Career Counselling New and Professional Immigrants: Theories into Practice

Abstract

New and professional immigrants encounter extreme hardships and difficulties in their career experience after arriving in Canada. In addition to underemployment or unemployment concerns, new and professional immigrants endure many cross-cultural barriers. This article attempts to examine the application of career development theories in the context of career development and counselling for new and professional immigrants. It begins with a discussion of some of the barriers that affect new and professional immigrants' career development. Subsequently, it reviews some of the key facets of social cognitive career theory, as well a narrative career counselling approach, and how they specifically relate to new and professional immigrants' career development. The article concludes with intervention strategies, implications and support strategies aimed at dealing with the career development and career counselling needs of new and professional immigrants in Canada. The problems, concepts and solutions will also apply in other settings.

Action‐Oriented Hope: An Agent of Change for Internationally Educated Professionals

“…Use of the HCCI and hope‐based interventions helped participants adapt to these factors as they explored their sense of self, reflected on their situation, envisioned possibilities, and strategized for future opportunities. For counselors, flexibility in approach (Fernandez‐Pena & Day, 2006), recognizing and attending to individual needs (Kennedy & Chen, 2012), and creating a support network (Austin & Dean, 2004) were also seen as factors essential to positive outcomes.…”

“…Many of the prevailing themes that appear in literature regarding IEHPs pursuing licensure emphasize the importance of supporting immigrants to enhance interpersonal skills, language, and communication abilities (Austin & Dean, 2004; Dahm & Yates, 2013; Fernandez‐Pena & Day, 2006; Hatami & Weber, 2013), as well as technical skills within the health care system (Austin & Dean, 2004). Financial barriers are also a prominently noted theme (Austin & Dean, 2004; Fernandez‐Pena & Day, 2006), as is the need for programming to include peer learning and mentorship to enhance understanding and integration into the new culture (Austin & Dean, 2004; Kennedy & Chen, 2012). However, despite provision of supports that align with these themes, the numerous challenges and barriers of licensure often extend a pathway to licensure years beyond its anticipated end date.…”

Career Development of Chinese Canadian Professional Immigrants

“…Historically, Hong Kong was among the leading source country of immigrants to Canada in the early 1980s; however, the flow of immigration has dwindled since Hong Kong's successful handover from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 (Man, ). In recent years, the People's Republic of China is considered the top country from which Chinese professional immigrants originate (Kennedy & Chen, ; Li, ; Statistics Canada, ). Therefore, this article primarily focuses on and refers to Chinese immigrants from the People's Republic of China who are selected to enter as professional immigrants to Canada via the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act points system from 2002 and onward.…”

“…One out of five people, or 20% of the total population, are foreign born, and within this subset population, Chinese immigrants make up approximately 4% of the total population, rendering them as the second largest visible minority group in Canada (Li, ; Statistics Canada, ). It is estimated that by the year 2017, 19% to 23% of Canada's population will be a visible minority, approximately one half will be of either South Asian or Chinese descent, and a large proportion will fit the professional immigrant profile (Chen, ; Kennedy & Chen, ; Statistics Canada, ).…”

“…Success in resettling into the host country can have a great impact on immigrants' overall physical and psychological health, as well as their level of productivity within the labor force, which ultimately contributes to the country's economic well‐being (Chen, ). Conversely, complications and obstacles in resettlement, especially career‐related barriers such as unemployment or underemployment, can lead to poorer physical and psychological outcomes as the immigrants experience loss of their social and vocational identity, social status, and financial stability; reduced self‐esteem; and elevated levels of depression, hopelessness, and stress (Dean & Wilson, ; Kennedy & Chen, ; Sharf, ). Although Canada is successful in the continual recruitment of new immigrants, the ability to effectively utilize the associated human capital is emerging as a challenging mission (Chen, ; Li, ).…”