending Ontario colleges of applied arts and technology (CAATs) has skyrocketed in recent years (Colleges Ontario, 2016). Canada’s two-step immigration system allows such students to transition from temporary to permanent residency (Government of Canada, 2015). That being said, for many international graduates, the path to citizenship involves securing employment in Canada. But, even with local educational credentials, many of them have difficulty obtaining jobs that suit their qualifications and can lead to permanent-resident status (Beppel, 2014).
The Study
This qualitative empirical study explores the experience of Ontario college graduates from several countries as they attempt to transition from school to work and integrate into Canadian society.
The Research Question
What are the experiences of international CAAT graduates who try to secure employment and permanent-residency status in Canada?
What barriers do they encounter as they try to find employment related to their college credentials?
How do they acquire the cultural and social capital needed to obtain employment related to their credentials?
How do they navigate the Canadian immigration system?
Theoretical Framework
Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice is used as the theoretical framework to analyze the participants’ work and integration experience. The study examines the relationship between structure and agency, as well as the interplay of three elements of Bourdieu’s theory: field, capital, and habitus.
Participants
The study is based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 18 international graduates of Ontario colleges. The participants came from eight countries and had at least one year of Canadian work experience. The interviews lasted from 1.5 to 2 hours, with several followup interviews.
Preliminary Results
The study identified several barriers that hinder international CAAT graduates’ success in securing a career job and obtaining permanent residency in Canada. The barriers include:
a) a mismatch between the participants’ career expectations and the job market requirements;
b) a poor understanding of Canada’s educational system, job market and immigration requirements;
financial challenges;
c) discriminatory practices used by some Canadian employers;
d) occasionally discriminatory immigration policies;
e) overreliance on academic agents and immigration consultants.
F) the research participants’ age was a major factor in their ability to adapt to the new environment.

References
Advisory Council on Economic Growth. (2016, October 20). Attracting the talent Canada needs through immigration. Retrieved from http://www.budget.gc.ca/aceg-ccce/pdf/immigration-eng.pdf
Bepple, N. (2014). International students strategies to obtain career-related work in Canada after graduation (Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia). https://open.library.ubc.ca/handle/2429/
Colleges Ontario (2016). Student and graduate profiles environmental scan 2013. Retrieved from http://collegesontario.org/research/2016Environmental_Scan/ CO_EnvScan_2016_ PRO FILES_WEB.pdf
Government of Canada. (2015). Who can apply: Canadian Experience Class. Retrieved from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/cec/apply-who.asp

Author

• Oleg Legusov, OISE, University of Toronto