Transitioning Experience: Migrant Learning and Engaging with Canada's Labour Market Challenges

Context: Newcomers to Canada are commonly expected to possess localized experience to gain full labour market access. It represents a canon of tacit knowledge to be acquired, for instance through volunteer work or employment below individuals’ level of qualification Whereas the exclusionary effects of the Canadian Experience (CE) discourse have been well-documented, less is known about how individuals learn to engage with CE. This paper thus aims to elucidate and conceptualize this aspect of learning during transitions into new work contexts and to draw conclusions for practice.

Approach: Taking a doing transitions and doing migration perspective, 20 biographical-narrative interviews were conducted in 2021 with persons who had moved to Canada as adults. The data were analysed using the documentary method which focuses not only on the thematic (what) but primarily on the implicit (how) dimensions of the narrations.

Findings: three modes of engaging with CE: Replay and readjust is marked by repeated setbacks, frustrations, and – seemingly – resignation. Reset and move forward is marked by a lowering of aspirations and an alignment of future life course decisions with the need to acquire CE. Research and pro-act is characterized by excelling at knowing the rules and playing the game.

Conclusion: The analysis of the engagement with migratory challenges points aids in conceptualizing learning in transitions and its social embeddedness. For the practice of supporting worklife transitions in the context of migration, the findings suggest differentiated provision not only of factual knowledge about labour markets but of guidance and spaces for processing experiences.