Tacit Knowledge and Immigrants' Employment Challenges: A Case of "Canadian Experience"

Background and Purpose: Canada relies on highly skilled immigrants to sustain its economy and to counterbalance the aging population and decreasing birthrates. Canadian immigration policy currently favors foreign nationals who have high employment skills and prior work experience, who are encouraged to immigrate to Canada as permanent residents. It is widely reported, however, that once in Canada, immigrants face serious employment challenges despite a number of government-sponsored services focusing on immigrant acculturation, including employment services (Li, 2003; Reitz, 2005). Within this context, the authors' previous research identified the lack of "Canadian experience" as one key factor that contributed to immigrants' unsuccessful attempts to obtain gainful employment. Immigrants new to Canada, however, likely do not have experience in Canada. This paper aims to shed light on this paradox by examining the meaning of “Canadian experience”.

Methods: The research was informed by a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006). In collaboration with local community agencies serving immigrants who helped with recruitment of participants, the research team has conducted (1) 15 key informant interviews with service providers and human resource personnel who work closely with immigrants, (2) seven arts-informed focus groups with 37 participants including job-seeking skilled immigrants and their mentors (5 of these focus groups had two successive sessions for richer analysis and member checking, which made the total number of focus groups 12 sessions), and (3) participant observation in employment-related programs for immigrants; and (4) archival research. The preliminary data collection suggested the difficulty of articulating “Canadian experience” in verbal interactions, which led the research team to develop and use theatre-based techniques to elicit the unspoken knowledge. Data were analyzed using NVivo as well as in a series of analytic meetings among the research team members.

Results: Much of what is to be learned through and about Canadian experience is unspoken or tacit. Given the confusion of what “Canadian experience” really means, the authors argue for the use of the notion “tacit knowledge” (Polanyi, 1966). Nonaka and Takeuchi explain that tacit knowledge is “personal, context-specific and therefore hard to formalize and communicate” (1995, p. 59). The OECD (2000) identifies four types of knowledge: Know-what, know-why, know-how and know-who. The first two are “codified” or explicit knowledge, the latter two tacit. A skilled immigrant to Canada would have know-what and know-why at hand but not necessarily the know-how and know-who specific to the context of the Canadian employer.

Conclusions and Implications: Not everything about how to operate within a new workplace (and new cultural environment) can be explained in words, as some of this knowledge always remains tacit. A structured, nurturing environment (e.g., successful mentoring and internship programs) could provide a context through which tacit knowledge can be obtained. Ultimately, social workers should advocate for broad structural changes in how immigrants are perceived and treated in our society so that the requirement of Canadian experience will cease to exist. In the interim, the authors believe that tacit knowledge provides a more nuanced understanding and thus a strategy to address this complex issue.