Search for employees before they arrive in Canada

Between 2023 and 2025, Canada will welcome nearly 1.5 million new permanent residents, the majority through economic pathways that reward international work experience, education attainment, and proficiency in at least one official language.

Let’s make sure these skilled immigrants and potential future Canadians do not remain stuck in survival jobs.

A “survival job” is a common, perhaps infamous, term among newcomers. It’s a job that pays the bills, but does not relate to your career trajectory. It meets basic requirements to self-sustain financially, but has limited, if any, potential to self-actualize professionally.

In announcing the record-high immigration targets, and referring specifically to skilled newcomers, Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser stated the plan to “help businesses find the workers they need,” citing “critical labour market shortages.”

Alas, newcomers rewarded for their work experience and education pre-arrival find that those same credentials diminish in value the moment they land on Canadian soil. Or rather, the moment their resume lands in the inbox of a hiring manager.

Why make so many people jump through the hoops of the immigration process, only to cap their potential on arrival? In addition to sluggish re-accreditation processes for certain professionals, newcomers must overcome extreme cognitive dissonance among employers who, despite protestations that they can’t find workers, demand Canadian experience among candidates, even if they have the necessary accreditation, skills, experience, and approval to work in Canada.

Does Canada have a labour shortage, or more of an HR crisis?

Hiring managers in Canada have a flawed obsession with local experience. Instead of engaging skilled newcomers, roles remain unfilled. Meanwhile, employers wait for the perfect local candidate who rarely appears, hence the need for record high economic immigration in the first place.

The solution lies within. It is driving our cabs and delivering our take out — worthy endeavours, but not what economic newcomers came to do and not what Canada brought them here to do.

Once an international professional gains approval to work in Canada, their biggest obstacle often becomes finding employment. If employers engage with international talent early, they can leapfrog competitors — a win-win-win for the employer, the newcomer, and Canada.

The days of asking newcomers to “come by our office when you arrive in Canada” should be over. To win the battle for talent, employers need to engage early with prospective newcomers when the job hunt is most important to them, building a pipeline of talent and creating a relationship that may bear fruit when an appropriate role opens up. Reactive hiring is not aligned with the pipeline of ambitious, skilled professionals provided by Canada’s economic immigration pathways.

Make no mistake, Canada is in a battle for global talent that will choose other locations if they are sold the Canadian dream but the reality on the ground does not match the brochure.

Most of all, Canada misses out. Tax take is lower than it should be and newcomers do not settle. In turn, the Canadian brand suffers as international talent advocates for alternative destinations. Winning this battle is key to ongoing economic prosperity, with all the upside that flows accordingly.

What is needed is a “Team Canada” effort whereby public policy and infrastructure is in place to support immigration, the private sector is engaged and educated on how newcomers can improve the bottom line, and, in turn, newcomers advocate for Canada to upcoming generations abroad.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is delivering on the first of these items, but opaque transparency and unpredictable processing times remain a challenge.

The greatest potential, however, lies with employers who have the means to engage with hundreds of thousands of skilled professionals but lack the confidence, foresight, or knowledge to do so effectively.

Until this changes, Canada’s immigration system will continue to deliver talent, but our labour market will continue to underutilize that talent.

The solution lies within. It is driving our cabs and delivering our take out — worthy endeavours, but not what economic newcomers came to do and not what Canada brought them here to do