Making difficult decisions: Immigrants’ experiences of employment preparation and participation

BACKGROUND: Immigrants engage in complex integration processes that are mediated through daily occupations. A central element of socio-economic integration relates to labor market preparation and participation, including job searching, learning cultural values in the workplace, pursuing credential recognition and engaging in volunteering roles and paid employment. OBJECTIVE: To examine how immigrants experienced occupations relating to preparing for, seeking, and gainingemployment. METHODS: A secondary analysis using whole text analysis and line-by-line coding of twenty verbatim transcripts from interviews held with ten recently arrived immigrants to London, Ontario, Canada. Sessions consisted of a narrative interview, creation of an occupational map and a semi-structured follow-up interview. RESULTS: The participants’ employment related occupations were characterized by the overarching theme of ‘making difficult decisions’. This main theme was connected to four related sub-themes: 1) mechanisms of exclusion, 2) learning the host country’s culture, 3) the influence of one’s outlook on the decisions made, and 4) accessing support. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies factors influencing immigrants’ experiences of labor market preparation and participation. ‘Making difficult decisions’ was faced by all participants throughout the process of becoming part of the Canadian workforce and, ultimately, society at large.